BRARY 

VERSITY  OF 
kLIFORNIA 
NTA  CRUZ. 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


WALTER  B.  BARROWS.  LEONHARD   STEJNEGER,  PH.D. 

DANIEL  G.  ELLIOT.  J.  S.  KLNGSLEY,  S.  D. 


CJ 


Copyright,  1885, 
BY  S.  E.  CASSINO  AND  COMPANY. 

Copyright,  1888, 
BY  HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND  COMPANY. 

All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge  : 
Printed  by  H.  0.  Houghton  and  Company. 


CONTENTS. 


CLASS  IX.  —  AVES 1 

SUB-CLASS  I.  —  SAURUR^E.      Leonhard 

Stej'neger 21 

ORDER  I.  —  ORNITHOPAPPI    .    .  -  .  21 
SUB-CLASS  II.  —  ODONTORMLE.      Leon- 
hard  Stej'neger 23 

ORDER  I.  —  PTEROPAPPI    ....  23 
SUB-CLASS  III. — ODONTOHOLC^E.  Leon- 
hard  Stej'neger 27 

ORDER  I.  —  DROM^EOPAPPI     ...  27 

SUB-CLASS  IV.  —  EURHIPIDUR^E  .     ...  31 
SUPER-ORDER  I.  —  DROMJSOGNATH.<E. 

Leonhard  Stej'neger 31 

ORDER  I.  —  STRUTHIONES  .     ...  32 
ORDER  II.  —  ^EPIORNITHES    ...  47 
ORDER  III.  —  APTERYGES  ....  48 
ORDER  IV.  —  CRYPTURI     ....  51 
ORDER. — GASTORNITHES   ....  54 
SUPER-ORDER  II.  — r  IMPENNES.   Leon- 
hard  Stej'neger 56 

ORDER  V.  —  PTILOPTERI    ....  58 
SUPER-ORDER  III.  —  EUORNITHES     .  64 
ORDER  VI.  —  C.ECOMORPHLE.  Leon- 
hard  Stej'neger 64 

ORDER  VII.  —  GKALL^E.     Leonhard 

Stej'neger 91 

ORDER    VIII.   —   CHENOMORPH^E. 

Leonhard  Stej'neger 132 


ORDER  IX.  —  HERODII.      Leonhard 

Stej'neger 157 

ORDER  X.  —  STEGANOPODES.  Leon-  ' 
hard  Stej'neger 179 

ORDER  XI.  —  OPISTHOCOMI.     D.  G. 

Elliot 196 

ORDER  XII.  —  GALLING.   D.G.El- 
liot      197 

SUB-ORDER  I.  —  GALLING  ALEC- 

TEROPODES 198 

SUB-ORDER  II.  —  GALLING  PE- 

RISTEROPODES        229 

ORDER  XIII.  —  PTEROCLETES.  D. 
G.  Elliot 235 

ORDER  XIV.  —  COLUMB^C.  Z>.  G. 
Elliot 237 

ORDER  XV.  —  ACCIPITRES.  W.  B. 
Barrows 260 

ORDER  XVI.  —  PSITTACI.  /.  S. 
Kingsley 349 

ORDER  XVII.  —  PICARLE.  Leon- 
hard  Stej'neger  and  D.  G.  Elliot  .  368 

ORDER  XVIII. — PASSERES.  Leon- 
hard  Stej'neger 458 

LIST  OF   IMPORTANT    PUBLICATIONS    ON 
BIRDS  .  549 


LIST   OF   PLATES. 


CRANES  (colored) Frontispiece 

ARCH^EOPTERYX 22 

SOUTH  AMERICAN  OSTRICH 38 

CASSOWARY 42 

KING  PENGUIN 58 

GULLS 78 

CAPE  BARREN  GOOSE 138 

SHOE-BILL 172 

EUROPEAN  HERONS 174 

TORILLO   AND    QuAIL  ........    198 

FISH-HAWK 294 

MACAWS 364 

FROG-MOUTH  AND  GRAND  POTOO    .         .  386 


PAGE 

WHIPPOORWILL  AND  NIGHT-HAWK     .    .  388 

KINGFISHER  AND  HALCYON 400 

PlCULET  AND  WOODPECKER 426 

HUMMER  AND  COQUETTE 448 

COCK-OF-THE-ROCK  AND  MAN  AKIN  .     .     .  472 
UMBRELLA-BIRD  AND  BELL-BIRD     .     .     .  476 
WARBLERS,  BLUE-THROAT  AND  NIGHTIN- 
GALE       496 

SWALLOWS  AND  MARTINS 508 

EUROPEAN  JAY  AND  CROW-SHRIKE      .     .  510 
BOWER-BIRD  AND  HlLL  MYNA   ....  516 

BIRDS-OF-PARADISE  (colored) 518 

CANARY  AND  GROSBEAKS 544 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


CLASS  IX.  — AVES. 

4A  BIRD  is  known  by  its  feathers.  Indeed,  so  distinctive  is  this  sentence  that  it 
does  not  admit  of  a  single  exception,  for  no_bird  is  without  feathers,  and  no  animal  is 
invested  with  feathers  except  the  birds/  And  so  singularly  adapted  is  this  covering 
to  the  aerial  habits  of  most  of  the  members  of  the  bird  class,  that  its  structure  is  nearly 
the  same  in  all  flying  birds,  while  the  only  aberrant  types  of  feathers  are  found  in  the 
ostriches,  the  kiwis,  and  the  penguins,  all  of  which  are  deprived  of  the  power  of  flight. 
In  the  two  first-mentioned  groups  the  feathers  resemble  hairs  more  or  less  superficially, 
and  the  representatives  of  the  last  order  present  a  plumage  somewhat  suggestive  of 
scales,  but  both  the  hair-like  and  the  scale-like  appendages  are  in  every  respect  true 
feathers.  Not  less  remarkable  as  indicative  of  the  perfection  of  the  feather  is  the 
fact  that  the  feathers  of  the  oldest  bird  known,  the  fossil  Archceopteryx  from  Solen- 
hofen,  were  essentially  like  those  of  the  majority  of  existing  birds,  and  that  nature 
has  not  been  able  to  improve  much  upon  that  admirable  combination  of  lightness  and 
firmness  since  the  Jurassic  period. 

But  the  feather  is  not  the  only  characteristic  attribute  of  the  birds,  although  it  is 
the  only  one  which  at  once  distinguishes  them  from  all  other  living  beings.  From  the 
reptiles  the  feathered  tribes  differ,  among  other  things,  in  possessing  a'complete  double 
circulation  of  the  blood,  which  is  warm,  while  the  absence  of  milk  glands  separates 
them  widely  from  the  mammals.  Further  characters  which  separate  the  birds  from 
the  mammals  are  the  single  condyle  of  the  occiput,  and.  the  articulation  of  the  lower 
jaw  with  a  separate  bone,  the  os  qiiadratum,  which  again  articulates  with  the  skull. 
The  absence  of  a  diaphragm  may  also  be  quoted  in  this  connection.  In  these  and 
several  other  particulars  the  birds  show  a  near  relationship  to  the  reptiles,  so  close, 
indeed,  that  they  have  been  included  with  them  in  a  separate  group,  Sauropsida;  at  any 
rate,  the  birds  are  more  nearly  related  to  the  reptiles  than  they  are  to  the  mammals,  not- 
withstanding  the  beak  of  the  duck-mole  and  the  recent  re-discovery  of  the  fact  that 
the  Echidna  lays  eggs,  and  whatever  was  the  origin  of  the  mammals,  so  much  is  cer- 
tain, that  they  sprang  from  an  ancestral  stock  with  which  the  birds  are  only  remotely 
connected.  Their  position  between  the  reptiles  and  the  mammals  in  our  linear  system 
does  not  indicate  any  intermediate  position  in  nature,  but  is  simply  due  to  our  inability 
of  expressing  exact  relationships  on  a  flat  sheet  of  paper. 

There  are  other  features  which  frequently  arc  attributed  to  the  bird  class  as  diag- 
nostic, but  which  really  are  of  but  little  account;  for  instance,  the  modification  of  the 
jaws  into  a  beak  sheathed  with  horn  and  destitute  of  teeth,  for  not  only  have  the 
vou  iv.  —  1 


2  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

turtles  and  the  duck-mole  similar  beaks,  but  we  know  now  that  teeth  were  as  common 
in  certain  groups  of  extinct  birds  as  they  are  in  reptiles  or  mammals  nowadays.  Nor 
is  the  laying  of  eggs  and  their  hatching  an  exclusive  characteristic  of  the  feathered 
tribes,  for  we  have  birds  which  leave  the  hatching  to  be  done  by  the  heat  of  decaying 
vegetable  matter  heaped  upon  them,  while  the  latest  indications  are  that  the  old  report 
of  the  Monotremes  laying  eggs,  hitherto  regarded  as  a  fable,  is  substantially  true. 
The  so-called  *  pneumacity '  of  the  bird-skeleton,  or  the  peculiarity  of  the  bones  being 
hollow  and  filled  with  air  through  the  canals  in  connection  with  the  respiratory  organs, 
has  also  been  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  birds  only,  but  the  bones  of  the  extinct 
Pterosaurians  and  some  other  forms  were  also  filled  with  air,  air-canals  being  present 
in  nearly  all  the  bones  of  the  skeletons  of  the  larger  species,  while  several  recent 
birds,  for  instance  the  kiwis  and  the  penguins,  are  entirely  destitute  of  pneumacity  in 
any  part  of  the  skeleton. 

We  will  mention  one  more  character  which  cannot  be  upheld  as  peculiar  to  the 
birds  in  view  of  our  present  knowledge.  It  is  well  known  that  in  birds  the  different 
bones  of  the  skull  grow  together  at  an  early  age,  fusing  so  completely  that  the  borders 
of  the  individual  bones  are  completely  obliterated,  while  in  most  other  vertebrates 
these  bones  remain  separated  by  sutures  during  the  whole  lifetime  of  the  animal. 
Still  there  have  been  found  remains  of  an  extinct  bird,  the  remarkable  Gastornis,  in 
which  the  sutures  were  permanent,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  all  tends  to  show  that 
the  ancient  Pterosaurians  had  the  different  pieces  of  the  skull  fused  together  as  com- 
pletely and  as  early  as  any  bird  now  living. 

Since  we  thus  have  to  fall  back  upon  the  feathers  as  the  most  distinctive  feature 
of  a  bird,  a  brief  comment  upon  their  structure  and  origin  may  not  be  out  of  place. 
Comparing  the  scales  of  reptiles,  the  feathers  of  birds,  and  the  hairs  of  mammals,  the 
popular  verdict  would  probably  be  in  favor  of  regarding  the  hairs  and  the  feathers  as 
more  resembling  one  another  than  either  of  them  do  the  scales,  particularly  when  we 
remember  the  many  hair-like  appendages  in  birds.  Scientific  investigation,  however, 
seemed  to  prove  the  correctness  of  quite  the  opposite  view,  and  the  alleged  identity  of 
scales  and  feathers  has  been  frequently  used  as  a  further  argument  for  the  close  relation- 
ship between  reptiles  and  birds,  the  scale-like  feathers  along  the  edge  of  the  penguin's 
wing  being  regarded  as  a  structure  intermediate  in  character  between  the  two  kinds  of 
integument  and  a  proof  of  their  common  origin,  while  much  stress  was  laid  upon  the 
differences  between  hair  and  feather.  True,  the  latter  differ  radically,  particularly  in 
their  early  stages,  for  a  hair  is  formed  in  a  solid  ingrowth  of  the  epidermis,  while  the 
feather  originates  on  the  top  of  a  large  papilla ;  but  the  homology  of  the  latter  with  the 
scales  of  the  reptiles  is  not  therefore  a  sure  thing,  and  Mr.  J.  A.  Jeffries  has  recently 
brought  forward  arguments  which  indicate  a  different  nature  of  the  two  structures,  the 
strongest  being  that  feathers  may  grow  upon  scuta.  It  should  also  be  remarked  that 
the  above-mentioned  scale-like  feathers  of  the  penguin  are  in  every  respect  true  feathers, 
and  not  half  feather,  half  scale. 

Young  birds,  when  breaking  the  egg  enclosing  them,  vary  greatly  in  their  develop- 
ment, some  being  quite  naked,  as,  for  example,  most  Passeres,  Picarias,  herons,  and 
cormorants,  but  soon  assuming  a  more  or  less  full  covering  of  soft  down,  which  again 
is  replaced  by  firmer  feathers ;  other  kinds  are  not  hatched  before  the  downy  clothing 
is  perfected  within  the  egg-shell,  while  the  final  feather  plumage  is  put  on  afterwards ; 
the  former  are  called  Gymnopoedes  (gymnos,  naked ;  paides,  children) ;  the  latter 
group  ;  Dasypffides  (dasys,  downy).  All  the  Gymnopsedes  are  fed  in  the  nest  by  the 


INTRODUCTION.  3 

parents  (Altrices),  and  so  arc  many  of  those  which  are  born  down-clad,  but  a  great 
number  of  the  latter  are  able  to  run  about  immediately  upon  leaving  the  egg  (Prae- 
coces).  A  few  birds  remain  so  long  within  the  egg  that  the  feathers  are  developed 
before  the  shell  bursts,  this  being  the  case  with  the  young  talegallas,  and  these  might 
be  called  Pteropasdes. 

As  remarked  above,  the  feather  is  formed  on  a  dermal  papilla.  At  an  early  stage 
such  papilla?  arise  above  the  surface  of  the  skin,  each  of  which  is  grooved  longitudi- 
nally on  one  side.  This  median  groove  sends  off  laterally  numerous  smaller  ones  in 
an  obliquely  upward  direction,  gradually  becoming  shallower.  The  secretion  of  the 
papilla  moulds  in  these  furrows,  and,  when  pushed  upward  by  new  formations  below, 
dries  and  splits  into  a  feather,  consisting  of  a  scape  and  disconnected  lateral  barbs. 
These  imperfect  feathers  are  called  plumules,  and,  taken  collectively,  constitute  the 
down.  While  the  papilla  from  which  these  plumules  were  formed  sinks  later  on  into 
a  pit  or  follicle  of  the  skin,  another  crop  of  more  perfect  feathers  starts  from  papilla? 
at  the  bottom  of  pits  which  are  situated  at  the  intersections  of  numerous  ridges 
of  the  skin  (the  latter  without  sudoriferous  glands  and  sebaceous  follicles).  These 
papilla?  are  more  deeply  grooved,  and  have,  moreover,  very  often  a  corresponding  but 
slighter  furrow  on  the  opposite  side,  from  which  originates  a  usually  small  extra  feather, 
known  as  the  after-shaft  (hyporachis),  and  attached  to  the  under  side  of  the  main 
shaft.  These  stronger  and  more  perfect  feathers,  which  are  called  contour  feathers, 
consist  of  a  central  stem  and  a  lateral  '  web '  on  each  side.  The  former  is  composed 
of  two  parts ;  a  lower,  cylindrical,  and  hollow  portion,  the  quill  proper,  enclosing  the 
papilla,  which  shrivels  when  the  feather  ceases  to  grow ;  it  merges  into  the  terminal 
part,  the  shaft,  which  is  four-sided  and  solid,  and  from  which  spring  two  lateral  sets 
of  barbs  or  radii ;  these  have  on  their  margins  secondary  processes,  barbules,  which  by 
means  of  small  hooks  or  barbicels  interlock  with  the  neighboring  barbs,  thus  uniting 
them  into  continuous  and  elastic  '  webs,'  termed  the  inner  or  outer  web,  according  to 
the  relative  position  to  the  median  line  of  the  body. 

Only  in  a  few  of  the  recent  birds,  as  in  penguins  and  ostriches,  are  the  feathers  dis- 
tributed evenly  over  the  whole  body.  In  all  Euornithes  they  are  arranged  in  special 
andjregular  groups  or  tracts  (pteryla?),  separated  by  naked  or  downy  spaces  (apteria), 
which  are  concealed~BytEe~overlying  feathers  of  the  neighboring  tracts,  an  arrangement 
by  which  smoothness  of  the  plumage  is  secured  whatever  movement  the  bird  may  under- 
take. It  may  be  regarded  as  a  rule  that  the  smaller  the  feathers  in  a  tract  the  smaller 
are  the  separating  spaces,  the  latter  sometimes  becoming  so  narrow  as  to  be  nearly 
obliterated.  The  different  grouping  of  the  tracts,  their  distribution  and  ramification, 
are  subject  to  considerable  variation,  and  are  to  a  certain  extent  valuable  for  syste- 
matic purposes,  because  sometimes  diagnostic  of  important  divisions. 

Two  of  the  pteryla?  are  of  special  interest  and  importance  —  the  alar  and  the 
caudal  tracts,  both  including  the  strongest  feathers  of  the  whole  body.  From  the 
former  spring  the  remiges,  which  form  the  essential  part  of  the  wing,  and  without 
which  no  bird  can  fly.  Those  which  are  fixed  to  the  hand  are  called  primaries ; 
secondaries  are  those  on  the  forearm,  the  three  innermost  of  which  are  styled  tertiaries. 
The  number  of  primaries  is  usually  ten,  often  nine,  very  seldom  eleven ;  that  of  sec- 
ondaries from  six  to  forty.  The  bases  of  these  are  overlaid  by  several  rows  of  larger 
and  smaller  contour  feathers,  the  upper  or  under  wing  coverts,  according  to  their  posi- 
tion on  the  upper  or  lover  surface  of  the  wing.  For  further  detail  we  refer  to  the 
accompanying  cut,  which  will  give  more  information  at  a  glance  than  we  can  detail  in 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


alula;  p,  primaries;  Ic,  lesser  coverts;  gc,  greater 
coverts;  pc,  primary  coverts;  me,  middle  coverts;  s, 
secondaries;  sc,  scapulars;  t,  tertiaries. 


a  long  description ;  but  we  would  like  to  call  attention  to  the  middle  row  (me  in  the 
figure),  the  so-called  '  middle  coverts,'  which  in  many  birds,  particularly  among  the 

Passeres,  are  arranged  in  a  manner  dif- 
ferent from  the  other  feathers,  as  they 
overlap  each  other  with  their  inner 
edges,  while  all  the  other  feathers  have 
the  outer  margin  free,  and  the  inner  one 
covered  by  the  overlying  feathers.  The 
caudal  tract  embraces  the  tail  feathers 
(rectrices)  and  their  upper  and  under 
coverts.  They  are  in  pairs,  and  are 
counted  from  the  outside  towards  the 
centre.  Their  number  varies  from  eight 
to  thirty-two,  but  twelve  is  the  rule,  less 

FIG.  1.  — Feathers  of  a  passerine  wing,  seen  from  above;    the  rare  exception. 

Besides  these  normal  feathers  there 
are  several  modifications  for  special  pur- 
poses ;  filoplumes,  with  slender  axis  and  rudimental  barbs,  are  often  merely  for  ornament, 
while  the  hair-like  vibrissae,  which  have  no  barbs  at  all,  line  the  mouths  of  many  insect- 
eating  birds,  and  the  eyelids  of  many  birds  of  prey,  toucans,  and  ostriches.  "  Some 
plumes  have  the  barb-tips  breaking  off  as  dust  (powder-down),  and  these  may  be  scat- 
tered (and  transitory,  as  in  the  laemmergeier),  or  dorsal,  or  on  each  side  of  the  spinal 
tract  (some  kites)  ;  or  post-femoral  and  inguinal  (herons,  Z/eptosoma,  tinamous)."  We 
may  also  mention  the  so-called  semiplumes,  feathers  intermediate  between  contour 
feathers  and  down,  and  occupying  the  edges  of  the  feather-tracts;  in  the  hoatzin  the 
apteria  are  nearly  filled  with  them,  and  Garrod  asks  why  they  may  not  be  regarded  as 
degenerated  feathers ;  they  are  usually  concealed  by  the  contour  feathers,  but  long 
semiplumes  are  found  in  some  forms,  as,  for  instance,  the  ornamental  feathers  in  the 
Marabou  stork  (Leptoptilos  dubius). 

Feathers,  generally,  do  not,  like  hairs,  continue  to  grow  indefinitely.  Where 
they  have  attained  their  full  size,  the  vascular  papilla  enclosed  in  the  quill  dries  up, 
forming  the  '  pith,'  and  from  that  moment  no  further  growth,  nor  any  renewing  of 
tissue,  takes  place  in  the  feather.  Therefore,  as  soon  as  the  feathers  are  worn  out,  they 
are  thrown  off,  shed,  and  replaced  by  an  outgrowth  of  new  ones.  This  process,  which 
we  call  molting,  presents  some  variations  and  modifications  in  the  different  groups  of 
birds,  but  may,  as  a  rule,  be  said  to  take  place  annually  after  the  breeding  season,  with 
its  wear  and  tear  to  the  feathers,  is  over.  During  this  general  molt,  all  the  feathers, 
including  wing  and  tail  feathers,  are  shed  gradually,  and  equally,  on  both  sides  of  the 
median  line  of  the  body ;  the  feather  of  one  wing  is  thrown  off  simultaneously  with 
the  corresponding  one  of  the  other,  and  the  same  relation  takes  place  in  the  molt  of 
the  feathers  in  each  half  of  the  tail.  It  is  the  exception,  when  ducks  and  some  other 
birds  lose  all  the  wing  feathers  at  once,  thus  being  deprived  of  the  power  of  flight  for 
a  short  time.  While  wing  and  tail  feathers  are  only  molted  once  a  year,  a  partial 
molt  of  the  smaller  feathers  often  takes  place  early  in  spring,  at  which  time  also 
most  of  the  ornamental  feathers,  borne  only  a  short  time,  make  their  appearance. 
This  renewal  of  a  part  of  the  plumage  is  generally  very  rapid,  and  the  time  between 
the  autumnal  total  molt  and  the  partial  one  in  spring,  as  a  rule,  perhaps,  shorter  than 
between  the  spring  and  the  autumn  changes,  sometimes  being  often  a  brief  period  of 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

a  few  weeks,  as  in  the  eiders  (Somaterice),  but  we  have,  on  the  other  hand,  examples 
of  the  reverse,  as  in  the  ptarmigans  (Lagopus),  some  of  which,  at  least,  show  the 
peculiarity  of  a  permanent  molt  during  the  whole  summer.  Many  birds  retain  the 
first  plumage  during  the  first  winter  of  their  life,  while  others  change  it  a  short  time 
after  they  have  put  it  on;  and  in  some  —  for  instance,  in  the  grouse  family — even  the 
wing-feathers  are  shed  before  the  first  winter  sets  in.  Very  frequently  the  new  plu- 
mage has  a  color  quite  different  from  the  one  which  was  thrown  off,  and  particularly 
Avhere  two  molts  occur,  the  seasonal  change  in  the  color  of  many  birds  is  thus 
accounted  for.  But  there  are  a  whole  category  of  cases  in  which  a  radical  change  in 
the  coloration  according  to  season  is  effected  without  the  feathers  being  molted.  In 
many  birds,  notably  among  the  Passeres,  the  feathers  of  the  new  autumnal  plumage 
will  be  seen  to  be  parti-colored,  the  centre  being  of  a  hue  different  from  that  of  the 
edge.  Let  us  examine  the  fall  plumage,  for  instance,  of  the  adult  common  snow- 
bunting  (Plectrophanes  nivalis).  The-  general  color  is  white,  the  back,  however, 
spotted  with  black,  and  parts  of  the  plumage,  especially  the  head,  suffused  with 
brownish ;  looking  closer  at  the  individual  feathers,  we  find  that  those  on  the  back  are 
really  black,  with  broad  white  margins,  while  the  white  feathers  of  the  head  are  tipped 
with  brownish.  These  edges  and  borders  become  very  brittle  towards  the  approach 
of  next  year's  breeding  season ;  they  fall  off,  leaving  the  black  feather-centres  of  the 
back  and  the  pure  white  part  of  the  other  feathers  exposed,  so  that  the  bird  next  sum- 
mer appears  white,  with  black  back.  It  is  a  similar  process  which  changes  the  appear- 
ance of  the  bobolink  (Doliclionyx  oryzivorus),  besides  that  of  numerous  other  birds, 
so  radically. 

Changes  in  color  may  also  take  place  between  the  molts  and  independent  of  the 
edge-shedding.  In  most  birds  the  color  of  the  plumage  changes  notably  towards  the 
end  of  the  breeding  season  :  wing-feathers  which  formerly  were  black  become  light 
brownish  or  grayish,  vivid  colors  become  dull,  and  a  general  fading  seems  to  take 
place,  caused  by  the  wear  and  tear,  rubbing,  direct  influence  of  the  atmosphere,  of 
rain,  and  of  sunshine,  or,  as  we  are  accustomed  to  call  it,  by  abrasion.  But  the  colors 
may  also  be  intensified,  or  even  radically  changed,  by  abrasion,  provided  the  super- 
ficial layers  which  rub  off  are  of  such  a  nature  as  to  conceal  or  obscure  the  deeper 
and  differently  colored  strata.  We  may  mention  the  common  red-poll  (Acanthis 
linarid)  as  an  example.  It  is  but  fair  to  confess,  however,  that  our  knowledge  of  the 
change  of  color  in  the  individual  feather,  after  having  finished  its  growth,  is  still  very 
defective,  and  that  we  have  to  look  toward  future  investigations  for  answers  to  many 
a  question.  The  same  remark  applies  to  our  knowledge  of  the  pigments  in  feathers 
which  produce  the  colors.  A  coloring  matter  which  is  called  zoomelanin,  and 
thought  to  be  identical  with  coriosulphurine,  seems  to  produce  all  the  black  and  dark 
hues  in  birds,  wrhile  some  green  colors  are  due  to  an  admixture  of  a  yellowish  pigment 
called  psittacofulvine.  A  really  green  pigment  has  only  been  found  in  the  touracos, 
—  hence  the  name  turacoverdin,  —  and  no  blue  or  violet  pigment  has  yet  been  dis- 
covered, while  red  (zooerythrine)  is  quite  common.  Another  red,  turacin,  causes 
the  magnificent  red  on  the  wings  of  the  Musophagidae.  There  is  no  white  pigment, 
but  wherever  that  color  occurs  it  is  due  to  the  countless  number  of  interstices  between 
the  molecules  of  the  feather,  the  substance  of  the  latter  being  colorless.  Many  tints  — 
for  example,  blue,  violet,  and  certain  greens  —  are  not  due  to  the  pigment,  which  is 
black-brown  to  yellow,  but  the  blue  results  from  a  particular  surface-structure  of  the 
feathers,  so  that  it  must  disappear  if  the  color-producing  parts  be  destroyed.  Thus,  if 


6  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

we  hammer  carefully  the  deep  blue  feathers  of  a  macaw,  the  blue  color  immediately  dis- 
appears, and  the  injured  part  looks  gray  or  brownish,  according  to  the  underlying  pig- 
ment. Some  green  parrot  feathers,  when  treated  in  a  similar  way,  become  yellow, 
since  this  is  the  color  of  their  pigment.  Here  we  have  the  explanation  of  the  dark 
appearance  of  the  abraded  parts  of  feathers  of  parrots  and  other  brightly  colored 
birds. 

The  gloss  of  feathers,  independent  of  the  color  itself,  is  the  result  of  their  surface 
being  smooth  and  polished,  while  the  metallic  lustre  is  due  to  a  transparent  sheath 
which  acts  like  a  prism,  a  fact  ascertained  by  Mr.  Gadow.  The  theory  of  the  metallic 
lustre  being  due  to  structure  of  a  prismatic  nature  originated,  however,  with  Professor 
B.  Altum. 

We  mentioned  above  that  the  seasonal  shedding  of  feathers  or  of  their  edges 
usually  causes  a  change  in  the  color  of  the  plumage.  In  some  birds  we  distinguish 
summer  and  winter  plumages,  in  others  nuptial  and  post-nuptial  garbs,  and  in  some 
ptarmigan  may  be  observed  even  four  more  or  less  distinct  attires  nearly  corresponding 
to  the  four  seasons. 

There  are  also  some  interesting  relations  connected  with  the  similarity  and  dissimi- 
larity in  color  between  the  two  sexes,  and  between  the  adults  and  the  young.  Though 
it  might  seem  to  be  the  original  arrangement,  or  perhaps  just,  therefore,  young  birds 
and  the  adults  of  both  sexes  and  at  all  seasons  are  comparatively  seldom  quite  alike. 
The  ProcellaridaB,  or  petrels,  may  be  quoted  as  an  example,  besides  several  others.  If 
the  adults  of  both  sexes,  for  some  reason  or  another,  have  developed  alike  seasonal 
colors,  the  first  plumage  of  the  young  is  very  often  like  that  which  the  parents  assume 
about  the  same  time,  —  that  is  to  say,  their  post-nuptial  or  winter  dress.  In  such  a 
case  the  young  birds  undergo  a  change  in  the  spring  similar  to  that  of  the  old  ones  ; 
many  of  the  auks  (Alcidas)  demonstrate  this  rule.  Whenever  one  of  the  adults,  no 
matter  what  sex,  is  more  richly  colored  than  its  mate,  the  young  usually  resemble  the 
more  plainly  colored  of  the  parents ;  this  rule  is  followed  by  a  great  many,  perhaps 
the  majority  of  birds,  but  exceptions  and  many  modifications  occur.  We  are,  how- 
ever, justified  in  making  this  generalization,  that  species  in  which  both  parents  differ 
materially  from  the  plumage  o£  the  young  are  still  more  specialized  as  to  color  than 
the  foregoing  categories ;  for  we  may  without  hesitation  take  for  granted  that  the 
plumage  of  the  young  is  the  more  generalized,  and  that  the  amount  of  specialization 
is  in  proportion  to  the  departure  from  the  first  garb.  It  follows  that  we  have  to  go  to 
the  birds  in  the  later  plumage,  or  in  that  more  like  it,  whenever  we  wish  to  ascertain 
the  relationship  of  different  forms.  It  will,  therefore,  be  necessary  to  arrange  the 
species  according  to  the  characters  furnished  by  the  young,  or  plain-colored  females, 
and  not  by  the  secondary,  often  highly  specialized,  structure  of  the  males,  if  we  aim 
at  a  natural  classification  based  upon  affinities.  It  will  seem  as  if  there  may  be  a 
possibility  of  finding  out  the  relation  between  the  different  classes  of  plumages,  so 
that  it  might  be  deduced  whether  one  kind  of  plumage  in  a  given  case  —  for  instance, 
a  barred  or  spotted  one  —  is  a  more  specialized  condition  than  another,  say  a  striped  or 
plain  dress ;  but  no  investigations,  covering  a  sufficient  number  of  species  of  all  orders 
and  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  have  been  made  as  yet,  without  which  all  generaliza- 
tions and  speculations  are  premature  and  next  to  valueless. 

Finally,  we  have  to  consider  a  color  problem  which  has  only  come  forward  of  late, 
and  which  still  awaits  its  solution.  There  has  been  invented  a  name  for  the  phenom- 
enon, and  we  are  accustomed  to  call  it  dichromatism,  but  of  its  true  nature  and  its 


INTRODUCTION.  J 

significance  in  the  animal  economy  we  are  quite  ignorant.  By  this  term  we  designate 
the  peculiarity  in  certain  species  of  birds,  that  individuals  present  two  different  styles 
of  coloration,  or  '  phases,'  presumably  more  or  less  independent  of  geographical  dis- 
tribution, present  or  past,  or,  in  fact,  of  any  apparent  cause  whatsoever.  The  difficulty 
in  finding  a  plausible  theory  is  much  increased  by  the  circumstance  that  there  are 
nearly  as  many  kinds  of  dichromatism  as  there  are  dichromatic  species.  We  shall 
mention  a  few  examples.  It  has  been  known  that  the  so-called  Richardson's  jasger 
(Stercorarius  parasiticus)  appears  in  two  different  styles,  one  uniformly  sooty  all 
over,  the  other  with  the  whole  under  side  white.  At  one  time  they  were  regarded  as 
different  species,  while  some  observers  thought  that  the  difference  was  a  sexual  one  ; 
but  it  is  now  demonstrated  beyond  doubt  that  the  white  and  the  dark  bird  are  only 
individual  phases  of  the  same  species,  irrespective  of  sex  or  locality.  It  is  interesting 
to  remark  that  the  closely  allied  species  S.  longicaudus  has  only  one,  the  light  phase. 
The  relation  between  the  common  and  the  spectacled  murre  (  Uria  troile  and  ringvia) 
seems  to  be  somewhat  similar,  the  latter  having  a  white  ring  round  the  eye  and  a  post- 
ocular  stripe  which  is  wanting  in  the  former,  a  strong  argument  being  the  relative 
paucity  of  the  spectacled  form,  in  connection  with  the  fact  that  it  does  not  occur  in 
any  locality  where  the  plain-colored  one  is  not  found.  A  more  striking  and  also  more 
puzzling  example  of  dichromatism  is  exhibited  by  several  members  of  the  heron 
family,  a  question  which  has  been  particularly  studied  by  Mr.  R.  Ridgway.  Already 
Peale's  egret  and  Wiirdeman's  heron  have  disappeared,  as  separate  species,  from  the 
lists  of  North  American  birds.  It  is  regarded  as  proven  that  the  former  is  only  a 
white  phase  of  the  reddish  egret  (Dichromanassa  rufa,  the  generic  name  of  which 
has  been  given  according  to  this  view)  ;  for,  according  to  Ridgway,  in  Florida,  where 
they  breed  abundantly,  both  forms  have  been  found  in  the  same  nest,  attended  by 
parents  either  both  reddish,  both  white,  or  one  in  each  of  these  stages  of  plumage, 
other  circumstances  at  the  same  time  leading  to  the  conclusion  that  the  two  phases 
are  not  only  not  specifically  distinct,  but  that  they  have  nothing  to  do  with  either  sex, 
age,  or  season.  In  the  little  blue  heron  (Florida  cceruka)  the  facts  are  still  more  con- 
vincing ;  for  here  the  white  phase  is  seldom,  if  ever,  perfectly  developed  in  the  adults, 
while  intermediate  specimens  are  much  more  numerous.  The  question  is  considerably 
more  complicated  when  we  come  to  the  great  white  and  the  great  blue  herons  of  this 
country.  We  shall  state  the  facts  briefly,  first  giving  a  clue  to  the  different  forms, 
which  may  be  distinguished  thus :  — 

t  Ardea  occidentalis,  white  all  over. 
)live;  size  larger,  j  Ardea  wiirdemanni,  parti-colored;  occiput  and  plumes  white. 

(  Ardea  wardi,      \ 
Legs  black;  size  smaller,  Ardea  herodias,  }  Partl-colored 5  occipital  streak  and  plumes  black. 

No  white  phase  of  herodias  is  as  yet  known,  which  seems  rather  strange  when  we 
consider  that  Ardea  icardi,  which  is  almost  an  exact  counterpart  of  A.  herodias, 
except  in  the  coloration  of  the  legs  and  the  size,  is  matched  so  absolutely  by  A.  occi- 
dentalis, as  far  as  structure  is  concerned,  that  the  two  could  not  possibly  be  told  apart 
if  the  colored  bird  be  bleached  so  as  to  become  pure  white.  The  same  may  be  said  of 
A.  wiirdemanni,  and  we  might  be  led  to  suppose  a  kind  of  trichromatism,  the  white 
occidentalis  with  two  different  colored  phases,  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  the  type 
specimen  of  A.  icttrdemanni  is  still  unique,  and  therefore  most  probably  nothing  more 
than  an  individual  variety,  or  an  adolescent  bird  not  having  yet  lost  the  last  traces  of 


8  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

the  young  plumage.  Candor  compels  us  to  state,  however,  that  the  evidence  for  the 
white  and  the  colored  birds  being  only  phases  is  yet  insufficient,  the  more  so  as  geo- 
graphical distribution  seems  to  have  something  to  do  with  the  matter,  for  it  is  stated 
that,  in  Florida,  the  white  birds  are  confined  mainly  to  the  Atlantic  coast,  while  the 
colored  ones  chiefly  inhabit  the  Gulf  side.  The  example  from  the  herons  can  be 
nearly  duplicated  by  the  status  of  some  forms  of  fulmars  from  the  northern  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  oceans,  although  in  this  case  the  geographical  distribution  seems  to  be  a 
moment  of  still  greater  importance,  for  I  think  I  have  proved  that,  in  both  oceans,  the 
dark  phases  are  predominant  to  the  westward.  We  have  other  examples  of  dichroma- 
tism  in  the  same  group  as  the  dark  and  the  white  form  of  Ossifraga  gigantea ;  and 
Mr.  Ridgway's  suggestion,  that  it  will  be  found  more  extensively  all  through  the  super- 
family  of  the  Tubinares  or  Procellaroideae,  is  well  worth  consideration.  Dichroma- 
tism  among  the  owls,  or  erythrochroism,  as  it  is  here  called,  because  of  rufous  being 
the  color  producing  one  of  the  phases,  is  not  uncommon,  but  seems  to  be  still  more 
influenced  by  the  geographical  distribution,  at  least  in  our  little  screech  owl  (Mega- 
scops  asio),  which,  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  has  more  rufous  than  gray  individuals,  in 
the  Atlantic  states  both  phases  nearly  equally  represented,  while  west  of  and  includ- 
ing the  Rocky  Mountains,  only  gray  birds  occur.  Want  of  space  compels  us  to  pass 
in  silence  many  more  examples,  for  instance,  the  white  and  the  blue-winged  snow- 
geese,  the  dark  and  light-colored  phases  of  many  hawks  (Huteones),  but  we  cannot  dis- 
miss this  matter  without  having  mentioned  that  most  perplexing  question  to  American 
ornithologists:  What  are  the  relations  of  the  two  forms  of  flickers  (Colaptes)  and 
their  numerous  intermediate  individuals?  The  two  flickers  are  mainly  characterized 
by  the  color  of  the  under  surface  of  the  wing  and  tail  feathers,  these  being  red  in  the 
red-shafted  (  Colaptes  mexicanus),  gamboge  yellow  in  the  yellow-shafted  flicker  ( (7.  au- 
ratus),  in  addition  to  which  the  latter  has  a  red  nuchal  crescent;  besides,  the  males 
are  distinguished  by  having  a  malar  stripe,  which  is  red  in  the  red-shafted  species,  but 
black  in  the  other ;  the  former  is  chiefly  a  western  bird,  the  latter  inhabits  the  east  and 
the  north.  Hardly  two  species  could  look  more  distinct  than  the  typical  specimens  of 
these  remarkable  birds ;  but  the  characters  are  mixed  in  every  possible  degree  in  the 
individuals  inhabiting  the  region  intermediate  between  the  two,  to  such  an  extent  as 
to  be  completely  without  parallel  among  birds.  They  were  generally  declared  to  be 
hybrids  until  intermediate  specimens  were  found  in  localities  —  for  example,  Florida  — 
where  only  one  of  the  typical  species  occur,  and,  consequently,  hybridity  is  an  impos- 
sibility. Are  they  incipient  species?  are  they  local  varieties?  or  what?  As  there  are 
no  structural  characters  involved,  the  question  is  merely  one  of  color ;  why  then  not 
seek  refuge  in  '  dichromatism '  or  rather  '  trichromatism,'  affected  by  geographical  dis- 
tribution, it  is  true,  but  not  in  the  usual  way,  as  there  are  geographical  sub-species  of 
the  common  kind  besides.  We  shall  not  attempt  a  solution  here,  but  would  like  to 
put  the  question  thus :  Why  may  not  the  birds  with  red  crescent  and  red  moustache 
(this  probably  being  the  most  numerous  form  of  the  so-called  lhybridus'),  be  the 
original  stock,  which,  westward,  became  modified  into  mexicanus,  eastward  into 
auratus,  the  isolated  individuals,  with  mixed  characters,  being  due  to  atavism,  or  occa- 
sional outbreak  of  the  characters  of  the  original  stock,  while  a  great  many  of  the 
mixed  individuals  from  the  intermediate  region  might  be  regarded  as  products  of 
hybridization?  In  other  words,  why  not  a  trichromatism  on  the  verge  of  forming 
three  different  species,  or  two  if  —  as  would  be  expected  —  the  original  (intermediate) 
stock  died  out  at  last?  A  point  which  seems  to  strengthen  such  a  view  is  the  fact 


INTRODUCTION. 

that  there  exists  another  yellow-shafted  species  with  red  mystacal  strips  but  not  red  nuchal 
crescent,  viz.,  Colaptes  chrysoides.  If  this  theory  be  correct,  we  would  have  a  clew  to 
another  class  of  dichromatic  species,  viz.,  those  which  now  are  stereotyped  into  two 
invariable  forms  or  species,  separated  geographically,  but  still  identical  in  structure. 
We  shall  only  mention  an  example  recently  brought  forward  by  Mr.  Ridgway,  that  of 
the  scarlet  and  the  white  ibises  (Gruara  rubra  and  alba),  of  which  he  very  character- 
istically remarks  that  they  are  now  so  different  in  color  that  probably  nobody  would 
deny  their  specific  distinction,  though  structurally  so  alike  that  a  specimen  of  the 
white  one  dyed  scarlet  would  be  indistinguishable  from  G.  rubra.  The  question  which 
finally  impresses  itself  upon  the  inquirer,  in  view  of  the  above  facts,  is  this:  Are  not 
the  two  or  three  '  phases '  of  dichromatic  or  trichromatic  species  '  incipient  species,' 
the  final  fate  of  which  will  be  that  of  the  white  and  the  scarlet  ibises? 

We  have  enlarged  considerably  upon  this  subject,  because  it  is  one  of  the  most 
perplexing,  and,  consequently,  most  interesting  questions  in  modern  ornithology.  It 
shows  what  we  know,  and  particularly  what  we  do  not  know ;  it  shows  that  ornithology 
means  more  than  a  mere  description  and  naming  of  birds,  that  one  of  its  aims  is  to  con- 
tribute to  the  solution  of  the  great  problem  of  the  age :  "  The  origin  of  species," 

Besides  feathers,  we  recognize  in  birds  other  epidermal  appendages,  as  the  horny 
sheaths  of  the  beak,  the  teeth  in  some  extinct  forms,  the  scaly  covering  of  the  feet,  spurs, 
and  nails.  Most  of  these  different  structures  will  be  more  advantageously  treated  of  in 
other  connections,  and  under  the  head  of  such  groups  in  which  they  may  be  of  special 
interest,  although  we  wish  here  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  parts  of  the  horny 
beak  and  the  nails  of  the  toes  may  be  shed  in  a  way  analogous  to  that  of  the  molt 
of  the  feathers,  referring,  as  we  do,  to  the  deciduous  nature  of  the  basal  parts  of  the 
bill  in  several  members  of  the  auk  family  (puffins  and  dwarf-auks),  to  the  '  centre- 
board '  of  the  white  pelican's  bill,  and  to  the  seasonal  claw-molt  in  the  grouse-family, 
particularly  the  ptarmigans.  The  most  primitive  form  of  the  horny  covering  of  the 
feet  seems  to  be  its  division  into  uniform  hexagonal  scales,  and  is  called  reticulate  ;  the 
next  stage  is  when  some  of  these  scales  fuse  together,  forming  what  is  termed  scuta, 
or  scutella,  which  particularly  cover  the  anterior  part  of  the  tarsus  and  the  upper  sur- 
face of  the  toes ;  still  further  specialization  is  indicated  by  the  tarsal  scuta  fusing  into 
a  continuous  covering  which,  in  its  extreme  development,  embraces  both  the  front  and 
the  back  of  the  tarsus,  as  in  some  of  the  higher  group  of  passerine  birds ;  such  a 
tarsus  is  said  to  be  '  booted.' 

It  has  already  been  remarked  that  the  skin  has  no  sudoriferous  glands  nor  sebaceous 
follicles;  but  we  cannot  dismiss  the  dermal  system  before  having  mentioned  the  bilobed 
oil-gland  placed  at  the  base  of  the  tail-feathers  on  the  '  pope's  nose,'  and  seldom  miss- 
ing, as  it  is  in  the  ostriches  apd  some  few  other  birds.  When  'preening'  their 
feathers,  birds  press  the  fatty  substance  out  of  this  oil-box  with  their  beaks,  and  by 
p:issing  each  feather  between  the  mandibles,  anoint  the  whole  plumage  in  order  to 
keep  it  in  repair  and  protect  it  against  getting  wet,  as  particularly  noticeable  in  water 
birds. 

Turning  now  to  the  other  structural  systems  of  the  bird's  body,  it  is  not  our  inten- 
tion to  enlarge  upon  or  even  mention  such  general  features  as  are  regularly  found  in 
the  text-books,  only  those  being  deemed  worth  our  attention,  in  the  present  connection, 
which  are  of  particular  importance  for  an  intelligent  understanding  of  modern  orni- 
thological classification,  or  questions  which  at  present  are  most  occupying  the  lovers 
of  our  beautiful  science. 


10 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


The  different  bones  of  the  head  anchylose  very  early,  it  being  a  distinctive  char- 
acter of  all  living  birds  to  possess  a  continuous  skull-case  without  sutures ;  but  it  must 
be  borne  in  mind  that  we  know  of  an  extinct  group  of  birds,  the  Gastornithes,  in 

which  the  sutures  were  permanent.  Notwithstanding  a 
general  uniformity  in  the  bird  cranium,  certain  variations 
of  the  osteological  structure,  particularly  of  the  palate 
and  the  base  of  the  skull,  have  of  late  obtained  a  great 
prominence  as  systematic  characters  by  the  investigations 
of  Professor  Huxley,  and  his  famous  classification  of  the 
birds  based  upon  them.  Although  not  prepared  to  attach 
so  great  an  importance  to  these  features  as  has  been  at- 
tributed to  them  by  many  ornithologists,  we  will  have 
to  pay  special  attention  to  them,  as  in  many  cases  they 
play  a  role  in  the  ornithological  classification  similar  to 
that  of  the  teeth  in  mammals. 

Professor  Huxley  distinguished  four  different  types  of 
the  palate,  which  he  has  called  dromceognathous,  schizo- 
gnathous,  desmognathous,  and  cegithognathous,  and  Pro- 
fessor Parker  has  separated  a  fifth  type,  which  he  styles 
saurognathous.  Referring  for  explanation  to  the  accom- 
panying cuts,  which  will  give  the  desired  information 
much  easier  than  the  best  description,  we  abstain  from 
any  detailed  account,  only  calling  attention  in  a  few 
words  to  the  most  salient  features.  Fig.  2  represents 
the  dromaeognathous  structure  of  the  palate,  as  found 
in  the  emu  and,  with  some  modifications,  in  the  other 
ostriches  and  the  tinamous.  In 

these,  to  use  Huxley's  own  words,  "the  posterior  ends  of  the 
palatines  (pi)  and  the  anterior  ends  of  the  pterygoids  (p£)  are 
very  imperfectly,  or  not  at  all,  articulated  with  the  basi-sphe- 
noidal  rostrum  (7?),  being  usually  separated  from  it,  and  sup- 
ported, by  the  broad,  cleft,  hinder  end  of  the  vomer  "  (vo).  The 
rest  of  the  birds,  consequently,  have  the  palatine  and  pterygoid 
bones  articulating  with  the  sphenoidal  rostrum,  and  not  borne 
up  by  the  posterior  ends  of  the  vomer.  The  arrangement  illus- 
trated by  Fig.  3  is  the  one  called  desmognathous,  since  the 
maxillo-palatines  (nixp)  are  united  medially  in  the  palate  (des- 
mos,  a  bond),  the  vomer,  at  the  same  time  being  rudimentary, 
or  quite  absent,  as,  for  instance,  in  ducks,  flamingos,  herons,  cor- 
morants, pelicans,  birds  of  prey,  parrots,  cuckoos,  etc.  Fig.  4 
shows  a  palate  quite  different.  Here  is  a  cleft  between  the 
maxillo-palatines  (mxp),  and  another  between  them  and  the 
vomer  (t'o),  hence  the  name  schizognathous  (schizo,  I  cleave)  ; 
but,  in  addition  to  this,  the  character  of  the  vomer,  being 
pointed  in  front,  is  essential,  since  by  this  mark  the  true  schizo- 
gnathous birds,  —  for  instance,  the  penguins,  auks,  gulls,  snipes, 
fowls,  grouse,  pigeons,  etc.,  —  are  separated  from  another  great  group  of  birds,  which 
have  the  palate  "  aegithognathous,  or  sparrow-like,  for  in  these,  as  exemplified  by 


FIG.  2. — Under  view  of  the  skull  of 
the  emu  (Dromteognathous);  bptp, 
basipterygoid  process  of  the  sphe- 
noid; mxp,  maxillo-palatine;  pi, 
palatine  :  pmx,  praemaxilla ;  pt, 
pterygoid;  wo,  vomer;  R,  basisphe- 
noidal  rostrum. 


mxp 


FIG.  3.  —  Under  view  of  the 
skull  of  a  cormorant  (Des- 
mognathous). The  letters 
as  before. 


INTRODUCTION. 


11 


FIG.  4.  —  Under  view  of  the 
skull  of  the  capercallie 
(schizognathous).  The 
letters  as  before. 


Fig.  5,  we  also  find  the  maxillo-palatines  (mxp)  separate  medially  and  from  the  vomer 
(yo),  but  the  latter  is  truncate  in  front  and  cleft  behind,  embracing  the  basisphenoid 
rostrum  (R)  between  its  forks.  Finally,  the  saurognathous  pal- 
ate, which  is  peculiar  to  the  super-family  Picoideae,  is  particu- 
larly remarkable  for  having  the  two  lateral  halves  of  the  vomer 
separate. 

It  may  be  well,  however,  to  state  that  these  characters  are 
by  no  means  always  very  trenchant,  as  two  types  often  inter- 
grade  insensibly,  while  in  other  cases  we  find  them  sharply  ex- 
pressed in  nearly  related  forms,  as  an  example  of  which  we 
shall  only  mention  the  closely  allied  genera  Megalaima  and  Tet- 
ragonops,  besides  several  of  the  birds  of  prey. 

The  anterior  nostrils  are  situated  at  the  base  of  the  beak 
(except  in  some  Struthious  birds,  for  example,  Apteryx,  in 
which  they  open  near  its  tip),  and  may  have  a  well-defined  and 
rounded  hinder  edge,  a  condition  called  holorhinal  by  Pro- 
fessor Gai'rod,  or  be  prolonged  backwards  as  a  fissure,  when  the 
term  schizorhinal  is  used.  A  peculiar  feature  of  the  bird's 
beak  is  the  flexibility  of  its  union  to  the  frontals  by  the  long 
nasals  and  frontal  processes  of  the  premaxillae ;  this  is  carried 
to  an  extreme  in  the  parrots,  in  which  the  connection  between 
the  beak  and  the  forehead  is  formed  by  a  movable  joint.  The 

two  halves  of  the  lower  jaw  anchylose  early,  except  in  some  fossil  forms,  and  the  sym- 
physis  (and  consequently  the  gonys)  is  of  very  varying  length.  None  of  the  recent 
birds  have  teeth  in  their  jaws,  and  this  negative  character  was  a  long  time  regarded  as 

distinctive  of  the  class,  as  compared  with  the  great  ma- 
jority of  reptiles  and  mammals.  Rudimentary  teeth 
have  lately  been  demonstrated  in  the  grooves  of  the 
lower  jaw  of  the  embryonic  penguin.  It  is  also  claimed 
that  rudiments  of  teeth,  in  sockets  and  covered  by  den- 
tine, have  been  found  in  embryos  of  parrots.  Late  in- 
vestigations have  failed  to  discover  the  dentine.  Besides, 
important  groups  of  fossil  birds  have  of  late  been  dis- 
covered, which  were  more  or  less  richly  supplied  with 
teeth ;  as,  for  instance,  Arc/ice  opteryx,  Laopteryx,  Gas- 
tornis,  Argillornis,  Hesperornis,  Ichthyornis  /  the  last 
had  teeth  in  sockets,  while  those  of  Hesperornis  were 
fixed  in  grooves,  and  were  shed  in  a  similar  way  to  those 
of  the  reptiles. 

The  "  saddle-shaped  "  vertebra  is  peculiar  to  the  bird 
FIO.  5.— under  view  of  a  sparrow-like  class,  that  is  to  say,  the  vast  majority  of  living  birds  have 
SribftgB*tll00-)l    Thelet"  the  antesacral  vertebra?  saddle-shaped,  a  form  not  seen 

elsewhere ;  but  opisthocoelian  vertebra?  may  occasionally 

occur,  being  even  the  rule  among  the  penguins,  \vhile  biconcave  or  amphiccelian  verte- 
brae, such  as  we  find  in  fishes  and  many  batrachians  and  reptiles,  particularly  fossil  forms, 
are  one  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  the  extinct  Archceopteryx,  Ichthyornis,  Apa- 
tornis,  and,  probably,  Laopteryx.  The  number  of  cervical  vertebra?  varies  between  nine 
and  twenty-five,  those  of  the  dorsal  region  between  four  and  eleven,  or,  exceptionally, 


pmx 


mxp 


12  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

only  three ;  the  latter  are  firmly  anchylosed  with  the  lumbo-sacral  vertebras,  except  in 
the  penguins.  Caudal  vertebras  occur  in  numbers  from  seven  to  fifteen  (21  ?),  the  largest 
number  being  found  in  the  sub-class  Saururae,  embracing  the  Jurassic  Archceopteryx. 
Next  in  number  comes  Hesperornis,  from  the  cretaceous  formation,  with  twelve,  while 
most  of  the  living  birds  have  from  seven  to  ten.  In  Archceopteryx  they  were  all  free, 
each  supporting  a  pair  of  tail  feathers ;  in  Hesperornis  the  last  ones  were  anchylosed,  and 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  it  had  no  rectrices  at  all ;  in  other  birds,  the  last  ours, 
which  are  still  separate  in  the  embryo,  become  fused  completely  together  in  the  adults, 
so  as  to  form  a  single  bone,  which,  from  its  peculiar  shape,  has  been  called  the 
'ploughshare  bone,'  or  the  pygostyle ;  it  supports  the  oil-glands,  and,  indirectly,  the 
rectrices,  which,  on  account  of  the  shortening  of  the  tail,  have  been  forced  out  to  the 
extreme  end  of  the  vertebral  column.  It  has  been  suggested  that  the  number  of 
rectrices  correspond  with  the  number  of  caudal  vertebras,  including  those  forming  the 
pygostyle. 

The  breast-bone  is  generally  provided  with  a  keel,  which,  however,  becomes  greatly 
reduced  or  is  wanting  altogether  in  those  forms  in  which  the  fore  limbs  have  ceased  to 
act  as  locomotive  organs  (wings  or  paddles),  as,  for  instance  the  ostriches,  kiwis,  Hes- 
perornis,  JVbtornis,  the  dodo,  Cnemiornis,  and  the  large  ground-parrot  or  kakapo 
(Strigops)  from  New  Zealand.  It  must  be  remembered  that  a  sternal  (episternal)  keel 
is  not  an  entirely  unknown  thing  among  the  reptiles.  Sternal  ribs  are  connected  with 
the  foremost  dorsal  ribs  by  hinge  joints  ;  the  ribs  are  provided  with  uncinate  processes ; 
these  are  wanting  in  the  fossil  Archceopteryx  and  in  Chauna  among  living  birds,  but 
are,  on  the  other  hand,  found  in  some  reptiles,  for  example,  in  Hatteria  and  in  the 
crocodiles. 

The  shoulder  girdle  consists  of  a  long,  narrow,  and  curved  scapula,  a  form  which 
among  the  reptiles  is  found  in  the  pterodactyls  ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  shoulder 
bone  is  quite  flattened  and  broadened  behind  in  the  penguins.  The  collar-bones 
usually  unite  into  a  'wish-bone,'  or  'merrythought'  (furculum).  They  are  sep- 
arate in  a  few  forms,  as  in  the  emu  and  some  owls,  while  they  are  altogether  absent  in 
the  ostrich,  the  kiwis,  a  few  parrots,  etc.  The  arm-bones  offer  but  little  for  remark. 
We  may  refer  to  the  arrangement  of  the  elbow-joint,  which  is  so  constructed  as  to 
allow  movement  in  one  plane  for  extension  and  flexion  only,  but  not  for  supination 
and  pronation ;  the  same  remark  applies  to  the  carpal  joint ;  both  joints  are  stiff  and 
nearly  immovable  in  the  penguins.  Birds  have,  when  adults,  usually  two  carpal 
bones,  one  ulnar  and  one  radial  (as  have  also  the  crocodiles),  but  a  few  deprived 
of  the  power  of  flight  —  for  instance,  the  cassowary  and  the  kiwi — have  only  a  single 
carpal.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  this  was  also  the  condition  in  Archceopteryx.  The 
metacarpals  are  usually  three  in  number  and  more  or  less  fused  together,  that  of  the 
first  finger,  or  pollex,  generally  being  indicated  by  a  process  at  the  proximal  end  of  the 
second  metacarpal.  Archceopteryx  differs  remarkably  by  having  all  three  metacarpals 
free  and  well  developed.  The  carpus  is  sometimes  provided  on  the  anterior  side  with 
an  accessory  bone  supporting  a  thick,  horny  spur,  as  in  the  screamer,  the  spurwinged 
goose,  and  others,  which  should  not  be  confounded  with  the  claws  at  the  end  of  the 
fingers,  a  mistake  not  at  all  uncommon. 

Corresponding  to  the  three  metacarpals,  the  number  of  the  fingers  is  also  three,  a 
free  pollex  being  absent  in  the  penguins  and  cassowaries,  however.  Judging  from  the 
number  of  phalanges  in  the  three  fingers  left,  —  the  radial  one  usually  having  one,  the 
middle  finger  three  or  two,  and  the  ulnar  finger  sometimes  three,  but  oftener  two  or 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

one,  —  the  fingers  which  are  lost  are  the  fourth  and  fifth.  When  two-jointed,  the 
pollex,  or  first  finger,  usually  carries  a  pointed  claw,  and  so  may  also  the  second  one, 
if  three-jointed.  The  third  finger  only  supports  a  claw  in  Archceopteryx  (three- 
jointed).  A  reduction  in  the  number  of  phalanges  is  noticeable  as  correlated  with 
specialization  in  other  directions,  hence  being  found  commonly  among  the  so-called 
'higher'  birds. 

"When  the  wings  are  closed,  the  bones  are  usually  folded  up  in  such  a  way  that  the 
hand  forms  a  sharp  angle  with  and  underneath  the  forearm,  so  that  the  tips  of  the 
fingers  point  backward;  this  is  not  the  case  with  the  Struthionine  birds,  in  which 
the  hand  is  directed  forward.  In  the  penguins  the  joints  are  nearly  inflexible,  and 
the  hand  is  directed  downward  nearly  in  the  prolongation  of  the  axis  of  the  forearm. 

Reserving  the  account  of  the  different  structures  of  the  pelvis  to  the  remarks 
heading  those  groups  in  which  it  is  of  special  interest,  we  would  here  only  call  atten- 
tion to  Professor  Marsh's  discovery  of  the  separate  condition  of  the  pelvic  elements  in 
Archceopteryx,  in  contradistinction  to  other  birds  in  which  they  are  anchylosed 
together  in  the  adult  state,  and  to  the  loose  way  in  which  the  pelvic  bones  are  fixed 
to  the  vertebral  column  in  the  penguins. 

In  all  birds  the  thigh  bone  is  shorter  than  the  tibia,  a  relation  nearly  unknown 
among  the  reptiles ;  the  same  proportion  is  found,  however,  in  the  very  bird-like,  but 
still  indisputably  Dinosaurian  reptile,  Composognathus,  from  the  Jurassic  formation, 
and  in  the  Pterodactyls.  The  femoro-caudal  muscle,  which,  for  example,  produces 
the  curious  sideways  movement  of  the  duck's  tail,  is  in  some  birds  inserted  upon  a  tro- 
chanter  of  the  femur,  which,  according  to  Professor  Dollo,  is  the  homologue  of  the 
third,  or,  as  he  proposes  to  call  it,  the  fourth  trochanter  of  the  Iguanodon.  The  tibia 
is  sometimes  provided  with  a  large  cnemial  process  in  front  of  the  knee,  as  in  the  loons 
and  grebes  and  the  extinct  Hesperornis  and  Cnemiornis ;  the  fibula  is  usually  more 
or  less  rudimentary ;  as  a  peculiarity  of  that  part  in  Archceopteryx  may  be  mentioned 
that  its  distal  end  was  placed  in  front  of  the  tibia,  as  in  Iguanodon,  a  position  un- 
known in  other  birds.  The  part  following  is  the  tarsus,  but  the  collection  of  small 
bones  designated  by  that  term  do  not  appear  in  the  adult  bird,  for  one  of  them,  at  least, 
- — viz.,  the  astragalus,  —  anchyloses  early  to  the  lower  end  of  the  tibia,  while  the  others, 
in  the  same  manner,  are  fused  together  with  the  metatarsals.  The  joint  between  the 
leg  and  the  foot,  therefore,  is  no  true  ankle-joint,  but  mesotarsal  (inter-tarsal)  articu- 
lation. This  is  a  reptilian  feature,  and  the  recognition  of  the  true  nature  of  this  joint 
is  of  considerable  importance.  It  should  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  bone  which 
in  topographical  ornithology  is  termed  'tarsus'  consists  chiefly  of  the  three  meta- 
tarsals fused  together,  and  should  consequently  be  styled  metatarsus.  In  the  embry- 
onic bird  these  three  elements  are  separate,  and  in  the  penguins  they  remain  distinct, 
as  only  the  ends  grow  together.  The  condition  of  the  metatarsus  in  ArchoBOpt&ryx 
may  have  been  similar,  judging  from  the  two  deep  grooves  on  the  anterior  surface  of 
it.  The  metatarsal  of  the  first  toe  (hallux)  is  very  small,  and  usually  free.  The  toes 
are  in  the  great  majority  four;  viz.,  the  first,  second,  third,  and  fourth,  the  fifth  being 
always  absent  both  in  recent  arid  in  fossil  birds.  The  first  is  often  wanting,  but  in  many 
cases  where  it  is  not  seen  outside  the  skin  it  may  be  found  underneath  it.  The 
second  is  rudimentary  in  a  few  genera  of  kingfishers,  and  the  fourth  in  Cholornis. 
Rarely  the  number  of  toes  is  reduced  to  two  (the  ostrich),  the  first  and  second  being 
atrophied.  The  normal  number  of  phalanges  are  two,  three,  four,  and  five  in  the  first, 
second,  third,  and  fourth  toe  respectively,  and  the  inner  phalanx  is  the  longer  one,  the 


14  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

ratio  of  the  others  decreasing  gradually  toward  the  ends.  By  progressive  specializa- 
tion the  number  of  phalanges  is  often  reduced,  e.g.,  in  some  swifts  which  have  only 
two,  three,  three,  and  three  phalanges  respectively,  and  the  proportion  of  their  length 
modified. 

Concerning  the  muscles  of  birds,  we  should  like  to  enlarge  upon  the  mechanism 
moving  the  wings,  and  that  wonderful  arrangement  by  which  the  toes  of  the  perching 
bird  are  automatically  kept  in  a  grasping  position  by  means  of  the  bird's  own  weight 
alone ;  but  want  of  space  permits  us  only  to  mention  and  explain  a  few  technical  terms 
and  signs  which  will  be  found  useful  further  on.  The  late  Professor  Garrod  used  the 
letters  A,  B,  X,  and  Y  to  represent  certain  muscles  of  the  thighs  which  he  considered 
to  be  of  particular  taxonomic  value,  viz.,  respectively,  the  femoro-caudal,  the  accessory 
femoro-caudal,  the  semi-ten  din  osus,  and  the  accessory  semi-tendinosus ;  thus,  saying 
that  the  muscular  formula  of  the  secretary  bird  is  BXY  means  that  the  three  latter 
are  present.  The  formula  A  in  the  falcon  means  that  none  but  the  first-mentioned  is 
to  be  found. 

Besides  the  above,  two  other  muscles  belong  to  the  femoral  region  of  birds,  the 
account  of  which  we  shall  give  as  nearly  as  possible  in  the  late  Professor  Forbes's  words, 
viz.,  the  glutens  primus  and  the  ambiens.  The  former  is,  as  a  rule,  not  small,  and  is  only 
seldom  absent,  e.g.,  in  the  Bucerotidae  and  Palamedeidae ;  the  latter,  the  ambiens,  lies 
on  the  lower  or  inner  surface  of  the  thigh.  As  generally  developed,  it  is  a  more  or 
less  slender  fusiform  muscle,  which,  arising  from  the  praepubic  process  of  the  pelvis, 
close  in  front  of  the  acetabulum,  runs  along  the  inner  side  of  the  thigh  superficially,  and 
then,  as  a  thin  tendon,  over  the  bend  of  the  knee  —  in  some  cases  perforating  the 
patella  —  to  the  outer  side  of  the  leg,  terminating  thereby  joining  one  of  the  tendons 
of  the  superficial  flexor  of  the  toes.  In  all  passerine  birds,  and  some  others,  it  is 
always  absent;  these  arc  termed  anomalogonatous  birds,  in  contradistinction  to  the 
more  generalized  types  which  are  homologonatous,  and  we  denote  the  presence  or 
absence  of  the  ambiens  muscle  by  the  signs  -(-  or  — . 

In  all  birds  there  are  two  deep  flexor  muscles  of  the  toes,  the  tendons  of  which 
run  along  the  posterior  (plantar)  aspect  of  the  metatarsus,  one  the  deep  flexor  of  the 
first  toe  (f.  longus  hallucis),  the  other  closing  the  remainder  of  the  toes,  flexor  per- 
forans  digitorum,  the  former  being  always  external  to,  or  superficial  of,  the  latter 
when  passing  the  metatarse.  In  all  Passeres  and  a  few  other  birds,  e.g.  Upupa,  these 
tendons  are  quite  independent  of  each  other,  so  that  if  the  flexor  of  the  first  toe  be 
artificially  pulled,  no  closing  (flexion)  of  the  other  ones  takes  place.  In  all  other  birds, 
however,  the  two  tendons  are  more  or  less  intimately  connected  by  a  fibrous  band 
(vinculuni),  or  may  even  completely  blend. 

By  far  the  most  interesting  feature,  however,  brought  out  by  Prof.  Garrod's  inves- 
tigations into  this  subject  is  the  discovery  of  the  existence  of  the  entirely  different 
types  of  plantar  arrangement  in  the  so-called  zygodactyle  birds  (with  usually  two  toes 
in  front  and  two  turned  backward),  as  well  as  the  fact  that  the  diversity  of  type 
exactly  coincides  with  the  two  groups  of  birds  so  marked  out,  being  respectively  homolo- 
and  anomalo-gonatous.  Thus  in  the  parrots,  cuckoos,  and  Musophagidse,  which  all 
belong  to  the  former  group,  the  plantar  tendons  are  distributed  in  exactly  the  same 
way  as  in  the  common  fowl,  the  flexor  perforans  supplying  second,  third,  and  fourth 
digits,  and  the./*,  hallucis  the  first  digit  alone.  In  all  the  anomalogonatous  zygodac- 
tyle birds  (all  of  which  lack  the  ambiens  and  accessory  femoro-caudal  muscles)  namely 
the  Picidoe,  Capitonidae,  and  their  allies,  Bucconida?  and  Galbulidaa,  an  entirely  unique 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

arrangement  is  found ;  for  in  those  birds  the/,  hallucis  splits  up  into  three  partsj  sup- 
plying the  second  and  fourth  digits  as  well  as  the  first  one  (hattux),  whilst  the 
f.  perforans  is  distributed  to  the  third  digit  alone. 

Another  set  of  interesting  muscles  are  those  belonging  to  the  organ  of  voice,  in 
connection  with  which  they  will  be  considered. 

It  would  take  us  too  much  space,  should  we  account  for  all  the  various  modifications 
of  the  digestive  system,  especially  because  we  do  not  yet  understand  its  development 
nor  the  taxonomic  value  of  the  modifications ;  we  do  not  know  what  is  essential,  what 
accessory,  what  original,  and  what  derivative.  For  not  only  do  we  find  extreme  differ- 
ences in  the  structure  of  the  intestines  between  very  closely  allied  forms  in  cases  where 
the  disagreement  can  be  accounted  for  by  the  difference  in  the  diet,  —  as  in  the  sage- 
cock  ( Centrocercus  urophasianus\  with  its  thin-walled  stomach,  in  contradistinction 
to  the  structure  of  the  same  organ  in  the  other  members  of  the  family,  as  first  pointed 
out  by  Mr.  Ridgway,  —  but  radical  structural  differences  obtains  often  in  two  closely 
allied  species,  the  habits  and  food  of  which  are  not  known  to  differ  at  all.  A  striking 
example  is  the  structure  of  the  stomachs  of  the  American  and  the  African  anhingas 
(f  lotus  anhinga  and  levaillantii),  as  demonstrated  by  Prof.  Garrod.  In  the  former, 
the  proventriculus,  instead  of  forming  a  zone  or  path,  is  developed  into  a  special  sac- 
like  diverticulum,  which  projects  from  the  gizzard  externally  in  a  way  quite  unlike 
that  of  any  other  bird.  Moreover,  the  pyloric  compartment  develops  a  covering  of 
hairs,  a  peculiarity  only  found  in  one  other  bird,  viz.,  the  turkey  buzzard,  and  Prof. 
Forbes  remarked  that  "this  very  extraordinary  stomach  is  certainly,  as  far  as  yet 
[1881]  known,  unique  amongst  birds."  The  African  species  has  a  stomach  consider- 
ably different  from  that  described  above,  as  the  proventriculus  forms  no  gland-pouch, 
but  simply  two  separate  patches.  A  well-developed  and  hair-clad  pyloric  compart- 
ment is  present,  as  in  the  former,  but  "  the  hairy  epithelium  surrounding  the  pyloric 
orifice  is  produced  into  a  considerable  conical,  hair-covered  process,  projecting  into  the 
second  stomach,  and  evidently  acting  as  a  valve  to  close  the  pylorus  when  necessary." 

Similar  differences  occur  also  among  the  pigeons,  of  which  the  genus  Ptilopus  has 
the  gizzard  provided  with  "four  crushing-pads,  instead  of  two,  as  in  all  other  birds, 
including  even  Treron"  Of  the  genus  Carpophaga,  two  species,  latrans  and  goliath, 
have  the  epithelial  lining  of  the  gizzard  developed  into  a  number  of  bony  conical 
processes,  like  the  spines  of  certain  sea-urchins,  wrhile  no  other  species  of  the  genus 
are  known  to  show  any  trace  of  such  a  structure. 

The  birds  are  the  first  class  of  existing  vertebrates  with  a  complete  double  circu- 
lation, a  four-chambered  heart,  with  two  entirely  separate  halves,  and  a  blood  of  a 
temperature  considerably  higher  than  that  of  the  surrounding  atmosphere,  ranging  as 
it  does  from  100  to  112°  Fahr.  We  say  "existing  vertebrates,"  for  there  seems  to  be 
reason  to  suppose  that  the  Pterosaurians,  the  remarkable  extinct  group  of  flying 
reptiles,  also  had  hot  blood,  and  we  said  "  considerably  higher  'than  that  of  the  sur- 
rounding atmosphere,"  because  there  are  well-known  examples  of  fishes  and  reptiles, 
the  temperature  of  which  is  higher  than  the  medium  they  live  in,  though  not  to  such 
a  degree  as  in  birds  and  mammals.  Only  a  single  permanent  aortic  trunk  carries  the 
blood  from  the  heart,  not  two  as  in  reptiles ;  but  contrary  to  what  takes  place  in  mam- 
mals it  is  the  right  aortic  arch  which  remains.  Of  special  interest  is  the  arrangement 
of  the  carotids,  which  carry  the  arterial  blood  to  the  head  and  neck,  since  their 
arrangement  is  widely  different  in  different  birds.  Without  going  into  detail  we  may 
say  that  the  chief  difference  consists  in  the  absence  or  presence  of  the  right  carotid. 


1(3  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

The  comparatively  smaller  number  of  birds  possess  the  original  arrangement  of  two 
distinct  carotids,  one  right  and  one  left,  since  in  all  the  Passeres  and  a  number  of 
other  groups  the  left  only  is  preserved,  which,  however,  branches  off  before  reaching 
the  head,  thus  performing  the  duty  of  both  carotids.  So  radical  this  difference  may 
seem  at  first  sight,  so  unreliable  are  the  characters  furnished  by  it  as  indicating  relation- 
ship, that  it  is  altogether  out  of  the  question  to  use  it  as  a  means  of  primary  division. 
For,  while  it  is  true  that  all  Passeres  —  that  is  to  say,  all  that  have  been  examined, 
and  many  are  still  to  be  investigated  —  have  only  the  more  specialized  arrangement 
indicated  by  the  presence  of  the  left  carotid  only,  we  find  in  other  groups  nearly 
related  forms,  with  one  or  two  carotids,  as,  for  instance,  among  the  auks,  the  parrots, 
and  the  herons.  In  nearly  all  birds  the  crural  artery  is  derived  from  the  sciatic, 
and  the  chief  vein  of  the  legs,  the  femoral ;  and  only  in  a  few  passerine  forms,  the 
Pipras  and  the  Cotingas,  is  the  artery  of  the  thigh  formed  by  the  femoral  artery. 
During  incubation  the  vessels  of  the  abdominal  wall  dilate  enormously,  forming  the 
so-called  brood-organ.  The  blood  corpuscles  of  birds  are,  on  the  average,  of  a  size 
twice  those  of  man,  and  the  shape  of  the  red  ones  is  oblong  as  are  those  of  reptiles, 
while  in  most  mammals  they  are  round. 

Very  characteristic,  though  not  absolutely  peculiar  to  birds,  as  we  have  seen  above, 
is  their  pneumacity,  several  of  their  bones  being  hollow,  and  connected  by  openings 
with  air-sacs,  which  again  communicate  with  the  lungs ;  by  this,  air  is  distributed  all 
through  the  body,  even  to  the  interior  of  the  bones.  The  enormous  importance  of 
this  feature  to  creatures  destined  to  inhabit  the  air  will  be  readily  understood  when 
we  learn  that  a  bird  with  a  specific  gravity  of  1.30  may  have  this  reduced  to  only  1.05 
by  pumping  itself  full  of  air.  The  lungs  themselves  are  two  rather  large  sacs  wedged 
in  around  the  vertebras  and  the  heads  of  ribs,  not  free,  nor  enclosed  in  a  pleura,  as  in 
mammals.  The  voice  of  birds  is  generally  thought  not  to  be  formed  in  the  larynx,  as 
it  is  in  mammals,  but  in  a  separate,  and  to  the  class  quite  peculiar,  "  lower  larynx,"  the 
so-called  syrinx,  usually  situated  at  the  lower  end  of  the  trachea,  or  between  it  and 
the  bronchi,  though  the  correctness  of  this  view  concerning  the  formation  of  the 
voice  has  been  recently  seriously  questioned.  The  syrinx  consists  of  a  modification  of 
the  cartilaginous  and  coalescent  rings,  forming  a  tympanic  chamber,  in  the  middle  of 
which  occurs  a  vertical  membranous  fold,  the  free  edge  of  which  is  called  the  semilunar 
membrane,  while  on  each  side  is  attached  another  free-edged  membrane ;  the  voice  is 
formed  by  the  air  causing  these  membranes  to  vibrate  when  forced  out  through  the 
slits  between  the  central  and  the  lateral  membranes.  Intrinsic  muscles  run  from  the 
trachea  to  the  bronchial  rings,  and  are  supposed  to  serve  in  varying  the  tension  of  the 
membrane.  The  peculiar  arrangement  of  these  muscles,  and  their  importance  to 
systematic  ornithology,  will  be  more  fully  treated  of  under  the  introduction  to. the 
order  Passeres.  The  syrinx  is  not  absent  in  any  known  bird,  though  somewhat  rudi- 
mentary in  some  Struthious  birds,  and  still  more  so  in  some  of  the  Cathartidae. 

The  anatomical  investigations  of  later  years  have  added  very  little  to  our  knowledge 
of  the  neural  system  of  birds  and  of  the  organs  of  sense,  having  been  directed  mostly 
to  those  features  which  seemed  to  promise  greater  results  in  the  study  of  the  affinities, 
the  morphological  development,  and  the  systematic  arrangement,  thus  leaving  nothing 
of  general  interest  to  be  added  to  what  is  contained  in  the  ordinary  text-books. 

There  is  another  question  which  is  just  now  occupying  the  studies  and  thoughts 
of  ornithologists,  and  which  therefore  cannot  be  passed  by  in  the  present  work,  namely 
the  question  of  the  migration  of  birds. 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

Taking  it  for  granted  that  all  our  readers  know  what  is  understood  by  the  migration 
of  birds,  —  the  regular  travel  towards  the  north  in  spring,  and  the  regular  return  in 
fall  towards  the  south,  of  certain  birds,  —  and  also  what  is  understood  by  the  term  a 
permanent  resident,  we  will  at  once  remark  that  there  is  no  fundamental  difference 
between  the  categories,  since  perhaps  the  greater  part  of  the  permanent  residents 
travel  about  more  or  less  extensively  during  the  cold  season,  and  the  range  of  migra- 
tion of  many  so-called  migrating  species  is  very  limited,  while  not  a  few  are  residents 
in  one  country,  though  migrating  in  other  localities,  as  for  instance,  the  meadow  lark, 
the  purple  grackle,  the  bluebird,  etc.  A  moment's  reflection  will  therefore  convince  us 
that  the  migrating  state  has  developed  in  originally  sedentary  birds. 

The  next  thing  to  take  into  consideration  is  the  fact  that  it  is  not  the  cold  that 
drives  the  migratory  birds  away  in  fall,  since  other  birds  equally  equipped  stand  the 
climate  very  well,  and  remain  in  the  country  the  migrants  left ;  the  only  reason  why 
the  latter  go  is  because  they  are  in  some  way  or  another  deprived  of  the  special  food 
upon  which  their  existence  depends.  The  fact  is  simply  that  they  have  the  choice 
either  to  go  or  to  starve.  It  is  also  clear  that  they  will  generally  not  go  farther  than 
is  absolutely  necessary.  The  residents,  on  the  other  hand,  are  able  to  stay,  because 
their  principal  food  is  to  be  had  at  all  seasons  in  the  region  where  they  are  born. 

It  is  furthermore  evident,  from  what  daily  experience  teaches  us,  that  no  life-sustain- 
ing possibility  is  left  unoccupied  by  nature,  so  that  when  she  opens  a  new  field  where 
a  living  can  be  made,  there  the  invitation  to  immigrate  is  at  once  accepted.  Birds 
organized  like  those  of  which  we  said  above  that  the  approaching  winter  gives  them 
the  choice  between  going  away  or  starving,  but  which  only  go  so  far  as  barely  neces- 
sary, would  be  the  first  ones  to  avail  themselves  of  the  abundance  of  food  in  their 
old  quarters  with  the  returning  summer.  A  conjectural  case  will  help  to  elucidate 
the  above  remarks.  Suppose,  then,  that  the  bluebird  originally  inhabited  a  great  area 
having  a  uniform  climate  enabling  the  individuals  throughout  the  range  of  the  species 
to  find  their  food  all  the  year  round,  they  would  then  be  sedentary  over  the  whole 
area.  Suppose  the  climate  became  gradually  colder  in  winter  at  the  northern  border, 
suspending  insect  life  during  a  part  of  the  year.  Those  living  in  that  region  would 
have  to  go  or  starve,  and  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  those  going  in  the  right  direction  — 
viz.  southward  —  and  they  only,  would  survive,  while  the  rest  would  be  killed.  The 
next  year  the  survivors  will  return  and  breed,  and  again  only  the  travelers  going  south 
will  save  their  lives.  We  can  now  understand  how  a  migratory  habit  might  originate ; 
and  as  we  know  that  habits  easily  become  hereditary  when  necessary  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  species,  we  are  compelled  to  concede  that  the  so-called  "  instinct  of  migra- 
tion is  nothing  but  a  hereditary  habit  forced  upon  certain  kinds  of  birds  by  '  natural 
selection.' " 

But  it  will  be  seen  that  the  result  may  be  the  same  if  we  reverse  our  conjecture, 
and  suppose  that  a  bird  —  for  example,  the  nightingale  —  originally  inhabited  a  rather 
restricted  area,  which  subsequently  became  extended  for  a  part  of  the  year,  the 
summers  of  the  adjacent  territory  gradually  becoming  inhabitable ;  the  result  would 
be  the  same. 

The  theory,  thus  far,  looks  acceptable;  the  question  is  now  whether  sufficient 
evidence  can  be  had  to  make  it  probable  that  such  conditions  as  those  supposed  above 
have  actually  existed,  in  answer  to  which  I  shall  quote  the  following  from  Professor 
J.  A.  Allen's  pen  :  "  In  reference  to  this  point,  let  us  revert  for  a  moment  to  the 
geological  history  of  North  America.  Nothing  is  doubtless  more  thoroughly  estab- 
VOL.  iv.  —  2 


18 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


lished  than  that  a  warm-temperate  or  sub-tropical  climate  prevailed,  down  to  the  close 
of  the  tertiary  epoch,  nearly  to  the  northern  pole,  and  that  climate  was  previously 
everywhere  so  far  equable  that  the  necessity  of  migration  can  hardly  be  supposed  to 
have  existed.  With  the  later  refrigeration  of  the  northern  regions,  bird  life  must  have 
been  crowded  thence  toward  the  tropics,  and  the  struggle  for  life,  therefore,  greatly 
intensified.  The  less  yielding  forms  may  have  become  extinct  ;  those  less  sensitive  to 
climatic  change  would  seek  to  extend  the  boundaries  of  their  range  by  a  slight  removal 
northward  during  the  milder  intervals  of  summer,  only,  however,  to  be  forced  back 
again  by  the  recurrence  of  winter.  Such  migration  must  have  been,  at  first,  incipient 
and  gradual,  extending  and  strengthening  as  the  cold  wave  receded  and  opened  up  a 
wider  area  within  which  existence  in  summer  became  possible.  What  was  at  first 

a  forced  migration  would  become 
habitual,  and,  through  the  heredity 
of  habit,  give  rise  to  that  wonder- 
ful faculty  we  term  the  instinct  of 
migration." 

While  we  thus  feel  justified  in 
accepting  the  theory  as  applicable 
to  North  America,  similar  evidence 
can  be  had  from  the  Old  World, 
only  that  the  phenomenon  here  is 
somewhat  different,  and  more  con- 
formable to  the  second  supposition 
mentioned  above.  It  is  probably 
safe  to  say  that  northern  and  central 
Europe  during  the  glacial  period 
were  inhabited  by  few  if  any  birds, 
while  most  of  those  which  now  live 
there  were  crowded  together  in  the 
warmer  regions  to  the  south  of  the 
Alps.  They  have  consequently  im- 
migrated to  their  present  home  from 


^r 

1BH& 

FJG.  6.  —  Diagram  allowing  tho  main  migrating  rt 
toral  (except  fluvio-littoral)  birds  in  Europe.  - 


routes  <•!'  tin-  lit- 

-  marine-   the  south,  gradually,  as  the  ice  re- 

and  submarine-littoral  migrants,  e.g.  the  razor-bill  and  the  ° 

divers  ............  pelago-  and  glacial-littoral  migrants,  e.g.  the     ceded    and    the    Summers    made    the 

common  eider  and  the  king  eider.  .    ,     ,  .      ,  ,        , 

countries  inhabitable,  but  were 

driven  back  every  winter  when  the  cold  reduced  the  insect-life,  and  covered  the  fields 
with  snow  and  the  waters  with  ice. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  accept  the  theory  that  the  regular  habit  is  due  to 
'natural  selection'  caused  by  the  forced  immigration  or  emigration  according  to 
change  of  climate  during  earlier  geological  pei'iods. 

Here  is  an  appropriate  place  to  consider  for  a  few  moments  a  painstaking  work, 
which  started  a  new  era  in  this  branch  of  ornithology,  viz.,  the  book  "  On  the  Migrat- 
ing Routes  of  Birds,"  by  Dr.  J.  A.  Palmen,  the  genial  Finnish  zoologist.  Earlier 
authors  had  been  aware  that  some  birds  followed  well-defined  and  rather  narrow 
paths  while  traveling  to  or  from  their  summer  homes,  and  Professor  Sundevall  had 
already  in  detail  laid  down  the  route  of  the  common  European  crane  (Grus  grus)', 
but  not  before  1874,  when  Palmen  published  his  book,  was  it  made  evident  that  most 
migrating  birds  travel  along  geographically  defined  routes  which  do  not  follow  one 


INTRODUCTION. 


19 


single  direction  of  the  compass,  and  that  the  birds  usually  do  not  travel  in  the  region 
lying  between  these  high-roads.  He  furthermore  demonstrated  that  the  routes  of  the 
water-birds  chiefly  follow  the  coast,  or,  where  they  cross  the  continents,  along  the  large 
inland  watercourses,  and  admirably  mapped  the  Old  World  routes  of  the  "  littoral  mi- 
grants," as  he  termed  them,  the  preceding  chart  (Fig.  6.)  giving  an  idea  of  the  plan. 

Lookino-  at  this  map,  two  features  strike  us  at  first  as  difficult  to  understand,  viz., 
the  distinct  routes  across  the  open  ocean,  — for  example,  the  routes  A,  B,  and  X,  as 
also  the  crossing  of  the  Mediterranean  at  certain  points,  —  which,  besides,  are  not  always 
the  shortest  distance  between  the  two  continents.  We  might  also  think  it  strange  that 
marine  birds  should  go  inland  as  indicated  by  the  routes  C  and  D. 

In  order  to  explain  this,  we  have  again  to  go  back  to  an  earlier  geological  period,— 
in  fact,  to  the  time  when  the 
migration  originated.  In  re- 
gard to  the  first  kind  of  routes 
—  those  across  the  open 
ocean  —  we  can  do  nothing 
better  than  transcribe  Wal- 
lace's remarks,  which  are  as 
follows :  — 

"Migrations  of  this  type 
probably  date  back  from  at 
least  the  period  when  there 
was  continuous  land  along 
the  route  passed  over ;  and  it 
is  a  suggestive  fact  that  this 
land  connection  is  known  to 
have  existed  in  recent  geo- 
logical times.  Britain  was 
connected  with  the  continent 
during,  and  probably  before 
the  glacial  epoch,  and  Gib- 
raltar, as  well  as  Sicily,  and 
Malta,  were  also  recently  un- 
ited with  Africa,  as  is  proved 
by  the  fossil  elephants  and 
other  large  Mammalia  found  in  their  caverns,  by  the  comparatively  shallow  waters  still 
existing  in  this  part  of  the  Mediterranean,  while  the  remainder  is  of  oceanic  profundity, 
and  the  large  amount  of  identity  in  the  species  of  land  animals  still  inhabiting  the 
opposite  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  The  submersion  of  these  two  tracts  of  land 
would  be  a  slow  process,  and  from  year  to  year  the  change  might  be  hardly  percep- 
tible. It  is  easy  to  see  how  the  migration  that  had  once  taken  place  over  continuous 
land  would  be  kept  up,  first  over  lagoons  and  marshes,  then  over  a  narrow  channel, 
and  subsequently  over  a  considerable  sea,  no  one  generation  of  birds  ever  perceiving 
any  difference  in  the  route." 

The  distribution  of  land  and  water,  as  alluded  to  by  Wallace,  is  indicated  on  the 
accompanying  sketch-map  (Fig.  7.)  by  the  dotted  lines  which  represent  the  100  and 
500  fathom  lines;  a  comparative  glance  upon  the  two  maps  obviates  any  further  expla- 
nations of  the  routes  A,  13,  and  X.  The  conclusion  is  obvious  that  the  oceanic  routes 


FIG.  7.  —  Diagram  showing  the  depth  of  the  seas  surrounding  Europe. 

is  the  100  fathom  line; is  the  500  fathom  line.    The 

areas  on  the  present  land  included  within  the  dotted  line  were  sub- 
merged at  no  time  during  the  glacial  period. 


20  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

indicate  the  ancient  coast-lines  along  which  the  bii-ds  originally  migrated,  and  further- 
more, that  they  show  the  ways  by  which  the  species  immigrated  into  the  countries 
where  they  now  pass  the  summer. 

This  conclusion,  however,  is  also  applicable  to  the  land  routes  C  and  I).  The 
geological  history  of  that  part  of  the  earth  shows  most  conclusively  that  the  great 
Russian  and  the  central  European  low-lands,  during  a  not  very  distant  period,  geolo- 
gically speaking,  were  submerged,  forming  the  bottom  of  a  rather  shallow  sea,  the 
shores  of  which,  at  different  times,  are  well  indicated  by  the  lines  alluded  to.  Even 
when  crossing  the  continents,  the  migrating  routes  of  marine  birds  indicate  ancient 
coast-lines,  and  the  immigration-road  of  the  species  inhabiting  the  north.  We  note 
how  closely  these  results  agree  with  those  arrived  at  above,  where  theorizing  about 
the  origin  of  the  migrating  habit. 

Having  thus  accounted  for  the  theory  as  first  proposed  by  Palmen,  and  nearly 
simultaneously  by  Wallace,  it  remains  to  be  shown  how  the  birds  are  enabled  to  find 
their  way,  often  thousands  of  miles.  We  need  not  assume  a  miraculous  or  imperative 
instinct,  nor  a  sixth  sense,  nor  the  influence  of  terrestrial  magnetism,  in  order  to  explain 
the  remarkable  fact  that  small  birds  travel  over  large  continents  and  vast  seas  twice  a 
year  to  and  from  the  very  spot  where  they  were  born.  Practice  is  the  mysterious 
agent,  though  not  only  the  practice  of  the  individual,  but  the  practice  of  -the  species, 
the  accumulated  practice  of  thousands  of  generations,  originating  and  strengthening 
the  faculty  of  orientation.  "It  is  an  ascertained  fact"  says  Wallace,  "that  many 
individual  birds  return  year  after  year  to  build  their  nests  in  the  same  spot.  This 
shows  a  strong  local  attachment,  and  is,  in  fact,  the  faculty  of  feeling,  on  which  their 
very  existence  probably  depends.  For  were  they  to  wander  at  random  each  year, 
they  would,  almost  certainly,  not  meet  with  places  so  well  suited  to  them,  and  might 
even  get  into  districts  where  they  or  their  young  would  inevitably  perish.  It  is  also 
a  curious  fact  that  in  so  many  cases  the  old  birds  migrate  first,  leaving  the  young 
ones  behind,  who  follow  some  short  time  later,  but  do  not  go  so  far  as  their  parents. 
This  is  very  strongly  opposed  to  the  notion  of  an  imperative  instinct.  The  old  birds 
have  been  before,  the  young  have  not,  and  it  is  only  when  the  old  ones  have  all  or 
nearly  all  gone,  that  the  young  go  too,  probably  following  some  of  the  latest  stragglers. 
They  wander,  however,  almost  at  random,  and  the  majority  are  destroyed  before  the 
next  spring.  This  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  the  birds  which  return  in  spring  are  as 
a  rule  not  more  numerous  than  those  which  came  the  preceding  spring,  whereas 
those  which  went  away  in  autumn  were  two  or  three  times  as  numerous.  Those 
young  birds  that  do  get  back,  however,  have  learnt  by  experience,  and  the  next  year 
they  take  care  to  go  with  the  old  ones." 

Taking  into  account  the  "  inherited  talent  for  geography,"  as  Weissmann  happily 
styles  it,  with  which  every  migratory  bird  is  born,  and  remembering  that  the  birds, 
when  traveling,  fly  very  high,  and  consequently  overlook  a  great  distance  of  their 
route,  taking  a  'bird's-eye  view'  of  the  country  spread  out  beneath  them,  their 
performance  is  scarcely  more  wonderful  than  is  that  of  the  pilot  who  safely  guides  the 
vessel  for  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  miles  along  rocky  shores  and  islands,  all  of  which 
seem  identical  and  indistinguishable  to  the  inexperienced  passer-by ;  or  more  admir- 
able than  the  infallibility  with  which  the  Indian  finds  his  way  back,  even  if  he  has 
passed  that  way  but  once,  through  an  endless  forest  of  trees,  which  to  any  of  us 
seem  to  be  absolutely  alike. 

LEONHARD  STEJNEGER. 


BIRDS  WITH   TEETH.  21 


SUB-CLASS  I. 

ORDER  I.  —  ORNITHOPAPPI. 

In  1861  Hermann  von  Meyer,  the  distinguished  palaeontologist,  described  a  bird's 
feather  found  in  the  lithographic  slate  of  Solenhofen,  in  Bavai-ia,  belonging  to  the 
upper  Jurassic  deposits.  To  the  bird  revealed  by  this  feather,  he  gave  the  name  of 
Archceopteryx  lithographica.  The  discovery  was  received  with  some  incredulity,  but 
doubts  were  soon  dispelled  by  Professor  Owen's  memoir  in  1863.  Herein  he  described 
a  slab  found  in  the  same  deposits,  which  showed  with  remarkable  clearness  the  hind- 
quarters of  the  bird,  which  he  rechristened  Griphornis  macrurus,  a  name  he  afterwards 
abandoned.  The  pelvis,  the  legs,  and  the  long  tail  furnished  with  feathers,  were  splen- 
didly preserved ;  but,  except  the  wing  feathers,  which  were  disordered,  and  some  loose 
and  dislocated  bones  belonging  to  the  anterior  extremities,  all  the  rest  of  the  skeleton 
was  wanting. 

In  1877  another  slab  was  found,  containing  a  second  example  of  Archceopteryx, 
which  in  many  respects  supplemented  the  other,  as  it  is  nearly  or  quite  complete,  show- 
ing the  head,  the  vertebras,  ribs,  and  fore  extremities,  while  the  hind  parts  are  in  a  less 
satisfactory  condition.  The  first  specimen  was  bought  by  the  British  Musetim  in  Lon- 
don, while  the  second  one  was  secured  by  the  museum  at  Berlin,  Germany ;  both  have 
been  examined  with  the  utmost  care  by  men  like  Richard  Owen,  Carl  Vogt,  Professor 
Marsh,  and  Dr.  Ltitken,  and  from  their  descriptions  the  present  account  has  been 
compiled.  The  second  specimen  is  shown  in  our  plate. 

This  bird  is  of  the  greatest  interest  on  account  of  its  age  and  its  remarkable  struc- 
ture ;  for  not  only  is  it  the  oldest  bird  known,  although  the  first  types  of  this  class 
may  be  expected  to  have  originated  as  early  as  paleozoic  times,  but  its  wonderful 
state  of  preservation  enables  us  to  throw  light  upon  the  history  of  the  reptiloid  ances- 
tor's development  into  a  feathered  and  flying  bird,  since  in  view  of  late  discoveries  it 
cannot  be  denied  that  we  have  here  one  of  the  "missing  links"  between  the  two 
classes,  though  Archceopteryx  may  still  be  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  ornithic  side 
of  the  boundary. 

The  first  specimen  was  about  as  large  as  a  crow,  or  a  peregrine  falcon ;  the  second 
one  is  considerably  larger,  which  may  be  due  to  sex;  but  I  should  not  be  surprised  it' 
they  turned  out  to  be  two  different  species,  as  suggested  by  Professor  Seeley,  the  Berlin 
specimen  having  relatively  longer  digits,  forearm,  and  legs,  with  proportionally  shorter 
feet. 

Carl  Vogt  remarks  that  the  head  is  small,  pyramidal,  the  top  nearly  flat,  the  occi- 
put obliquely  truncated,  and  the  orbits  large.  Both  he  and  Professor  Marsh  found 
teeth  actually  in  position,  apparently  in  the  premaxillary,  as  they  are  below  or  in  front 
of  the  nasal  aperture.  The  form  of  the  teeth,  both  crown  and  root,  is  very  similar  to 
the  teeth  of  Jfesperornis,  one  of  the  toothed  birds  of  the  cretaceous  formation.  The 
fact  that  some  teeth  are  scattered  about  near  the  jaw  would  suggest  that  they  were 
implanted  in  a  groove.  No  teeth  are  known  from  the  lower  jaw,  but  they  were 
probably  present. 

The  presacral  vertebra?,  apparently  twenty-one  in  number,  are  all,  or  nearly  all, 
biconcave,  resembling  in  general  form  those  of  Ichthyomis,  another  cretaceous 


22  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

bird.  The  sacral  vertebrae  are  fewer  in  number  than  in  any  known  bird,  those 
united  together  probably  less  than  five. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  features  of  the  Archceopteryx  is  the  length  of  the  tail, 
which  is  as  long  as  the  rest  of  the  body,  consisting  of  twenty  or  twenty-one  long  and 
thin  vertebra?,  exactly  as  in  the  reptiles,  and  widely  differing  from  all  other  known 
birds.  It  is  in  reference  to  this  unique  structure  of  the  tail  that  the  sub-class  has  been 
named  Saururae,  or  lizard-tailed  birds. 

Professor  Marsh  has  been  able  to  determine  the  presence  of  a  single  broad  plate, 
constituting  the  sternum,  which  he  thinks  probably  supported  a  keel,  as  the  scapular 
arch,  with  its  distinctly  avian  furculum,  strongly  resembles  that  of  modern  birds.  The 
ribs  are  very  fine,  thin,  curved,  and  pointed  at  the  end  like  surgeon's  needles,  and  show 
no  flattening  nor  uncinate  processes,  according  to  Vogt ;  but  Dr.  Ltltken  thinks  that 
he  observed  a  trace  of  these  processes,  though  admitting  that  the  ribs  are  remarkably 
thin,  and  unlike  those  of  other  birds. 

The  arm  proper  is  truly  avian.  Only  one  carpal  bone  seems  to  be  present,  but 
witli  that  exception  the  hand  is  just  what  may  be  seen  in  embryonic  birds  of  to-day, 
the  three  metacarpals  being  absolutely  free,  as  in  reptiles.  When  describing  the  first 
specimen,  Professor  Owen  assigned  four  digits  to  it.  The  new  one  shows  that  this  was 
erroneous,  as  it  has  only  three  long,  slender  digits,  armed  with  claws,  hooked  and 
sharp-edged,  on  each  hand ;  the  radial  digit,  or  the  pollex,  is  the  shortest ;  the  other 
two  are  nearly  equal,  the  second  slightly  the  longer.  The  pollex  is  composed  of 
a  short  metacarpal,  a  pretty  long  phalanx,  and  of  a  terminal  claw-bearing  phalanx; 
the  other  two  digits  have,  besides  the  metacarpal,  three  normal  phalanges.  The  pollex 
was  free,  like  the  other  two  digits. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  results  of  Professor  Marsh's  study  of  the  London 
specimen  is  the  determination  of  the  separate  condition  of  the  pelvic  bones,  which,  in 
all  other  known  adult  birds,  recent  and  extinct,  are  firmly  anchylosed,  while  in  the 
young  birds  and  in  the  Dinosaurians  they  are  distinct. 

The  thigh  and  leg  bones  do  not  present  any  peculiarity  worthy  of  our  attention  in 
the  present  connection,  except  that  the  distal  end  of  the  fibula  stands  in  front  of  the 
tibia,  as  in  Iguanodon,  but  contrary  to  the  condition  in  the  birds.  The  feet  do  not 
differ  essentially  from  those  of  living  birds,  though  deep  grooves  between  the  three 
elements  of  the  metatarsus  seem  to  indicate  that  the  metatarsals  of  the  second,  third, 
and  fourth  toes  were  distinct,  or,  at  least,  only  imperfectly  united. 

There  remain  the  feathers,  which,  no  doubt,  are  true  bird's  feathers,  with  a  median 
shaft,  having  barbs  perfectly  formed. 

The  remiges  of  the  wings  are  fixed  to  the  ulnar  edge  of  the  arm,  and  to  the  hand ; 
they  are  covered  for  nearly  half  their  length  with  a  fine  filiform  down.  None  of  them 
project  beyond  the  others ;  the  wing  is  rounded  in  its  outline  like  that  of  a  fowl.  It 
is  possible  that  at  the  base  of  the  neck  there  was  a  ruff,  like  that  of  the  condor.  Some 
traces  of  it  are  perhaps  visible.  The  tibia  was  clothed  with  feathers  for  the  whole  of 
its  length.  The  Archceopteryx  thus  wore  breeches,  as  do  our  falcons.  Each  caudal 
vertebra  bore  a  pair  of  lateral  rectrices,  an  arrangement  totally  different  from  that  of 
all  other  known  birds. 

All  the  rest  of  the  body  —  the  head,  neck,  and  trunk  —  were  apparently  naked  and 
unpi-ovided  with  feathers,  for  no  traces  of  either  down  or  feathers  are  there  to  be 
seen ;  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  specimen  may  have  been  completely  decom- 
posed before  imbedded,  and  the  small  feathers  or  down  carried  away,  while  the  larger 


Archceopteryx  lithogmphtea. 


BIRDS  WITH   TEETH.  23 

ones  only  adhered  to  the  skeleton.  The  theory  of  the  nakedness  of  the  body,  as 
advocated  by  Professor  Vogt,  is  not  very  probable,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  thighs 
were  feathered ;  and  to  suppose  that  the  rest  of  the  body  was  scaly  is  hardly  defen- 
sible, for  we  may  with  greater  right  ask  where  the  scales  are  than  where  the  feathers. 
The  conclusion  we  gain  from  the  above  is  that  the  oldest  bird  known  was  a  land- 
bird,  and  arboreal  in  its  habits.  But  in  spite  of  its  feathers  it  can  hardly  have  had  a 
great  resemblance  to  the  forms  which  now  inhabit  the  woods.  Nor  is  it  probable  that 
it  was  a  very  expert  flyer ;  the  broad,  rounded  wings  and  the  curious  tail  suggest  a 
locomotion  of  a  somewhat  similar  nature  to  the  'flight'  of  the  flying  squirrel,  the 
tail  of  which  in  fact  strikingly  recalls  that  of  the  Archceopteryx. 

There  have  been  and  still  are  authors  who  regard  this  animal  as  a  reptile,  but 
apparently  with  no  good  foundation.  If  we  accept  the  theory  that  the  birds  have 
developed  from  the  reptiles,  the  transition  must  have  been  gradual  and  nearly  imper- 
ceptible, so  that  the  line  to  be  drawn  between  the  two  classes  must  be  more  or  less 
artificial.  But  if  Ave  do  not  accept  a  feathered  and  warm-blooded  vertebrate  as  a  bird, 
where  then  is  the  criterion  to  distinguish  it  from  a  reptile  ? 

The  Archceopteryx  was  long  the  only  Jurassic  bird  known.  In  addition  to  his 
many  other  discoveries  of  fossil  birds,  Professor  Marsh  has  of  late  added  that  of  an 
American  Jurassic  bird,  from  the  Atlantosaurus-beds  of  Wyoming,  a  form  which  in 
1881  he  described  as  Laopteryx  prisons.  The  most  important  specimen  is  the  poste- 
rior portion  of  the  skull,  indicating  a  bird  rather  larger  than  a  great  blue  heron. 
Professor  Marsh  remarks  further  that  in  its  main  features  the  type  specimen  resembles 
the  skull  of  the  Ratitae  more  than  that  of  any  existing  birds.  In  the  matrix  attached 
to  this  skull  a  single  tooth  was  found,  which  most  resembles  the  teeth  of  birds,  espe- 
cially those  of  Ichthyornis ;  and  Marsh  thinks  it  probable  that  it  belonged  to  Laop- 
teryx, and  that  this  bird  also  possessed  biconcave  vertebra.  Like  Archceopteryx,  it 
was  a  land-bird. 

It  would  be  futile  to  attempt  a  reconstruction  of  the  whole  bird  from  the  few 
remnants  on  the  old  Cuvierian  plan,  since  modern  discoveries  have  proved  the  utter 
failure  of  the  method.  Nobody  can  tell  how  the  tail  of  Laopteryx  was  formed,  and 
when  we  place  it  with  the  Saururae,  we  do  so  because  that  position  is  as  good  as  any 
other,  and  because  its  geological  age  probably  corresponds  to  that  of  Archceopteryx. 

LEONHABD  STEJJTEGER. 


SUB-CLASS  II.  —  ODO^TOTORM^E. 

ORDER  L  —  PTEROPAPPI. 

With  the  exception  of  the  Solenhofen  bird,  only  a  few  scattered  remains  of  fossil 
birds,  save  from  the  most  recent  deposits,  had  been  found  prior  to  those  startling  dis- 
coveries which  afterwards  were  figured  and  described  in  Professor  Marsh's  famous 
monograph  on  the  extinct  toothed  birds  of  North  America.  Not  only  were  the  re- 
mains of  these  cretaceous  birds  in  an  unusually  splendid  state  of  preservation,  but  they 
reversed  in  many  respects  both  the  popular  and  the  scientific  ideas  as  to  the  charac- 
ters and  the  origin  of  birds. 

As  these  Odontornithes,  or  toothed  birds,  form  one  of  the  most  interesting  and 
important  contributions  to  modern  ornithological  science,  and  as  a  thorough  under- 
standing of  their  remarkable  structure,  so  different  from  that  of  any  living  bird,  is 


24  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

necessary  in  order  to  obtain  an  intelligent  idea  of  the  state  of  that  science,  and  of  the 
class  it  treats  of,  a  full  account  of  these  ancestors  of  the  feathered  tribes  has  been 
deemed  desirable,  and,  as  Professor  Marsh's  work  is  the  only  source  of  information, 
the  following  statements  are  given  as  nearly  in  his  own  words  as  possible. 

The  geological  horizon  of  the  known  Odontornithes  is  in  the  middle  cretaceous, 
and  corresponds  to  the  strata  named  by  Marsh  the  '  Pteranodon  beds,'  situated  along 
the  eastern  slope  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  especially  on  the  adjoining  plains  in 
Kansas  and  Colorado.  These  beds  consist  mainly  of  a  fine  yellow  chalk  and  calcare- 
ous shale,  both  admirably  adapted  to  preserve  delicate  specimens.  The  first  bird  fossil 
discovered  in  this  region  was  the  lower  end*)f  the  tibia  of  Jfesperornis,  found  by  Pro- 
fessor Marsh  in  December,  1870,  near  the  Smoky  Hill  River,  in  western  Kansas.  In 
June,  1871,  he  made  the  discovery  of  the  skeleton  which  forms  the  type  of  H.  regalis. 
In  the  autumn,  1872,  another  skeleton  of  the  same  was  found,  and  the  type  of  the 
genus  Apatornis.  The  fossil  birds  procured  in  that  region  between  1870  and  1880,  by 
the  different  explorations,  include  remains  of  more  than  one  hundred  individuals  of  the 
toothed  birds. 

It  was  soon  found  that  these  toothed  birds  were  of  two  different  kinds,  which, 
although  united  under  the  common  heading,  Odontornithes,  were  more  different  than 
almost  any  two  living  birds  of  the  present  day,  and  which  had  very  little  in  common 

save  the  teeth.     But  even 

k h ^flD  ^f!  £^   these  were  extremely  dif- 

ferent, being  placed,  as 
they  were,  in  a  continuous 
gi'oove  in  one  group,  while 
in  the  other  they  were 
^^KBpr  '•'  \f£f  *  TgP  implanted  in  individual 

FIG.  8.  —  Quadrate  bone  of  Ichthyornis.  Sockets.      The  former  Were 

therefore  styled  Odonto- 

holcse  (from  the  Greek  odontoi,  teeth,  and  holJcos,  a  groove)  while  the  others  received 
the  name  Odontotormae  (odontoi,  and  tormos,  a  socket).  The  latter  form  the  sub- 
class here  under  consideration. 

The  Odontotormae,  or  birds  writh  teeth  in  sockets,  so  far  as  now  known,  were  all  of 
small  size,  and  possessed  powerful  wings  and  very  small  legs  and  feet.  Some  of  their 
characters  —  as,  for  instance,  their  vertebrae,  biconcave  or  hollow  both  behind  and  in 
front  —  separate  them  widely  from  all  birds  recent  and  extinct. 

The  remains  of  this  group  preserved  are  more  or  less  pneumatic,  and  this  fact,  in 
connection  with  their  small  size,  is  perhaps  the  main  reason  why  so  few  have  been  dis- 
covered. As  might  naturally  be  expected;  the  hollow  bones  of  flying  birds,  being 
filled  with  air,  enable  the  carcass  to  float  upon  the  water  much  longer  than  it  other- 
wise would,  and  it  is  thus  liable  to  be  destroyed  by  fishes  or  other  animals.  Hence, 
the  chances  of  complete  skeletons  being  buried  entire  are  greatly  diminished.  The 
plains  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  have  yielded  remains  of  not  less  than  seventy- 
seven  different  individuals  of  Odontotormae,  belonging  to  two  well-marked  "genera," 
Ichthyornis  and  Apatornis^  the  former  represented  by  several  species  (some  of  which 
were  formerly  referred  to  the  genus  Graculavus),  and  the  latter  by  only  one.  These 
were  all  small  birds,  scarcely  larger  than  a  pigeon.  In  their  powerful  wings  and  small 
legs  and  feet,  they  remind  one  of  the  terns,  and,  according  to  present  evidence,  they 
were  aquatic  birds,  of  similar  life  and  habits. 


BIRDS  WITH   TEETH. 


25 


The  skull  was  very  large  in  proportion  to  the  rest  of  the  skeleton,  the  dispropor- 
tion being  well  shown  in  the  accompanying  cut,  Fig.  9.  The  cranial  sutures  were 
nearly  obliterated.  The  quadrate  bone,  as  shown  in  Fig.  8,  has  only  a  single  facet  on 
its  articular  head,  agreeing  in  that  respect  with  Hesperornis  and  the  Struthionine 
birds.  The  brain  was  small,  and,  like  that  of  Hesperornis,  which  it  resembles  more 
nearly  than  that  of  any  other  known  bird,  in  its  main  features  strongly  reptilian,  as  in 
the  elongated  form  and  the  prominent  optic  lobes.  The  two  rami  of  the  lower  jaw 
were  entirely  separate, 
having  been  united  in 
front  only  by  cartilage, 
and  the  tooth-bearing 
portion  is  so  similar  to 
that  of  some  of  the  smal- 
ler Mosasauroid  reptiles  that, 
without  other  portions  of  the  skel- 
eton, the  two  could  hardly  be  dis- 
tinguished. The  teeth  were  im- 
planted in  distinct  sockets,  thus 
differing  widely  from  what  was 
the  case  in  Hesperornis;  they 
were  all  sharp,  pointed,  and 
strongly  recurved,  those  of  the 
upper  jaw  apparently  larger  than 
the  lower  ones.  Whether  the  an- 
terior portion  of  the  upper  jaw, 
the  premaxilla,  contained  teeth  is 
uncertain,  but  Professor  Marsh 
thinks  it  probable  that  they  were 
absent,  as  in  Hesperornis.  The 
whole  surface  of  the  tooth  above 
the  jaw  was  covered  with  smooth 
enamel.  The  succession  of  the 
teeth  took  place  vertically,  as  in 
crocodiles  and  Dinosaurs,  and  not 
laterally,  as  in  Hesperornis  and 
the  Mosasaurs.  The  young  teeth 
were  much  inclined  when  they 
first  appeared  above  the  jaw,  after 
the  old  teeth  had  been  expelled. 

The  presacral  vertebrae  were  more  remarkable  than  those  of  any  other  known  bird 
except  Archceopteryx,  for  they  were  not  saddle-shaped,  but  biconcave  as  shown  in  Figs. 
10,  11,  which  show  clearly  the  cup-shaped  articulation  of  the  centrum.  However,  the 
third  vertebra  of  the  neck,  but  no  other,  presents  a  modified  form  (Fig.  12),  evidently 
produced  by  the  necessity  of  providing  for  an  easy  vertical  motion  of  the  neck  at  its 
first  bend.  The  tail  is  remarkable  for  being  of  the  same  type  as  is  that  of  all  mod- 
ern birds,  namely,  comparatively  short,  and  the  last  vertebras  anchylosed  into  a 
pygostyle. 

The  fore  extremities,  including  the  shoulder  girdle,  were,  so  far  as  known,  essen- 


FIG.  9.  —  Restoration  of  Ichthyornis. 


26  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

tially  as  in  living  birds,  as  apparently  was  the  sternum  also.  Of  the  clavicles  only  a 
fragment  of  the  upper  end  has  yet  been  found.  The  wings  clearly  indicate  very 
strong  power  of  flight.  The  humerus  had  an  enormous  radial  crest,  surpassing  in 
comparative  size  that  of  any  living  bird,  and  was  placed  in  a  plane  nearly  parallel  with 
the  long  axis  of  the  head  of  the  humerus,  instead  of  considerably  inclined,  as  in  most 
birds,  thus  strongly  resembling,  in  these  two  points,  the  humerus  in  the  pterodactyls, 
the  extinct  flying  reptiles.  The  carpal  bones  were  two  in  number,  and  the  metacar- 
pals  united  as  usual ;  a  noticeable  feature  of  the  second  linger  is  that  the  thin  lateral 
expansion  of  the  first  phalanx  ends  in  a  prominent  flattened,  hook-like  process  beyond 
the  rest  of  the  bone. 

The  pelvic  arch  exhibits  some  interesting  reptilian  characters.  The  sacrum  con- 
sisted of  about  ten  vertebra  thoroughly  anchylosed,  as  were  also  the  pelvic  bones. 
Of  these  the  ischium  was  expanded  in  the  middle,  extended  further  back  than  the 
ilium,  and  was  not  united  with  the  latter  posteriorly,  agreeing  in  that  respect  with 
Hesperornis  and  a  few  modern  reptilian  birds.  The  legs  and  feet  do  not  differ  more 
from  those  of  modern  birds  than  did  the  wings.  The  metatarsals  are  anchylosed 
firmly  and  present  no  peculiar  features.  The  phalanges,  with  the  exception  of  one, 
have  not  yet  been  found. 

That  Ichthyornis  was  provided  with  feathers  is  proved  beyond  question  by  the 
tubercles  for  the  attachment  of  quills  on  the  forearm.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that  Ich- 


.  10.  FIG.  11.  FIG.  12. 

Vertebrae  of  Ichthyornis. 

thyornis,  "  the  fish-bird,"  as  it  is  fitly  called  from  its  fish-like  vertebrae,  was  a  remarkable 
combination  of  very  old  and  very  modern  characters,  biconcave  vertebrae  and  large  head 
with  separate  lower  jaw  and  teeth,  in  connection  with  anchylosed  metacarpals  and 
metatarsals.  Referring  to  the  accompanying  cut  (Fig.  9),  which  represents  Marsh's 
restoration  of  one  of  the  species,  for  information  concerning  the  general  aspect  of  the 
bird,  we  may  remark,  however,  that  the  missing  parts  are  supplied  from  a  tern,  a  rather 
specialized  modern  bird,  and  that  consequently  many  features  of  the  restoration  are 
unreliable,  while  one,  at  least,  is  manifestly  incorrect.  For  we  may  safely  assume  that 
Ichthyornis  was  holorhinal  like  Hesperornis,  and  not  schizorhinal  like  a  tern,  as  repre- 
sented in  the  figure,  and  it  seems  rather  strange  that  the  head  has  been  restored  after 
the  fashion  of  the  latter,  when  it  is  admitted  that  it  resembles  that  of  the  former 
"more  nearly  than  that  of  any  other  known  bird."  We  may,  perhaps,  also  take  excep- 
tion to  the  restoration  of  the  neck,  as  not  in  harmony  with  the  disproportionate  large 
head. 

The  gap  between  Ichthyornis  and  all  other  birds  is  very  great,  so  it  would  be  quite 
unsafe  to  advance  any  opinion  as  to  its  genesis  and  relationships.  All  that  we  can  say 
at  present  is,  that  it  sprung  very  early  from  the  ancestral  stock,  preserving  the  primi- 
tive character  of  the  vertebrae  and  the  skull  long  after  other  parts  had  reached  an 
advanced  specialization,  thus  adding  new  evidence  to  the  principle,  "  that  an  animal 
may  attain  great  development  in  one  set  of  characters,  and  at  the  same  time  retain 
other  low  features  of  the  ancestral  type." 


BIRDS  WITH  TEETH. 


27 


SUB-CLASS  III. — ODONTOHOLCLE. 

ORDER  I.  —  DROM^EOPAPPI. 

Contemporaneous  with  the  Tchthyornis,  other  toothed  birds  of  quite  different  aspect 
and  characters  inhabited  the  same  cretaceous  sea  which  then  covered  the  central  and 
western  parts  of  our  continent.  The  former  went  hovering  over  the  waters,  darting, 
like  the  terns  and  gulls  of  the  present  day,  upon  the  unfortunate  fishes  which  came 
too  near  the  surface ;  while  the  type  of  the  present  sub-class,  the  Hesperornis^  or  '  the 
western  bird,'  as  that  name  literally  means,  followed  the  prey  to  the  very  bottom  of 
tin-  sea,  in  diving  power  and  speed  surpassing  any  other  bird,  living  or  fossil,  and  even 
more  fitted  for  aquatic  life  than  the  penguin,  as  it  had  no  wings  whatsoever,  and  its 
feet  were  so  specially  modified  for  propelling  their  large  bodies  through  the  water  that 
they  could  hardly  move  on  land.  We  will  further  on  have  opportunity  of  characterizing 
the'  penguins  as  the  seals  among  the  birds :  Hesperornis  and  its  allies  represent  the 
dolphins. 

It  is  most  fortunate  for  science,  Professor  Marsh  remarks,  that  Hesperornis  regalis 
—  with  the  exception  of  Archceopteryx  and  Laopteryx,  the  oldest  bird  known  —  should 
now  be  represented  by  remains  as  complete  as  any  fossil  skeleton  yet  discovered,  even 
in  the  later  formations,  as  nearly  all  the  bones  of  the  specimens  obtained,  when  first 
found  in  the  matrix,  were  almost  as  perfect  as  in  life ;  and  the  various  remains  belong- 
ing to  about  fifty  different  individuals  of  Hesperornis  are  now  in  the  museum  of  Yale 
College. 

With  a  general  superficial  resemblance  to  that  of  a  loon,  the  skull  of  Hesperornis, 
in  its  more  important  characters,  approaches  that  of  the  Struthious  birds,  being  like 
the  latter  dromaeognathous,  and  having,  like  them  and  Ichthyornis,  only  one  facet  on 
the  articular  head  of  the  quadrate  bone.  The  nostrils  are 
holorhinal.  The  brain-case  is  small,  and  its  sutures  entirely 
fused  together.  As  in  IcJithyornis  and  many  recent  water- 
birds,  well-marked  glandular  depressions  extend  along  the  roof 
of  the  orbits.  The  premaxillaries  were  elongated,  forming  a 
long,  pointed  beak,  which  in  front  of  the  nostrils  was  apparently 
covered  with  a  horny  sheath,  as  in  modern  birds.  There  were 
no  teeth  in  these  bones,  as  in  the  upper  jaw  they  were  con- 
fined to  the  maxillary  bones,  which  were  armed  with  (in  H. 
regalis  fourteen)  teeth  set  in  a  deep,  continuous  groove,  with 
only  faint  indications  of  separate  sockets.  The  lower  jaw  was 
thickly  set  with  teeth  to  the  end  (in  regalis  thirty-three),  and 
the  two  halves  were  separate,  as  in  Tchthyornis,  only  united  in 
front  by  ligament.  The  teeth,  which  are  so  reptilian  in  their 
characters  that  nobody  would  hesitate  to  refer  them  to  that 
class,  had  they  been  found  alone,  were  gradually  replaced  1  >y 
successional  teeth,  the  germ  of  the  young  tooth  growing  in  a 
pit  made  in  the  old  one  by  absorption,  thus  undermining  and 
at  last  expelling  the  latter  (Fig.  13). 

In  strange  contrast  to  Ichthyornis,  the  present  group  of  fossil  birds  had  vertebrae 
resembling  in  their  more  important  characters  the  corresponding  vertebra?  of  existing 


FIG.  13.  —Tooth  of  Hesper- 
ornis, enlarged;  c,  germ  of 
second  tooth. 


28 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


birds.  Their  number  was  about  forty-nine,  a  high  number  for  the  class ;  but  the  most 
interesting  part  of  the  vertebral  column  is  undoubtedly  the  tail,  which  was  composed 
of  the  great  number  of  twelve  vertebras.  The  middle  and  posterior  ones  had  very 
long  and  broad  transverse  processes,  which  restricted  lateral  motion,  clearly  indicating 
that  the  tail  was  mainly  moved  up  and  down,  evidently  as  an  aid  in  diving,  the  lateral 


FIG.  14.  — Caudal  vertebrae  of  Hesperormx. 

motion  being  confined  to  the  tail  as  a  whole,  and  performed  between  the  foremost 
vertebrae.  The  last  three  or  four  caudals  were  firmly  fused  together,  forming  a  flat 
plate,  analogous  to,  but  quite  unlike,  the  ploughshare  bone  of  modern  birds.  Thus 
the  tail  formed  a  sort  of  an  oar,  similar  to  a  beaver's  tail  (Fig.  14). 

The  shoulder  girdle,  in  its  retrograde  development,  is  particularly  interesting  as 
showing  strong  resemblance  in  many  respects  to  that  of  the  existing  dromaBognathous 
birds,  especially  when  we  remember  that  Hesperornis  itself  had  a  palatal  structure  of 
a  similar  type ;  for  not  only  is  the  sternum  devoid  of  a  keel,  but  the  long  axes  of  the 

adjacent  parts  of  the  scapula  and 
coracoid  were  parallel,  or  identical, 
as  shown  in  the  accompanying  cut 
(Fig.  15).  The  breast  bone  was 
thin  and  weak,  with  a  rounded 
mesial  projection  in  front,  corre- 
sponding to  the  manubrium;  the 
posterior  margin  was  quite  thin, 
and  had  two  shallow  emarginations. 
The  ribs  show  only  little  difference 
from  those  of  modern  birds,  and 
some  of  them  supported  uncinate 
processes.  The  clavicles  were  sep- 
arate, resembling  the  correspond- 
ing bones  in  the  embryos  of  some 

FIG.  15.  —  Scapular  arch  of  Hesperornis,  reduced. 

modern  forms.     The  coracoids  and 

the  scapula  were  quite  small.  The  wing  is  represented  by  the  rudimentary  humcrus 
alone,  the  other  bones  having  become  atrophied. 

The  pelvis,  though  in  its  general  form  resembling  that  of  Colyrribus,  exhibits  many 
features  common  to  that  of  reptiles,  and  of  several  dromaeognathous  living  birds. 
Most  interesting,  perhaps,  is  that  the  condyloid  cup  of  the  hip-joint  is  closed  by  bone, 
except  a  foramen  that  perforates  the  inner  wall,  entirely  unlike  the  acetabulum  of 
other  birds,  but  resembling  that  of  the  crocodiles.  The  three  constituents  of  the  pel- 


BIRDS   WITH  TEETH.  29 

vis,  which  are  firmly  fused  together,  have  their  posterior  extremities  free,  as  in  the 
emu  and  in  Tinamus. 

As  the  legs  of  the  ostriches  have  been  extremely  modified,  in  order  to  adapt  them 
for  swift  movements  on  terra  tirma,  so  were  those  of  Hesperornis  specialized  for  a  life 
more  completely  aquatic  than  that  of  any  known  bird.  Professor  Marsh  thinks  that 
it  might  even  be  questioned  whether  it  could  be  said  to  walk  on  laud,  though  admit- 
ting that  some  movement  on  shore  was  a  necessity.  Considering  the  posterior  limb 
as  a  whole,  it  will  be  found  a  nearly  perfect  piece  of  machinery  for  propulsion  through 
the  water.  Provisions  were  made  for  a  very  powerful  backward  stroke,  followed  by  a 
quick  recovery,  with  little  loss  by  resistance,  a  movement  quite  analogous  to  the  strong 
stroke  of  an  oar  feathered 
on  its  return. 

To  a  certain  degree  the 
legs  of  Hesperornis  may  be 
said  to  resemble  those  of  the  grebes,  though 
the  differences  are  both  many  and  impor- 
tant. The  thigh  bone  is  shorter  and  stouter 
than  in  any  known  aquatic  bird,  recent  or 
fossil,  and  is  very  much  flattened  trans- 
versely, being  considerably  broader  than 
thick.  The  fourth  trochanter  (Dollo)  is 
plainly  visible  on  the  figure.  The  leg  bone 
is  much  the  largest  bone  in  the  skeleton ; 
the  cnemial  process  rises  into  a  powerful 
tuberosity  above  the  articulation  with  the 
thigh  bone.  The  patella,  or  knee-pan,  is  a 
large  separate  bone,  perforated  by  a  large 
hole  for  the  tendon  of  the  ambiens  muscle. 
The  second,  third,  and  fourth  metatarsals 
were  thoroughly  fused  together,  as  in  all 
recent  birds  except  the  penguins,  but  in 
most  specimens  traces  of  the  sutures  remain. 
The  fourth  metatarsal  so  greatly  exceeded 
the  other  two  in  size  that  it  forms  by  far 

the   greatest    part  of  the  entire  tarSO-meta-  FIG.  16.—  Restoration  of  Hesperornis  regalis. 

tarsal  bone.     The  first  metatarsal  was  only 

a  mere  remnant,  united  to  the  lower  half  of  the  second  by  cartilage.  The  number  of 
toes  were  four,  all  directed  forward,  as  in  the  penguins,  and  the  number  of  the  pha- 
langes seems  to  have  been  normal,  viz.,  2,  3,  4,  5,  of  which  the  penultimate  one  was  the 
longest,  the  phalanges  on  the  whole  being  shorter  and  thicker  than  in  most  swimming 
birds.  The  fourth  or  outer  toe  was  much  the  longest,  being  in  fact  the  dominant  one, 
three  or  four  times  as  powerful  as  the  adjoining  middle  one,  or,  indeed,  as  the  other 
three  combined ;  these  were  gradually  diminishing  in  length  to  the  hallux. 

As  to  the  restoration  of  this  remarkable  bird,  as  represented  in  Fig.  16,  little  is  to 
be  said,  as  only  a  few  unimportant  bones  are  missing,  so  that  we  here  have  a  nearly 
complete  representation  of  the  entire  skeleton.  Hesperornis  regalis  was  about  six 
feet  long,  and,  when  standing  in  the  position  represented  in  our  figure,  would  be  rather 
more  than  three  feet  in  height,  thus  considerably  surpassing  the  largest  pelican.  It  is 


30  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

not  difficult,  with  such  material,  to  imagine,  or  rather  to  conclude,  which  were  the  lead- 
ing peculiarities  in  the  habit  of  that  strange  water-bird  inhabiting  the  great  —  now 
fossilized  —  sea  of  the  far  west,  many,  many  thousand  years  ago.  Xot  being  able  to 
improve  on  Professor  Marsh's  account,  we  take  great  pleasure  in  introducing  it  here 
in  full:  — 

"  Hesperornis  was  a  typical  aquatic  bird,  and  in  habits  was  doubtless  very  similar 
to  the  loon,  although,  flight  being  impossible,  its  life  was  probably  passed  entirely  upon 
the  water,  except  when  visiting  the  shore  for  the  purpose  of  breeding.  The  nearest 
land  at  that  time  was  the  succession  of  low  islands  which  marked  the  position  of  the 
present  Rocky  Mountains.  In  the  shallow  tropical  sea,  extending  from  this  land  five 
hundred  miles  or  more  to  the  eastward,  and  to  unknown  limits  north  and  south,  there 
was  the  greatest  abundance  and  variety  of  fishes,  and  these  doubtless  constituted  the 
main  food  of  the  present  species.  Hesperornis,  as  we  have  seen,  was  an  admirable 
diver,  while  the  long  neck,  with  its  capabilities  of  rapid  flexure,  and  the  long,  slender 
jaws  armed  with  sharp,  recurved  teeth,  formed  together  a  perfect  instrument  for  the 
capture  and  retention  of  the  most  agile  fish.  As  the  lower  jaws  were  united  in  front 
only  by  cartilage,  as  in  serpents,  and  had  on  each  side  a  joint  which  admitted  of  some 
motion,  the  power  of  swallowing  was  doubtless  equal  to  almost  any  emergency." 

If,  allowing  our  imagination,  within  logical  bounds,  to  cover  the  bones  of  the 
skeleton,  figured  above,  with  flesh,  skin,  and  feathers,  what  a  strange  creature  rises 
before  our  eyes !  A  bird  indeed,  but  a  kind  of  swimming,  loon-like,  raptorial  ostrich, 
without  fore  limbs,  with  the  gape  armed  with  formidable  rows  of  strong  teeth  like  a 
gigantic  lizard,  and  with  a  large,  broad,  and  flattened  tail  like  a  beaver.  And  extremely 
paradoxical  as  is  its  external  appearance,  so  is  also  its  internal  structure. 

Compared  with  Ichthyornis,  Hesperornis,  on  the  whole,  is  the  more  specialized 
form  as  is  indicated  by  its  saddle-shaped  vertebra?,  its  atrophied  keel  of  the  breastbone, 
and  its  rudimentary  fore  limbs.  But  several  other  features,  on  the  other  hand,  are  less 
developed;  thus,  for  instance,  the  teeth  implanted  in  grooves,  and  not  in  separate 
sockets,  as  well  as  the  long  tail,  —  characters  retained  from  their  common  ancestor, 
which  may  be  looked  for  in  some  older  deposit  than  the  cretaceous  formation. 

Most  of  the  characters  which  we  have  mentioned  as  Struthionine  or  ostrich-like, 
are  really  only  reptile-like,  having  the  same  signification  among  the  Struthiones,  though 
some  features  —  for  example,  the  arrangement  of  the  shoulder  girdle  —  seem  to  indicate 
a  nearer  relationship  ;  that  is  to  say,  that  the  latter  birds  have  sprung  from  an  ances- 
tral stock  not  very  distant,  allied  to  that  strangest  of  all  strange  birds,  the  ancient 
Hesperornis. 

The  systematic  position  of  another  cretaceous  bird  from  the  Pteranodon  beds  of 
western  Kansas,  the  Lestornis  crassipes  is  pretty  well  established  to  be  near  Hesper- 
ornis. A  nearly  complete  skeleton  was  found  in  1876  by  Mr.  G.  O.  Cooper.  This  bird 
is  considerably  larger  than  Hesperornis,  and  is  remarkable  for  a  protuberance  on  the 
inner  side  of  the  metatarsus,  which  may  have  served  as  a  support  for  a  sort  of 
rudimentary  spur.  Many  other  remains  of  cretaceous  birds,  particularly  from  the 
upper  deposits,  have  been  found  and  described  in  this  country,  but  they  are  mostly  too 
fragmentary  to  allow  more  than  a  guess  as  to  their  relationships,  and,  as  hardly  more 
than  a  few  bones  are  preserved  of  JBaptorniA,  Laornis,  Graeidaviis,  etc.,  it  will 
be  sufficient  to  mention  their  names.  In  Europe  numerous  remains,  among  which  is 
the  so-called  Enaliornis,  have  been  found  in  the  cretaceous  deposits,  and  to  these  the 
above  remark  is  equally  applicable. 

LEONHARD  STEJNEGEK. 


EURHIPIDURjE.  31 


SUB-CLASS  IV.  —  EURHIPIDURJE. 

Eurhipidurae,  the  term  applied  by  Gill  to  these  birds  in  contradistinction  to 
Saururae,  means  '  birds  provided  with  a  normal  fan  tail,'  and  expresses  very  well  the 
general  feature  of  this  sub-class,  namely,  a  feather  tail,  the  base  of  which,  formed  by 
the  shafts,  practically  starts  from  a  single  point,  spreading  out  at  the  end  like  a  fan, 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  not  a  few  birds  of  this  division  are  deprived  of  this 
'external'  tail,  as,  for  instance,  some  Struthionine  birds  and  the  grebes,  since  this 
absence  is  only  due  to  a  retrograde  development  of  forms  which  were  as  *  eurhipidu- 
rous '  as  the  rest  of  them.  More  trenchant  is  the  corresponding  internal  or  anatomical 
arrangement  of  the  caudal  vertebrae.  These  are  reduced  in  number,  shortened,  and 
the  last  ones  united  into  a  single  bone,  the  pygostyle,  the  total  length  of  the  tail 
proper  being  much  less  than  that  of  the  rest  of  the  body.  But  while  these  characters 
are  also  shared  by  the  Ichthyornitb.es  of  a  foregoing  sub-class,  the  members  of  the 
present  one  have  no  biconcave  antesacral  vertebrae,  nor  teeth  in  the  jaws. 

The  Eurhipidurae  embraces  all  the  living  birds,  besides  a  number  of  extinct  forms 
from  the  more  recent  geological  formations,  consequently  all  birds  known  to  constitute 
the  class  until  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago. 

SUPER-ORDER  I.  —  DROM^EOGNATH^. 

Two  peculiarities  in  the  anatomical  structure  of  the  birds  of  this  group  separate 
them  at  once  and  rather  widely  from  the  rest  of  the  Eurhipidurce,  namely,  the 
dromaeognathous  character  of  the  palate,  and  the  relations  of  the  pubic  elements, 
of  which  the  ilium  and  the  ischium  are  not  united  behind,  and  do  not  enclose  a  sciatic 
foramen  as  in  both  Impennes  and  Euornithes.  These  characters  are  combined  with 
several  others,  and  seem  to  us  to  be  of  more  importance  than  the  presence  or  absence 
of  a  keel  on  the  sternum.  The  absence  of  that  element  in  some  forms  of  the  present 
group  may  be  due  to  abortion  and  reduction.  This  is  the  most  probable  explanation, 
though  it  may  not  be  the  true  one.  But  in  the  latter  case  the  birds  with  keeled 
sternum  must  have  sprung  from  forms  not  having  a  keel,  as  we  can  hardly  assume 
that  Ratitae  and  Carinatae  sprung  from  the  ancestral  reptilian  stock  independently  of 
each  other.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  ample  pi-oof  that  several  Euornithes  have 
become  nearly  keelless  by  reduction  (Didus,  JVbtornis,  Hdbroptihis),  so  there  seems 
not  to  be  any  reason  why  it  should  not  be  lost  altogether.  Again,  the  plumage  and 
rudiments  of  rectrices  in  several  Ratitae  (cassowary,  Apteryx),  strongly  point  towards 
their  reduction  from  flying  ancestors,  or,  to  use  Wallace's  words,  "  render  it  probable 
that  the  Struthious  birds  do  not  owe  their  imperfect  wings  to  a  direct  evolution  from  a 
reptilian  type,  but  to  a  retrograde  development  from  some  low  form  of  winged  bird. 
.  .  .  We  may  be  sure  that  birds  acquired  wings  and  feathers  and  some  power  of 
flight  before  they  developed  a  keeled  sternum,  since  we  see  that  bats,  with  no  such 
keel,  fly  very  well." 

The  Dromaeognathae,  which  once  formed  the  prevailing  constituents  of  the  earth's 
bird-fauna,  are  now  only  few  in  number.  Many  of  their  members  have  been  extin- 
guished during  the  present  geological  period,  and  several  are  soon  to  follow.  The 
present  era  is  that  of  the  Euornithes. 

Not  before  the  theory  of  evolution  had  become  fairly  established  was  the  impor- 


32  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

tance  of  the  structural  characters  peculiar  to  this  super-order  clearly  understood.  A 
few  impotent  attempts  had  been  made  to  give  the  Struthious  birds  a  position  in  the 
system  corresponding  to  their  peculiarities,  but  most  ornithologists  contented  them- 
selves by  conceding  them  rank  as  a  "family,"  or,  at  the  most,  as  an  "order,"  while 
others  adhered  to  the  arrangement  of  the  eighteenth  century,  in  regarding  them  only 
as  separate  genera,  with  which  they  associated  a  few  forms  of  somewhat  similar  hab- 
its and  superficial  resemblance,  —  for  instance,  the  bustards,  —  in  a  conglomerate  group, 
designated  by  the  name  of  Cursores.  To  Huxley  is  due  the  honor  of  vindicating  their 
right  to  be  regarded  as  primary  groups,  though  he  failed  to  include  the  Tinamous 
(Crypturi),  his  Dromaeognathas  par  excellence,  a  name  we  have  here  adopted  to  signify 
all  the  dromasognathous  birds  with  true  bird  tail  and  without  teeth. 


ORDER  I.  — STRUTHIONES. 

Our  knowledge  of  the  large  forms  constituting  the  first  order  of  living  birds  can 
hardly  be  said  to  be  more  than  twenty-five  years  old.  True,  all  the  typical  species 
were  known  long  ago,  but  a  more  thorough  examination  and  understanding  of 
the  group  is  of  rather  recent  date.  Then,  only  five  or  six  species  were  known ;  now 
we  recognize  about  twenty  forms ;  their  affinities,  their  internal  and  external  anatomy, 
and  partly  their  development,  have  been  investigated  during  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century,  and  more  accurate  information  concerning  habits  and  natm*e  of  these  birds 
has  replaced  the  old  yarns  and  fables  imposed  upon  credulous  travelers  by  ignorant 
savages.  Ornithology  is  here  bound  to  thankfully  acknowledge  the  aid  derived  from 
the  zoological  gardens,  and  what  has  been  accomplished  may  be  taken  as  a  fair 
promise  of  what  we  have  to  expect  in  the  future.  For  if  we  are  going  to  study  the 
birds,  we  must  study  the  whole  animal,  and  not  the  stuffed  skin  alone ;  the  feathers 
constitute  an  important  and  peculiar  part  of  the  bird ;  but  the  bird  is  also  a  vertebrate, 
and  should  be  treated  as  such. 

The  members  of  this  division  are  characterized  by  the  great  development  of  the 
hind  extremities  for  terrestrial  locomotion,  hence,  the  legs  are  high  and  stout,  and  the 
neck  is  correspondingly  long  and  slender.  The  bill  is  broad  at  base,  depressed,  not 
longer  than  the  head,  and  the  nostrils,  though  not  placed  at  the  extremity  of  the  bill, 
as  in  Apterygres,  are  situated  further  from  the  base  than  in  most  other  birds ;  the 
mouth  is  deeply  split.  None  of  the  living  forms  have  more  than  three  toes,  and  some 
of  them  —  the  African  ostrich  and  its  nearest  allies  —  have  only  two,  by  suppression  of 
the  third  toe.  It  has  been  usually  taught  that  the  Struthiones  have  no  lower  larynx, 
or  '  syrinx,'  as  the  rest  of  the  birds,  but  Prof.  Forbes's  investigation  shows  that  this 
is  totally  erroneous,  and  since  the  mistake  is  still  repeated  in  works  of  rather  recent 
date,  it  may  be  useful  to  repeat  the  conclusion  he  arrived  at,  as  follows  :  "  As  regards 
the  alleged  absence  of  a  lower  larynx  (or  '  syrinx ')  in  these  '  Ratite '  birds,  it  is 
obviously  untrue  as  regards  the  genus  Rhea.  In  the  other  genera,  an  answer  is  less 
easy,  and  its  nature  must  depend  upon  what  is  meant  by  the  term  '  lower  larynx.' 
If  the  presence  of  semi-rings  externally,  and  of  a  membrana  tympaniformis  internally, 
forming  the  walls  of  the  bronchi,  and  of  vocal  chords  developed  in  the  interior  of 
those  tubes,  be  held  to  be  sufficient  to  characterize  a  '  syrinx,'  then  it  will  be  incor- 
rect to  say  that  the  Ratite  birds  have  no  voice-organs.  As  I  have  shown,  all  these 
three  structures  are  present,  variously  developed,  in  the  genera  in  question,  together 
with  at  least  a  rudiment  of  a  membrana  semilunaris" 


OSTRICHES.  33 

The  Struthionine  birds  are  now  nearly  confined  to  the  southern  hemisphere,  and  the 
living  forms  are  only  the  last  survivors  of  a  once  numerous  order,  which  also  domi- 
nated in  Europe,  and  probably  North  America,  since,  from  the  strata  underlaying 
London,  several  fossil  remains  have  been  described,  the  so-called  Macrornis,  said  to  be 
related  to  the  emu,  and  the  so-called  Megalornis  emuinus  of  similar  affinities.  Also 
from  New  Mexico  is  a  fossil  ostrich  known,  the  Diatryma  gigantea  of  Cope. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  quote  as  a  conclusion  Mr.  Wallace's  ideas  as  to  the  origin 
of  the  birds  in  question,  and  how  he  accounts  for  their  present  disconnected  distri- 
bution. 

During  the  early  period,  he  contends,  when  the  great  southern  continents  —  South 
America,  Africa,  and  Australia  —  were  equally  free  from  the  incursions  of  the 
destructive  felines  of  the  north,  the  Struthiones,  or  ostrich  type  of  birds,  was  probably 
developed  into  its  existing  forms.  It  is  not  at  all  necessary  to  suppose  that  these  three 
continents  were  at  any  time  united,  in  order  to  account  for  the  distribution  of  these 
great  terrestrial  birds.  .  .  .  The  ancestral  Struthious  type  may,  like  the  marsupial, 
have  once  spread  over  the  larger  portion  of  the  globe ;  but  as  higher  forms,  especially 
I'arnivora,  became  developed,  it  would  be  exterminated  everywhere  but  in  those 
regions  where  it  was  free  from  their  attacks.  In  each  of  these  it  would  develop  into 
special  forms  adapted  to  surrounding  conditions ;  and  the  large  size,  great  strength, 
and  excessive  speed  of  the  ostrich  may  have  been  a  comparatively  late  development 
caused  by  its  exposure  to  the  attacks  of  enemies  which  rendered  such  modification 
necessary. 

The  ostrich  —  the  largest,  and  the  first  to  open  the  series  of  the  living  birds  —  belongs 
to  the  genus  Struthio,  which  alone  constitutes  the  family  STRUTHIONID^E  and  the 
super-family  STRUTHIOIDEJE.  A  native  of  the  plains  and  deserts  of  Africa,  it 
has  been  known  to  civilized  man  since  the  beginning  of  the  history  of  the  western 
nations,  noted  for  its  size,  its  swiftness  of  foot,  and  the  beauty  of  its  curled  tail  and 
wing  plumes,  which,  since  time  immemorial,  have  been  used  as  signs  of  distinction 
and  as  ornament,  therefore  being  the  object  of  an  important  trade  on  the  dark  con- 
tinent. Huge  fans  of  ostrich-plumes  belong  to  the  attributives  of  the  African  and 
Oriental  rulers  of  to-day  as  they  did  during  the  time  of  the  Egyptian  Pharaohs ;  the 
ladies  of  olden  Rome  prized  its  unrivaled  feathers  as  highly  as  any  slave  of  the  present 
fashion,  and  live  ostriches  were  among  the  strange  animals  which,  nearly  two  thousand 
years  ago,  were  exhibited  to  the  gaze  of  the  populace  in  the  arenas  and  amphitheatres, 
while  to-day  that  giant  is  indispensable  to  any  menagerie  or  zoological  garden  of  repu- 
tation. Hottentots  and  other  African  savages  kill  him  for  the  feathers,  Arabian  sheiks 
and  English  tourists  hunt  him  for  sport,  lions  and  other  wild  beasts  kill  him  whenever 
they  find  an  opportunity ;  and  although  the  ostrich  is  one  of  the  few  bii'ds  deprived 
of  the  capacity  of  flight,  yet  he  is  not  exterminated,  nor  is  he  likely  to  become  so  in  a 
near  future,  for  several  reasons :  his  swiftness  of  foot,  his  great  productiveness,  and 
his  recent  domestication,  which  promises  to  increase  the  number  of  living  ostriches 
by  ten  for  each  one  destroyed  by  the  repeating  rifle. 

The  nearest  allies  of  the  true  ostriches  are  the  South  American  naudus,  which  differ 
from  the  other  birds  of  the  same  order  by  having  the  wing-bones  comparatively  well 
developed,  especially  by  a  long  humerus,  and  there  being  three  fingers  on  the  hand. 
They  have  also  a  strong  ambiens  muscle,  which  is  absent  in  the  cassowaries  and  emus ;  the 
gall-bladder  is  absent.  Inter  se  the  African  and  the  American  ostriches  are  distinguished 
by  the  former  having  two  toes  only,  the  third  and  fourth,  respectively,  with  four  and 
VOL.  iv.  —  3 


34  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

five  phalanges,  the  latter  being  clawless,  thus  showing  a  tendency  to  become  finally  re- 
duced, as  in  the  Solipeds  among  the  mammals ;  the  true  ostrich,  furthermore,  is  char- 
acterized by  an  external  tail ;  by  the  maxillo-palatines  articulating  with  facets  on  the 
sides  of  the  vomer ;  by  the  pubes  uniting  in  a  ventral  symphysis,  while  the  ischia  are 
free  ;  by  having  two  carotids,  besides  several  other  features. 

The  "camel  bird,"  the  "pride  of  the  desert,"  is  represented  in  Africa  by  three 
forms  or  species,  the  well-known  Striithio  camelus,  besides  the  more  recently  described 
8.  australis,  from  South  Africa,  and  S.  molybdophanes  from  Somali-land,  though  the 
status  of  the  two  last  ones  is  yet  somewhat  doubtful.  An  ostrich  is  also  known  to 
occur  in  the  deserts  adjoining  Palestine  and  the  countries  of  the  Euphrates  valley,  and 
is  also  said  to  inhabit  Arabia  proper.  That  it  has  always  been  called  S.  camelus  does 
not  prove  that  it  is  the  same  species  as  that  of  Western  Africa,  since  the  two  other 
forms  of  that  continent,  until  a  few  years  ago,  were  confounded  with  it  under  the 
same  name ;  it  is  rather  probable  that  the  Asiatic  bird  is  separable.  The  differences, 
however,  are  slight  and  only  visible  to  the  expert.  For  our  purpose  it  suffices  to 
describe  the  appearance  of  the  ostrich  in  general.  The  head,  neck,  and  legs  arc 
naked,  only  covered  by  a  sparse  down ;  the  male  has  black  feathers  on  the  body,  those 
of  the  wing  and  tail  being  white  and  of  the  greatest  value ;  the  female  is  plainer 
colored,  brownish  gray,  and  the  young  birds,  when  two  months  old,  are  similar ;  the 
chick  is  covered  all  over  with  a  light-colored  spiny  down,  with  longitudinal  blackish 
stripes.  The  full  adult  plumage  is  assumed  at  the  third  year.  The  adult  male  stands 
about  seven  feet  high,  and  weighs  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  pounds. 
In  habits  the  different  forms  may  be  nearly  identical,  and  what  trustworthy  travelers 
have  related  of  one  species  is  probable  applicable  to  the  others. 

The  ostrich  has,  from  olden  time,  been  regarded  as  an  exceedingly  stupid  bird, 
—  we  all  remember  the  tale  of  the  ostrich  believing  himself  concealed  when  putting 
his  head  behind  a  stone  so  he  could  not  see  his  enemy,  —  and  Alfred  Brehm  has  em- 
phatically expressed  the  same  opinion,  though  other  observers  attribute  its  shyness  and 
timidity  to  a  certain  degree  of  intelligence.  In  captivity  it  soon  becomes  tame,  and  is 
said  to  be  quite  gentle,  but  is  easily  frightened  so  as  to  run  insanely  about  in  its 
inclosure ;  during  the  breeding  season  the  old  male  is  usually  quite  savage,  and  attacks 
even  man,  inflicting  sometimes  dangerous  injuries  by  kicking. 

Timid  and  of  rather  solitary  tastes,  the  ostrich  lives  in  small  flocks,  relying  upon 
their  extraordinarily  acute  sight  and  their  fleetness  of  foot  for  safety,  often  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  still  more  wary  herds  of  wild  zebras.  They  feed  upon  the  low 
grass  and  herbs,  when  in  the  wild  state,  and  occasionally  some  insects,  a  few  reptiles 
or  the  like  are  picked  up ;  but  it  is  only  in  confinement  that  the  ostrich  proves  him- 
self that  voracious  omnivorous  animal  that  has  made  the  ostrich  stomach  almost 
proverbial. 

Judging  from  the  scanty  information  of  travelers  as  to  the  voice  of  the  ostrich, 
we  may  infer  that,  usually,  it  is  a  rather  silent  bird,  though  occasionally  making  good 
use  of  its  rather  imperfect  syrinx,  as  seems  evident  from  Livingstone's  statement,  that 
it  is  frequently  difficult  to  distinguish  its  bellowing  from  the  roaring  of  the  lion. 

In  order  to  illustrate  certain  habits,  and  the  manner  in  which  they  are  hunted  in 
North  Africa,  we  transcribe  the  following  from  Rev.  Mr.  Tristram's  spirited  account 
of  his  experiences  in  that  part  of  the  world :  — 

"  The  capture  of  the  ostrich  is  the  greatest  feat  of  hunting  to  which  the  Arab 
sportsman  aspires,  and  in  richness  of  booty  it  ranks  next  to  the  plunder  of  a  caravan. 


OSTRICHES. 


35 


But  such  prizes  are  not  to  be  obtained  without  cost  and  toil,  and  it  is  generally  esti- 
mated that  the  capture  of  an  ostrich  or  two  must  be  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  lives  of  two 
horses.  So  wary  is  the  bird,  and  so  open  are  the  vast  plains  over  which  it  roams,  that 


FIG.  17.  —  Strut/tic  camelus,  African  ostrich. 


no  ambuscades  or  artifices  can  be  employed,  and  the  vulgar  resource  of  dogged  perse- 
verance is  the  only  mode  of  pursuit.  The  horses  to  be  employed  undergo  a  long  and 
painful  training,  abstinence  from  water  and  a  diet  of  dry  dates  being  considered  the 
best  means  for  strengthening  their  wind.  The  hunters  set  forth  with  small  skins  of 


36  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

water  strapped  under  their  horses'  bellies,  and  a  scanty  allowance  of  food  for  four  or 
five  days,  distributed  judiciously  about  their  saddles.  The  ostrich  generally  lives  in 
companies  of  from  four  to  six  individuals,  which  do  not  appear  to  be  in  the  habit, 
under  ordinary  circumstances,  of  wandering  more  than  twenty  or  thirty  miles  from 
their  headquarters.  When  descried,  two  or  three  of  the  hunters  follow  the  herd  at  a 
gentle  gallop,  endeavoring  only  to  keep  the  birds  in  sight,  without  alarming  them  or 
driving  them  at  full  speed,  when  they  would  soon  be  lost  to  view.  The  rest  of  the 
pursuers  leisurely  proceed  in  a  direction  at  right  angles  to  the  course  which  the  ostriches 
have  taken,  knowing  by  experience  their  habit  of  running  in  a  circle.  Posted  on  the 
best  lookout  they  can  find,  they  await  for  hours  the  anticipated  route  of  the  game 
calculating  upon  intersecting  their  path.  If  fortunate  enough  to  detect  them,  the  re- 
lay  sets  upon  the  now  fatigued  flock,  and  frequently  succeeds  in  running  one  or  two 
down,  though  a  horse  or  two  generally  falls  exhausted  in  the  pursuit.  The  ostrich, 
when  overtaken,  offers  no  resistance  beyond  kicking  out  sideways.  A  skin  in  full 
plumage  is  worth  on  the  spot  from  forty  to  one  hundred  Spanish  dollars ;  but  the 
Arabs  are  in  the  habit  of  judiciously  thinning  the  feathers,  so  that  the  trader  can 
rarely  obtain  a  specimen  on  which  this  tax  has  not  been  paid." 

The  chase  of  wild  ostriches  for  the  sake  of  the  feathers  will  soon  become  a  thing 
of  the  past,  however,  since  now  the  rational  domestication  of  this  valuable  bird  has 
proved  a  grand  success.  The  natives  of  some  parts  of  Africa  have,  in  fact,  been 
practising  "  ostrich  farming  "  before  white  men  visited  them,  and  even  used  artificial 
incubation.  We  are  told  that  tribes  of  Sudan,  the  upper  Senegal,  and  the  Algerian 
frontiers  raise  their  ostriches  like  real  poultry-yard  birds.  By  day  the  birds  wander 
about  the  camp  in  search  of  food,  and  come  back  again  at  night-fall  to  pass  the  night 
under  the  shelter  of  their  master's  tents.  When  the  tribe  is  traveling,  they  follow 
faithfully  along  without  ever  turning  aside,  and  without  evincing  the  least  desire  to 
return  to  a  wild  life.  Still  this  ostrich  raising  has  been  quite  insignificant,  and  only  a 
small  fraction  of  the  plumes  in  the  market  was  due  to  that  source,  and  it  was  first 
when  the  European  —  particularly  English  —  colonists  in  different  parts  of  Africa  com- 
menced that  remunerative  business  on  a  grand  scale,  that  the  supply  of  ostrich-feathers 
from  tame  birds,  bred  in  captivity,  became  considerable.  A  few  figures  will  show 
the  importance  of  this  new  branch  of  "  stock "  raising,  which  is  hardly  twenty  years 
old,  since,  in  1865,  the  English  colonies  owned  only  eighty  tame  ostriches.  The  value 
of  the  annual  yield  of  feathers  in  South  Africa  at  the  present  day  is  estimated  at 
about  four  million  dollars,  while  in  1865  the  total  export  (wild  and  tame)  from  the 
Cape  did  not  reach  one-tenth  of  that  amount. 

On  an  "  ostrich  farm  "  the  industry  is  divided  into  two  branches,  that  of  producing 
feathers,  and  of  raising  young  birds.  From  a  recent  report  on  the  subject  we  make 
the  following  interesting  extracts :  An  ostrich  is  first  plucked  at  the  age  of  six  to 
eight  months,  and  again  six  to  nine  months  later,  and  every  succeeding  six  to  nine 
months.  The  chicken  feathers  are  of  little  value,  say  about  five  dollars  per  bird,  but 
the  next  and  following  pluckings  realize  from  forty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
per  bird.  The  length  of  time  between  each  plucking,  the  weight  of  the  feathers,  and 
the  richness  of  the  plumage,  depend  partly  upon  what  care  is  taken  not  to  extract  the 
feathers  too  early,  thus  causing  injury  to  the  wing,  but  more  especially  upon  the  quality 
of  the  pasturage.  On  good  grazing  land,  one  acre  is  required  per  bird.  The  best 
mode  of  plucking  the  feathers  is  not  to  pull  them  out,  but  to  cut  the  quill  about  an 
inch  from  the  root,  the  portion  left  in  the  wing  speedily  "  ripens,"  and  may  in  a  few 


OSTRICHES.  37 

weeks  be  pulled  out  with  a  pair  of  pincers,  after  which  the  new  feather  begins  to  form. 
Others  advocate  a  specially  constructed  box  in  which  the  bird  cannot  move ;  through 
openings  in  the  sides  the  wings  are  accessible,  and,  by  a  double  movement  of  twisting 
and  pulling  the  feathers  are  drawn. 

The  ostrich  is  mouogamic,  and  the  hen  lays  an  egg  every  alternate  day  in  the  nest 
dug  out  in  the  sand  by  the  male,  if  that  hollow  can  be  termed  a  nest.  Ten  eggs  are 
probably  the  average  number  laid  in  the  wild  state,  but  in  captivity  the  laying  may  be 
continued  like  that  of  the  common  fowl  when  the  eggs  are  taken  away  as  soon  as  de- 
posited. On  the  "  farm,"  the  egg  which  the  birds  themselves  cannot  cover  may  be 
hatched  artificially  in  an  incubator,  the  result  of  which  is  illustrated  by  the  following 
extract  from  Douglas's  book  on  "  Ostrich  Farming  in  South  Africa  " :  "One  set  of  three 
birds — acock  and  two  hens  —  during  the  period  from  June  30,  1872,  to  June  30, 
1873,  laid  188  eggs,  which  produced  133  chicks;  of  these  18  died,  leaving  115  young 
birds.  Of  these,  74  were  sold  at  three  months  old  at  £16  each,  and  allowing  the 
remaining  41  to  be  worth  only  £12  each,  we  have  a  return  of  £1,676  from  one  set  of 
birds.  The  next  year  the  same  set  laid  113  eggs,  producing  77  chicks;  and  the  first 
six  months  of  the  third  year  they  laid  97  eggs,  producing  81  chicks,  being  over  80 
per  cent."  The  eggs  vary  considerably  in  size,  from  5£  inches  to  6  inches  long,  by  4^- 
-5£  inches  thick,  averaging  about  the  weight  of  24  eggs  of  our  common  fowl.  They 
are  incubated  by  both  parents  alternately,  the  male  sitting  during  the  night.  In  the 
hottest  countries  they  are  left  during  part  of  the  day,  but  are  then  usually  covered  up 
with  sand.  An  interesting  account  of  the  finding  of  the  nest  is  rendered  by  Rev.  Mr. 
Tristram. 

"  Once,  and  once  only,  had  I  the  good  fortune  to  take  an  ostrich's  nest.  We  had 
observed  with  our  telescopes  two  birds  standing  for  some  time  in  one  spot,  and  were 
induced  to  ride  towards  them.  By  great  good  fortune  we  detected  their  track  as  we 
crossed  it ;  for,  the  stride  of  the  ostrich  often  measuring,  when  at  full  speed,  from  "2'2 
to  28  feet,  and  there  being  simply  the  round  impression  of  his  two  toes,  it  is  veiy 
difficult  to  discover  its  course.  We  traced  these  steps  back  to  the  spot  where  we  had 
seen  the  birds  standing,  and  where  the  sand  was  well  trodden  down.  Two  Arabs,  at 
once  dismounting,  began  to  dig  with  their  hands,  and  presently  brought  up  four  fine 
fresh  eggs,  from  a  depth  of  about  a  foot  under  the  warm  sand." 

Ostrich  farming  has  not  only  been  established  in  the  Cape  Colony,  but  also  with 
great  success  in  Algeria,  and  in  Buenos  Ayres,  where  the  African  ostrich  has  been 
introduced.  There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  this  industry  may  be  carried  on  with 
equal  success  and  profit  in  our  southwestern  states,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the 
experiments  now  in  progress  in  California  may  give  ample  returns,  and  encourage 
others  to  invest  in  this  novel  branch  of  "  practical  ornithology." 

That  the  range  of  the  true  ostriches  at  a  former  geological  period  was  considerably 
larger  than  nowadays  is  proved  by  the  rather  recent  discovery  of  fossil  remains  of  a 
species  from  the  Siwalik  Hills  in  India.  It  is  named  Struthio  asiaticus,  and  is  dis- 
tinguished by  a  stouter  neck  than  the  existing  species,  to  which  it  otherwise  is  so 
closely  related  that  Mr.  Lydekker  thinks  it  doubtful  whether  the  slight  differences  can 
be  regarded  as  of  more  than  individual  or  varietal  value. 

Though  nearer  related  perhaps  to  the  African  than  to  the  Australian  Struthiones, 
the  nandus  or  South  American  ostriches  are  sufficiently  remote  from  all  of  them  to 
wan-ant  their  separation  as  a  distinct  super-family,  the  RHEOIDE^E.  With  the  latter 
the  nandus  share  the  character  of  having  three  toes,  as  contrasted  with  the  two  toes  of 


38  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

their  African  relatives.  The  marks  which  they  have  in  common  with  them,  and  which 
consequently  distinguishes  both  these  from  the  cassowaries  and  emus,  besides  those 
which  separate  the  two  inter  se,  have  been  pointed  out  briefly  under  the  head  of  the 
foregoing  super-family,  with  the  exception  that  in  the  Kheida3  the  pubes  are  free,  while 
the  ischia  are  united  in  a  ventral  symphysis,  that  the  maxillo-palatines  do  not  touch 
the  vomer,  and  that  only  a  left  carotid  is  present.  We  shall  therefore  here  only  men- 
tion a  feature  shared  by  no  other  member  of  the  order,  viz.,  the  peculiar  and  highly 
specialized  lower  larynx.  This  was  first  discovered  by  the  French  naturalist,  Mr.  Alix, 
in  1874,  and  afterwards  fully  described  by  the  late  Professor  Forbes,  who  sums  up  its 
most  striking  characters  as  follows :  "  In  the  possession  of  a  tracheal  box  formed  by 
the  fusion  of  the  few  last  tracheal  rings,  in  the  greater  amount  of  specialization  of 
the  first  two  bronchial  semi-rings  of  each  side,  in  the  presence  of  district  interamular 
membrane-covered  fenestraa,  in  the  development  of  a  well-marked  cartilaginous  pes- 
sulus,  and  in  the  possession  of  a  pair  of  true  intrinsic  syringeal  muscles  running  from 
the  trachea  to  the  bronchial  semi-rings,  Rhea  stands  out  by  itself  as  sharply  opposed  to 
all  the  remaining  '  Ratite '  birds." 

Three  species,  all  from  South  America,  are  known  at  present ;  the  old  and  rather 
well  known  "  Avestruz  "  of  the  Gauchos,  and  a  nearly  ally,  described  about  fifteen  years 
ago  by  Dr.  Sclater,  both  referable  to  the  restricted  genus  Rhea,  and  named  respectively 
Rhea  rhea  (or  Mh.  americana)  and  JRh.  macrorhyncha.  The  latter,  the  true  habitat 
of  which  still  seems  to  be  doubtful,  is  considerably  smaller,  as  it  stands  six  inches  lower 
than  the  female  of  the  common  nandu,  but  has  a  much  longer  bill,  and  is,  besides, 
much  darker,  the  top  of  the  head  and  streaks  at  the  back  of  the  neck  in  particular 
being  deep  black.  Both  these  are  distinguished  from  Rh.  darwinii  in  having  scutel- 
late  tarsi,  which  in  the  latter  are  reticulate.  It  has  therefore  been  made  a  separate 
genus,  Pterocnemia,  a  further  character  of  which,  in  addition  to  several  anatomical 
differences,  is  that  the  leg  is  plumed  below  the  knee  for  several  inches.  The  termi- 
nal white  band  on  the  wing  feathers  is  a  striking  color  mark. 

Not  only  is  the  nandu  the  oldest  known  species,  but  also  the  one  having  the 
greatest  distribution,  occurring  as  it  does,  from  southern  Brazil  to  Magellan's  Strait. 
The  general  color  is  a  brownish  gray,  lighter,  nearly  whitish  on  the  belly ;  the  small 
and  narrow  feathers  on  the  crown,  nape,  and  upper  neck,  are  blackish  in  the  male, 
lighter  in  the  female,  which  is  the  smaller  of  the  two,  the  former  measuring  about  six 
feet  in  length,  the  latter  hardly  five  and  a  half. 

Living  on  the  pampas,  and  feeding  on  grasses  and  seeds  of  different  herbs,  and  also 
on  the  red  berries  of  the  Empetrum  rubrum,  the  Rliea,  like  its  African  cousin,  has 
chiefly  to  rely  upon  its  legs  and  acute  sight  for  escaping  danger,  but  seems  to  have  devel- 
oped considerably  more  intelligence,  though  he  has  often  to  pay  the  penalty  of  a  too 
great  curiosity  with  his  life ;  and  Darwin  relates  how,  though  fleet  in  its  paces,  and 
shy  in  its  nature,  it  yet  falls  an  easy  prey  to  the  hunters,  who  confound  it  by  approach- 
ing on  horseback  in  a  semicii-cle.  He  also  states  that  when  pursued  it  generally 
prefers  running  against  the  wind,  expanding  its  wing  to  the  full  extent.  Mr.  Barrows 
has  recently  in  "The  Auk"  given  some  intei-esting  information  as  to  the  manner  in 
which  the  'Avestruz'  is  hunted  in  Lower  Uruguay,  as  follows:  "During  our  stay  at 
Puan,  about  two  hundred  Indians  united  in  a  two-days'  ostrich-hunt,  resulting  in  the 
capture  of  about  sixty  birds  of  all  sizes,  from  the  full  grown  adult  down  to  two-month 
'  chicks.'  They  begin  by  beating  over  a  lai-ge  tract  of  the  plain,  and  then  closing  in 
around  the  game  started.  Stout  greyhounds  are  used  to  good  purpose,  usually  pulling 


OSTRICHES.  39 

down  the  swiftest  birds  within  two  miles  at  farthest.  The  Indians  use  the  'bolas' 
with  much  skill,  the  one  used  for  ostriches  consisting  of  two  half-pound  leaden  balls, 
connected  by  eight  feet  of  twisted  rawhide  twine.  Whirling  this  about  the  head  and 
'  letting  fly '  at  the  running  bird,  they  often  entangle  his  legs  at  a  distance  of  thirty  to 
fifty  yards,  and  I  was  told  that  it  was  frequently  done  at  one  hundred.  Single  hunters 
stalk  ostriches  sometimes  in  the  following  way:  Getting  to  windward  of  the  bird,  the 
latter  soon  scents  him  and  lies  down,  only  sticking  up  his  head  above  the  grass.  The 
hunter  may  then  creep  directly  up  within  shot,  if  the  grass  be  long  enough  to  shelter 
him,  and  the  bird  is  shot  through  neck  or  head  before  he  rises." 

On  two  occasions,  Mr.  Darwin  witnessed  the  Rhea  crossing  the  Santa  Cruz  river, 
where  its  course  was  about  four  hundred  yards  wide,  and  the  stream  rapid.  They 
made  but  slow  progress,  their  necks  were  extended  slightly  forward,  but  little  of  the 
body  appeared  above  water.  The  statement  as  regards  the  swimming  capacities  of 
the  bird  in  question  has  been  corroborated  by  Mr.  Cunningham. 

The  feathers  are  of  little  value  compared  with  those  of  the  African  ostrich,  and 
are  mainly  used  for  rugs,  dusters,  brooms,  etc. ;  the  yield  of  a  Rhea  will  average  about 
three  pounds,  and  the  value  is  from  one  to  two  dollars  per  pound  on  the  spot. 

The  hen  lays  from  ten  to  twenty-three  eggs  in  the  shallow  excavation  formed  by  the 
male  in  the  ground,  and  arranged  by  him  with  a  few  leaves  and  grasses  for  a  nest,  but 
numerous  eggs  are  also  dropped  here  and  there  over  the  plains.  That  these  are  des- 
tined for  food  for  the  young  chick  is  a  mere  myth.  Mr.  Darwin's  experience  was  to 
the  following  effect :  At  Bahia  Blanca,  in  the  months  of  October  and  September,  an 
extraordinary  number  of  eggs  were  found  all  over  the  country.  The  eggs  either  lie 
scattered  about,  or  are  collected  together  in  a  shallow  excavation  or  nest ;  in  the  for- 
mer case  they  are  never  hatched,  and  are  termed  by  the  Spaniards  Haachos.  The 
Gauchos  unanimously  affirmed,  and  later  experience  with  birds  in  captivity  corrobo- 
rates it,  that  the  male  bird  alone  hatches  the  eggs,  and  for  some  time  afterwards 
accompanies  the  young.  Mr.  Darwin  also  states  that  the  cock  bird  sits  so  closely  that 
he  has  almost  ridden  over  one  on  the  nest. 

Before  closing  the  present  account  we  shall  reproduce  the  yarn  told  Mr.  Barrows 
by  one  of  the  natives,  who  thought  he  had  found  an  explanation  of  the  many  eggs 
spread  over  the  plains.  When  an  ostrich  has  built  a  nest  and  laid  the  full  number  of 
eggs,  he  argued,  she  is  naturally  anxious  to  be  able  to  find  the  nest  again  after  having 
wandered  away  to  any  distance.  This  she  manages  by  simply  laying  eggs  at  intervals 
of  half  a  mile  or  so  over  the  adjacent  coimtry,  placing  each  egg  with  its  smaller  end 
pointing  directly  towards  the  nest !  Ben  trovato  !! 

The  "  Avestruz  Petise,"  as  Rh.  darwinii  is  called  by  the  Gauchos,  is  smaller,  and 
is  said  not  to  expand  its  wings  when  running  at  full  speed,  as  does  the  common  species. 
It  inhabits  Patagonia,  from  Magellan's  Strait  to  the  Rio  Negro. 

Both  as  regards  geographical  distribution  and  anatomical  peculiarities,  the 
cassowaries  and  emus,  the  superfamily  CASUAROIDE^,  hold  a  somewhat  isolated 
position  in  the  present  geological  period.  Most  significant,  perhaps,  is  the  extreme  re- 
duction of  the  fore-extremities,  which  could  hardly  become  smaller  without  disappear- 
ing altogether  externally ;  the  hand  has,  moreover,  only  one  claw-bearing  finger.  They 
are  furthermore  distinguished  from  the  two  foregoing  groups  iii  that  neither  pubes 
nor  ischia  unite  into  a  ventral  symphysis.  The  ambiens  muscle  is  absent,  though  pres- 
ent in  the  other  Dromoeognathae,  and  the  feathers  are  provided  with  aftershafts,  con- 
trary to  what  is  the  case  in  /Struthio  and  Rhea.  Both  carotids  are  developed. 


40  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

The  members  of  this  superfamily  are  at  present  confined  to  the  Australian  and 
Indo-Malayan  region,  but  fossil  remains  have  been  found  in  India  and  also  in  Europe, 
if  the  so-called  Macrornis  and  Megalornis,  from  the  London  clay,  really  belong 
here. 

The  first  family,  the  DROMAIIDJS,  which  embraces  only  the  emus,  represent 
in  the  Australian  deserts  and  plains  the  ostriches  of  Africa  and  the  Rheas  of  South 
America,  but  are  smaller  than  the  former,  though  larger  than  the  latter,  standing, 
as  they  do,  about  five  feet  high.  As  their  position  within  the  same  superfamily  as 
the  cassowaries  indicates,  their  affinities  are  with  the  latter,  from  which  they  are 
easily  distinguished  by  the  absence  of  the  helmet  on  the  top  of  the  head ;  neither 
do  they  have  the  spiny  rudiments  of  wing  feathers,  nor  the  nail  of  the  inner  toe 
lengthened  unusually;  the  nostrils  are  placed  near  the  middle  of  the  beak,  and 
not  in  the  anterior  half  of  it,  as  in  the  cassowaries.  The  neck  and  most  of  the  head 
are  feathered,  and  the  feathers  less  hair-like.  Of  anatomical  characters  may  be  men- 
tioned that  the  clavicles,  though  reduced  and  separate,  are  less  rudimentary  than 
m  the  birds  composing  the  following  family,  and  that  the  femoro-caudal  muscle  is 

absent,  while  present  in  the  cas- 
sowaries. 

Not  more  than  two  species 
are  conceded  by  the  best  author- 
ities, —  the  Dromaius  novce- 
hollandiee,  inhabiting  eastern 
Australia,  and  D.  irroratus, 
from  the  southern  and  western 
parts  of  that  continent,  —  both 
of  a  brownish  color ;  the  latter 

FIG.  18.  -  Pelvis  of  emu  (Dromaius  novce-hollandi^"  however,    with     the    individual 

feathers  of  the  body  distinctly 
marked  with  narrow  transverse  bars  of  light  grayish  and  brownish  black. 

The  emu  was  first  described  and  figured  under  the  name  of  the  New  Holland 
cassowary  in  Governor  Phillip's  "  Voyage  to  Botany  Bay."  According  to  Mr.  Gould, 
"  the  old  Bush-man,"  whose  account  of  the  Australian  birds  must  be  the  chief  source 
and  foundation  of  all  information  concerning  the  ornithology  of  that  remarkable 
region,  during  the  earlier  days  of  the  colony,  the  emu  was  universally  dispersed 
over  the  whole  of  the  Australian  continent.  The  encroachment  of  the  white  man, 
however,  has  now  caused  its  almost  extirpation  in  many  parts;  though  good  emu 
coursing,  which  is  said  to  be  excellent,  and  equalling,  if  not  surpassing,  the  same  sport 
with  the  hare  in  England,  may  still  be  had  in  districts  where  the  settlers  have  not  yet 
commenced  their  merciless  war  against  the  native  animals.  It  is  stated,  however,  that 
dogs  will  seldom  attack  it,  both  on  account  of  some  peculiar  odor,  and  because  of  the 
dangerous  injuries  it  inflicts  by  striking  out  with  its  feet ;  to  avoid  which,  the  well- 
trained  dogs  run  up  abreast  and  make  a  sudden  spring  at  their  neck,  whereby  they  are 
quickly  despatched.  Mr.  Cunningham  asserts  that  but  little  of  the  emu  is  fit  for  culi- 
nary use  except  the  hind-quarters,  "  which  are  of  such  dimensions  that  the  shouldering 
of  two  hind-legs  homewards  for  a  mile  distance  once  proved  me  as  tiresome  a  task  as 
Lever  recollect  to  have  encountered  in  the  colony." 

According  to  Gould,  the  only  vocal  sound  the  emu  has  been  heard  to  utter  is  a  low 
booming  or  jumping  noise.  The  eggs  are  six  or  seven  in  number,  of  a  beautiful  dark- 


CASSOWARIES.  41 

green,  resembling  shagreen  in  appearance,  and  measuring  five  inches  and  three-quarters 
in  length.  They  are  merely  placed  in  a  cavity  scooped  in  the  earth,  generally  in 
a  sandy  soil.  Emus  breed  readily  in  captivity,  are  easily  tamed,  and  will  stand  a  tem- 
perate climate  very  well.  The  emu  is  eminently  a  bird  of  the  plains,  and  in  that 
respect  wholly  different  from  its  near  ally,  the  cassowary,  which  is  the  only  type  of 
the  order  inhabiting  the  forests.  It  feeds  nearly  exclusively  upon  vegetable  matter, 
chiefly  "  fruits,  roots,  and  herbage." 

The  recent  discovery  of  a  fossil  bird  of  this  family  in  the  tertiary  deposits  of  India 
is  extremely  interesting,  since  it  conclusively  proves  that  the  emus  were  formerly  not 
confined  to  Australia.  The  remains  —  four  phalangeal  bones  —  have  been  referred  to 
the  genus  Dromaius  with  a  query,  but  Mr.  Lydekker  thinks  there  is  every  probability 
that  his  D.  sivalensis  is  the  ancestral  form  of  the  recent  bird. 

It  has  been  supposed  that  the  bird  Hippalectryo,  or  "  horse  fowl,"  mentioned  by 
the  ancient  Greek  poet,  ^Eschylos,  as  pictured  on  a  Persian  tapet,  is  the  same  which  is 
now  called  cassowary  or  emeu.  However,  it  was  not  before  the  close  of  the  sixteenth 
century  that  the  western  nations  of  Europe  learned  of  the  existence  of  this  remark- 
able bird.  A  live  specimen  was  brought  to  Amsterdam  in  1597  by  a  Dutch  skipper, 
and  was  finally  presented  to  the  Roman  Emperor  as  a  most  valuable  and  unique  gift. 

Linnaeus  knew  only  one  species,  and  it  was  not  until  recently  that  many  additional 
forms  were  made  known,  so  that  not  less  than  about  ten  species  are  now  admitted  by 
the  latest  authorities  on  the  subject.  Restricted  as  the  geographical  distribution  of 
the  whole  family,  the  CASUARID^E,  is,  that  of  the  separate  species  is  still  more  so,  for 
the  cassowaries  are  confined  to  the  Papuan  or  Austro-Malayan  subregion,  eight  species 
occurring  in  the  Papuan  Islands,  while  one  is  a  native  of  the  northeastern  peninsula  of 
the  Australian  mainland,  and  another  belongs  to  the  island  of  Ceram.  Of  the  eight 
Papuan  species,  five  inhabit  New  Guinea  itself,  each  species,  however,  its  own  district, 
while  of  the  remaining  three,  each  one  occupies  an  isolated  small  island,  or  island 
group,  of  itself,  viz.,  Jobi,  Wammer,  and  Kobroor,  of  the  Aru  group,  and  New  Britain. 

Contrary  to  the  true  ostriches,  the  nandus,  and  the  emus,  the  cassowaries  are  strictly 
confined  to  the  dense  forests  or  scrubs,  and  not  to  the  open  plains  or  deserts.  Their 
organization,  therefore,  shows  some  peculiar  modifications  not  present  in  the  other 
bin  Is  mentioned.  The  most  obvious  feature  in  this  respect  is  the  helmet  or  horny 
casque  on  the  top  of  the  head  (the  particular  use  of  which  will  be  shown  further  on) 
covering  a  core  of  very  light  spongy  bony  tissue,  with  an  external  layer,  no  thicker 
than  fine  paper,  but  nevertheless  very  firm.  The  naked- parts  of  the  head  are  more 
or  less  wrinkled  and  supplied  with  wattles,  and  are  gayly  colored  with  blue  and  red, 
or  blue  and  yellow.  In  the  rudimentary  wing  are  four  to  six  strong  feather-shafts 
without  barbs,  apparently  remnants  of  the  remiges  of  their  flying  ancestors,  but  now 
from  want  of  use  reduced  to  mere  spine-like  structures.  In  a  fresh  specimen  examined 
by  me,  the  wing  measured  four  inches,  the  chord  of  the  nail  was  two  inches,  and  the 
longest  shaft  fourteen  inches.  Of  the  three-toed  feet  the  inner  toe  is  short,  but  armed 
with  a  long  and  sharp  claw  which  serves  as  a  formidable  weapon.  With  these  external 
characters  are  associated  several  important  anatomical  peculiarities,  so  that  the  validity 
of  the  family  as  such  cannot  well  be  questioned. 

The  family  is  only  known  to  comprise  a  single  genus,  of  which  the  species  fall  in 
two  groups,  according  to  the  shape  of  the  helmet,  whether  compressed  or  not.  The 
species  themselves  are  only  slightly  differentiated,  and  the  main  characters  are  derived 
from  the  number  and  form  of  the  wattles,  the  color  of  the  naked  parts,  and  the  out- 


42  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

line  of  the  helmet.  It  is  interesting  to  remark  that  the  two  species  most  distant  in 
space,  and  which  both  occur  outside  of  the  Papuan  fauna  strictly,  viz.,  the  Casuarius 
casuarius  (or  yaleatus)  from  Ceram,  and  C.  australis  from  northern  Australia,  are 
very  nearly  related  and  rather  difficult  to  distinguish. 

Of  the  latter  species  we  have  an  excellent  life-history  by  Mr.  E.  P.  Ramsay,  from 
whom  the  following  account,  which  will  also  serve  for  the  other  species,  is  borrowed : 
One  of  the  chief  objects  of  my  visit  to  Rockingham  Bay  was  to  become  acquainted 
with  the  habits  of  this  noble  bird.  While  in  Brisbane  on  my  way  up,  I  found  that 
several  very  young  cassowaries  had  been  obtained,  and,  for  the  first  time,  a  nest  and 
eggs  had  been  found.  This  was  great  news ;  and  I  need  not  relate  how  I  made  all 
haste  for  the  Herbert-River  Police  Camp,  where  I  was  most  hospitably  entertained  and 
welcomed  by  Inspector  Johnstone,  who  was  the  first  to  rediscover  and  bring  under 
the  notice  of  others  the  existence  of  this  remarkable  species. 

The  Australian  cassowary  is  a  denizen  of  the  dense  dark  scrubs  scattered  over  the 
district  of  Rockingham  Bay,  northeastern  Queensland,  and  extending  as  far  north  as 
the  Endeavour  River.  It  was  tolerably  plentiful  only  a  few  years  ago  even  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Cardwell ;  but  since  the  advent  of  sugar-planters,  &c.,  on  the  Herbert 
River  and  adjacent  creeks,  these  fine  birds  have  been  most  ruthlessly  shot  down  and 
destroyed  for  the  sake  of  their  skins,  several  of  which  I  saw  used  for  hearth-rugs  and 
door-mats.  Formerly,  they  were  easily  enough  procured ;  but  latterly,  so  wary  have 
they  become,  and  their  numbers  so  decreased,  that  it  is  only  with  the  greatest  amount 
of  patience  even  a  stray  shot  can  be  obtained.  I  know  of  no  bird  so  wary  and  timid. 
During  the  day  they  remain  in  the  most  dense  parts  of  the  scrubs,  wandering  about 
the  sides  of  the  watercourses  and  creeks,  diving  in  through  the  bushes  and  vines  at 
the  slightest  noise.  Towards  evening  and  early  in  the  morning  they  usually  visit  their 
favorite  feeding-trees,  such  as  the  native  figs,  Leichardt-tree,  and  various  species  of 
Acmena,  Jambosa,  Davidsonia,  etc. ;  they  appear  to  be  particularly  fond  of  the 
astringent  fruit  of  the  Leichardt-trees,  and  of  a  species  of  Maranta,  which  produced 
bunches  of  large  seed-pods  filled  with  juicy  pulp,  resembling  in  appearance  the  inside 
of  a  ripe  passion-fruit  (Passiflora  edulis).  Fruit  and  berries  of  all  kinds  are  eagerly 
sought  after ;  the  tame  semi-adult  bird  which  I  had  became  so  fond  of  the  fruit  of 
the  cape-mulberry  that  he  would  allow  no  one  to  come  near  the  tree  he  had  taken 
possession  of.  This  bird  had  frequently  devoured  at  a  time  as  much  as  three  quarts 
of  'loquats'  (fruit  of  Eriobotria  japonica),  and  several  fair-sized  oranges  whole, 
besides  its  usual  amount  of  bread  per  diem  (about  three  pounds).  In  nature  I  found 
that  in  the  afternoons  they  frequently  came  out  and  walked  along  the  scrubs,  or  along 
the  side  of  the  river  or  creek,  and  swallowed  large  quantities  of  pebbles  and  small 
rough-edged  stones.  In  confinement,  plantains  and  sweet  potatoes  (in  large  pieces 
which  they  can  swallow  whole)  are  a  favorite  food,  while  nothing  seems  to  come 
amiss  to  them — grasshoppers,  spiders,  earth-worms,  cockroaches,  caterpillars  of  all 
kinds,  dough,  and  even  raw  meat.  In  confinement  they  become  very  tame.  If  disap- 
pointed or  teased,  they  not  unfrequently  "  show  fight "  by  bristling  up  their  feathers, 
and  kicking  out  sideways  or  in  front  with  force  sufficient  to  knock  a  strong  man  down 
—  a  feat  I  have  witnessed  on  more  than  one  occasion.  These  birds  are  very  powerful, 
and  dangerous  to  approach  when  wounded.  On  more  than  one  occasion  a  wounded 
bird  has  caused  a  naturalist  to  take  to  a  tree ;  the  sharp  nail  of  the  inner  toe  is  a  most 
dangerous  weapon,  quite  equal  to  the  claw  of  a  large  kangaroo,  and  capable  of  doing 
quite  as  much  execution. 


MO  AS.  43 

I  found  the  cassowaries  to  be  excellent  swimmers,  and  frequently  tracked  them 
across  a  good-sized  creek  or  river.  Their  note,  most  usually  emitted  by  the  male,  is  a 
scries  of  harsh,  guttural,  prolonged  croakings,  quickly  repeated,  and  continued  for 
about  three  minutes ;  it  is  very  loud,  and  may  be  detected  across  the  water,  at  a  dis- 
tance of  at  least  three  miles,  on  a  still  night.  I  have  listened  to  its  resounding  through 
the  scrubs  at  a  distance  of  one  and  one  half  miles  on  land,  and  then  thought  it  close, 
and  one  of  the  most  unearthly  noises  I  ever  heard. 

They  breed  during  the  months  of  August  and  September.  The  nest  consists  of  a 
depression  among  the  fallen  leaves  and  debris,  always  in  the  most  dense  part,  and  well 
concealed  by  entangled  masses  of  vegetation.  The  eggs  were  five  in  number  in  the 
only  two  instances  recorded,  and,  in  both  cases,  one  of  the  eggs  in  each  set  differed 
from  the  other,  being  of  a  light-green  color,  and  having  a  much  smoother  shell. 

The  young  are  of  a  dull  rusty  brown.  After  the  second  season,  at  the  age  of  18 
to  24  months,  the  black  feathers  predominate,  and  the  helmet,  which  has  hitherto  been 
undeveloped,  more  like  the  shield  of  a  coot,  begins  to  show  a  keel  or  ridge  in  the  centre, 
which  rapidly  increases  in  height.  The  skin  round  the  head  begins  to  become  wrinkled 
and  colored,  varying  from  bluish-green  to  orange  on  the  lower  part,  and  bright  blue  on  the 
sides  of  the  neck,  the  wattles  becoming  carmine.  The  helmet  still  remains  compara- 
tively small  and  undeveloped  long  after  the  wattles  and  naked  parts  of  the  neck 
become  colored.  I  believe  that  the  helmet  does  not  attain  its  full  size  until  the  fourth 
or  fifth  year  at  least.  In  traversing  the  scrubs  the  head  is  carried  low  to  the  ground, 
and  the  vines  and  branches  of  trees  striking  the  helmet  slide  over  it  on  to  the  back. 
Otherwise  in  the  dense  vine-scrubs  bordering  the  Herbert  River  and  elsewhere,  pro- 
gress would  be  greatly  impeded ;  but  as  it  is,  the  cassowaries  traverse  the  scrubs  with 
wonderful  speed,  jumping  over  fallen  trees  and  logs  when  in  the  way. 

The  Superfamily  of  extinct  birds  DINORNITHOIDE^E,  which,  by  some  authors 
is  regarded  as  having  ordinal  value,  under  the  name  of  Immanes,  inhabited  Australia 
and  especially  New  Zealand  during  a  not  so  very  distant  period,  geologically  speaking. 
They  were  first  introduced  to  the  scientific  world  by  Professor  Richard  Owen  in  1839, 
who  designated  them  by  the  name  Dinornis,  giant  bird  (from  the  Greek  demos, 
tremendous,  formidable),  and  are  now  generally  known  as  moas,  the  name  used  by  the 
Maori,  the  natives  of  Xew  Zealand.  Moa  is  the  equivalent  of  the  Polynesian  word 
"  toa,"  which  means  the  domestic  fowl,  —  a  significant  fact,  as  it  shows  that  the  Maoris 
found  the  giant  birds  alive  when  they  immigrated  into  the  islands. 

The  moas  form  one  of  the  most  interesting  groups  in  ornithology,  not  only  because 
they  help  to  fill  a  gap  between  the  other  Struthious  birds,  particularly  the  Casuaroi- 
deae,  and  the  wonderful  kiwis,  or  Apteryges,  but  also  because  they  are  an  extreme 
example  of  the  feathered,  and  therefore  originally  flying,  bird-type,  becoming  modified 
into  an  animal  bound  and  fitted  as  exclusively  to  the  ground  as  the  horse  or  the  elephant. 
And,  elephant-birds,  indeed,  might  we  call  them,  were  it  not  that  this  name  would  even 
better  fit  another  group  of  extinct  Struthious  birds,  the  ^Epiornithes  from  Madagascar. 
The  moas  show  the  extreme  reduction  of  the  wing  among  birds,  their  fore-limbs 
being  nearly  as  much  atrophied  as  are  the  hind-limbs  of  the  whale.  By  long  disuse, 
the  wings,  as  they  became  useless  for  the  acquisition  of  food,  and  unnecessary  for 
escaping  danger,  since  no  enemies  existed,  would  become  enfeebled  and  ultimately 
reduced  to  mere  rudiments,  while  "the  legs,  then  monopolizing  the  functions  of  loco- 
motion, would  attain,  through  the  concomitant  force  and  frequency  of  exercise,  propor- 
tional increase  of  power  and  size."  (Owen.) 


44 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


The  bones  have  been  met  with  under  the  most  different  conditions,  some  scattered 
over  the  surface,  others  buried  loosely  in  the  sand,  others  in  the  old  native  cooking- 
places  or  graves,  others  again  in  the  alluvium  of  rivers,  marshes,  or  in  caves,  sometimes 
so  numerous  that  they  have  been  dug  out  by  the  ton.  The  most  remarkable  find  in 
that  line  is  the  exhumation  by  Mr.  Booth,  at  Hamilton,  of  three  and  a  half  tons  of 
moa-bones  from  a  single  half-dried  lagoon  surrounding  a  spring,  the  number  of  bird- 
skeletons  accumulated  there  being  esti- 
mated at  more  than  four  hundred.  Moa 
skeletons  are  therefore  no  longer  rarities 
in  the  museums ;  fine  collections  are  in 
London,  in  Vienna,  and  other  European 
museums,  not  to  speak  of  the  magnificent 
series  which  are  preserved  in  the  colony 
itself ;  also  museums  in  this  country  have 
received  valuable  material,  the  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History  in  New  York, 
however,  being  in  the  lead  with  its  elegant 
collection  of  mounted  moa  skeletons. 

Thanks  to  this  ample  material  we  know 
the  moas  pretty  well,  and  about  fifteen 
species  are  now  recognized.  Owing  to  the 
presence  of  a  hind  toe,  as  in  the  kiwis,  a 
number  of  species  were  first  separated  by 
Owen  as  a  distinct  genus,  Palapteryx.  This 
division  was  carried  further  by  Dr.  Haast, 
who  made  Dinornis  and  Palapteryx  the 
basis  of  two  families,  including  two  addi- 
tional genera.  Of  these  Meionornis  was 
made  to  include  the  species  D.  casuarimis 
and  didiformis,  the  former  the  type  of 
Reichenbach's  genus  Syorms,  the  latter  the  type  of  the  same  author's  Anomalopterytt, 
both  established  in  1852.  It  is  quite  probable  that  the  distinction  derived  from  the  pres- 
ence or  absence  of  a  back  toe  will  not  hold,  as  it  may  have  been  present  in  all  the  species, 
though  not  found  with  the  skeletons,  for  no  safe  conclusion  can  be  made  from  the 
absence  of  an  articular  surface  on  the  metatarsal  bone,  as  proven  by  the  presence  of  a 
hind  toe  in  D.  parmis,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  it  is  not  indicated  in  the  charac- 
ter of  the  metatarsus. 

The  Dinornithes  are  related  to  the  kiwis,  together  with  which  they  inhabited 
New  Zealand,  as  kiwi  bones  have  been  found  associated  with  those  of  the  more  or 
less  fossilized  moas,  but  in  some  characters  they  agree  better  with  the  emus  and  casso- 
waries of  the  Australian  mainland  and  the  Papuan  islands,  and  it  is  therefore  a  very 
important  discovery  that  remains  of  moas  have  also  been  found  in  Australia,  in  a  post- 
pliocene  deposit  in  Queensland. 

The  most  striking  peculiarity  of  this  group  is  the  enormously  massive  structure  of 
the  hind  extremities,  which  reaches  its  maximum  in  D.  elephantopus,  a  name  truly 
suggestive  of  the  extreme  development  of  the  feet.  Concomitant  with  these  large 
hind  limbs  is  the  very  rudimentary  condition  of  the  fore  extremities,  which  were 
nearly  obsolete.  The  front  edge  of  the  small,  flat,  and  keelless  breast-bone  has  two 


FIG.  19. — Dinornis  ingvns,  Moa.  from  Hochstetter's  restora- 
tion.   The  small  birds  are  kiwis. 


MO  AS. 


45 


small  impressions  for  the  rudimentary  coracoids,  which,  in  one  of  the  larger  species, 
are  only  two  inches  long,  while  shoulder-blade  and  wing-bones  seem  to  be  wholly 
wanting.    The  head  is  particularly  small  in  the  larger 
species;  D.  parvus,  the  smallest  species,  has  rela- 
tively the  largest  skull. 

The  size  varied  very  noticeably  in  the  different 
species.  The  smallest  (Dinornis  parvus)  was  not 
larger  than  a  dodo ;  others,  for  instance,  D.  ingens, 
reached  the  African  ostrich  in  size;  D.  maximus 
was  nine  or  ten  feet  high  ;  and  other  individuals  have 
been  recorded  having  a  height,  when  standing  erect, 
of  thirteen  to  fourteen  feet.  Two  series  of  different 
size  have  been  recognized  in  various  species,  and 
from  the  analogy  of  Apteryx,  the  larger  individuals 
are  regarded  as  females. 

The  eggs,  a  considerable  number  of  which  have 
been  found,  were  of  a  dark  green  color,  while  others 
seem  to  have  been  of  a  paler  yellowish  tint.  Their 
volume  was  considerably  greater  than  that  of  ostrich 
eggs,  a  recently  found,  nearly  perfect,  egg  measuring 
about  ten  inches  in  length  by  seven  in  breadth,  or 
"  so  large  that  a  hat  would  make  a  good  egg-cup  for 
it,"  but  without  equalling  in  capacity  those  of  the 
jEpiornis.  In  one  of  them  the  bones  of  a  young 
foetus  were  found,  from  which  could  be  demon- 
strated that  even  at  that  early  age  the  bones  be- 
longing to  the  hind  extremities  were  much  more 
voluminous  than  in  the  now  existing  types  of  Struthiones. 

But  not  only  have  the  bones  and  eggs  of  moas  been  found  in  great  numbers,  but 
also  single  feathers  and  parts  of  skeletons,  with  muscles,  shreds  of  skin,  and  feathers 
adhering,  in  a  remarkable  state  of  preservation. 

Some  of  the  feathers  were  as  bright  as  if  they  had  just  been  pulled  out.  They 
were  double,  —  in  other  words,  were  furnished  with  an  '  aftershaft,'  resembling  some- 
what those  of  the  Australian  wingless  birds.  In  one  species  they  were  of  a  reddish 
brown  near  the  base,  passing  into  black,  while  the  rounded  tip  was  pure  white. 
Others  have  been  found  of  a  pale  yellowish  brown  color,  others  again  of  a  blackish 
brown.  Feathers  from  a  cave  near  Queenstown  were  reddish  brown  with  a  terminal 
dark-brown  shaft  streak.  These  large  feathers  (some  measuring  as  much  as  six  inches) 
probably  covered  the  body.  A  most  extraordinary  specimen,  consisting  of  seven 
vertebrae  from  the  lower  end  of  the  neck,  with  their  muscles,  skin,  and  feathers, 
is  so  interesting,  that  we  allow  ourselves  to  make  an  abstract  of  the  best  description 
accessible  to  us. 

Upon  the  portion  of  this  specimen  corresponding  to  the  first  dorsal  vertebra?,  the 
skin  is  seen  to  be  covered  with  large  conical  papillas  which  nearly  touch  each  other, 
and  give  the  whole  the  appearance  of  a  rasp.  A  certain  number  of  these  papilla 
bear  double-stemmed  feathers  of  a  reddish-chestnut  color,  furnished  with  barbs,  and 
nearly  two  inches  long.  The  papillae  diminish  in  size,  and  the  feathers  in  length,  on 
arriving  at  the  level  of  the  vertebrae  of  the  neck.  Soon  the  feathers  appear  to  be 


FIG.  20.—  Dmornis  ingens. 


46  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

reduced  to  mere  hairs,  and  they  disappear  entirely  upon  about  half  the  specimen. 
There  the  papillae  are  much  smaller  and  are  distinctly  separated  from  each  other. 

With  the  data  furnished  by  the  skeletons  and  the  other  remains  now  in  the  differ- 
ent museums,  we  are  enabled  to  give  a  pretty  reliable  picture  of  these  birds,  which 
probably  became  extinct  before  civilized  men  discovered  their  native  land,  supplying 
the  wanting  details  from  their  nearest  allies  among  the  living  dromagognathous  birds. 
They  are  described  as  representing  the  general  form  of  the  cassowary,  but  upon  a 
much  larger  scale,  particularly  in  regard  to  the  hind  extremities,  while  the  anterior 
ones  were  still  more  abortive.  Like  the  cassowary,  they  had  the  greater  part  of  the 
neck  naked,  but  were  destitute  of  the  bony  crest,  in  this  respect  resembling  the  emu. 
Very  probably  the  legs  were  naked,  and  the  body  was  covered  with  silky  plumes,  in 
which  darker  or  lighter  and  more  or  less  reddish  tints  of  brown  predominated,  varie- 
gated with  black  and  white,  at  least  in  some  species. 

To  Mr.  John  White,  who  devoted  more  than  thirty-five  years  in  collecting  all 
possible  information  from  the  Maori,  the  natives  of  New  Zealand,  and  to  various  other 
gentlemen  (among  them  Sir  George  Grey),  the  scientific  world  is  indebted  for  much 
valuable  information  concerning  the  habits  of  these  birds,  derived  from  the  folk-lores, 
songs,  and  proverbs  of  the  natives.  Thus  the  Maori  have  a  proverb,  "  as  inert  as  a  moa," 
which  indicates  that  these  birds  were  sluggish  and  stupid  animals ;  and  the  following 
life  history  has  been  drawn  from  similar  sources.  They  were  essentially  sedentary,  and 
went  about  in  pairs,  accompanied  by  their  young.  No  doubt  they  sometimes  disputed 
the  field  on  which  they  were  seeking  the  same  food,  for  the  Maori  still,  in  speaking  of 
a  struggle  between  two  pairs  of  combatants,  say :  "  Two  against  two,  like  the  moas." 
Their  nests  were  formed  of  various  dried  grasses  and  fragments  of  ferns,  simply 
brought  together  in  a  heap.  They  ate  various  species  of  plants  growing  upon  the 
borders  of  the  woods  and  marshes,  the  young  shoots  of  certain  shrubs,  etc. ;  but  their 
principal  food  appears  to  have  been  the  root  of  a  species  of  fern  (Pteris  esculenta), 
which  they  dug  up  either  with  the  beak  or  with  the  feet.  To  assist  in  the  grinding  of 
the  food  swallowed,  the  moas,  like  many  other  birds,  ate  small  pebbles,  which,  when 
rounded  and  polished  by  friction  in  the  stomach,  and  thus  rendered  unfit  for  further 
service,  they  disgorged,  just  as  do  the  ostrich  and  the  emu.  These  "moa-stones"  are 
found  in  great  numbers,  often  in  small  heaps  near  skeletons,  in  a  position  indicating 
the  place  of  the  gizzard,  thus  proving  that  the  bird  died  on  the  spot  where  the  skeleton 
is  now  found. 

Being  the  only  large  indigenous  warm-blooded  animal,  the  moa  was,  of  course, 
eagerly  hunted  by  the  Maori,  although  Mr.  White  writes  that  they  were  afraid  of  it, 
as  a  kick  from  the  foot  of  one  would  break  the  bones  of  the  most  powerful  brave ; 
hence  the  people  made  strong  spears  of  maire,  or  manuka  wood,  six  or  eight  feet 
long,  the  sharp  end  of  which  was  cut  so  that  it  might  break  and  leave  six  or  eight 
inches  of  the  spear  in  the  bird.  Before  the  chase,  the  hunters  engaged  in  prayers, 
invoking  the  assistance  of  those  spirits  to  whom  they  attributed  the  power  of  sending 
good  or  ill  fortune,  supplicating,  for  instance,  the  "  mist  of  the  hills  where  the  chase 
was  to  take  place  so  to  act  that  the  fat  of  the  birds  may  flow  like  the  drops  of  dew 
which  falls  from  the  leaves  of  the  trees  at  the  dawn  of  a  summer  day ;  or  the  god  of 
silence  to  keep  the  moas  free  from  apprehension  and  fright."  Some  of  the  hunters 
would  then  conceal  themselves  behind  the  scrub  on  the  side  of  the  track  (many  of 
which  are  still  visible,  being  about  sixteen  inches  wide,  and  of  a  seemingly  fresh 
appearance),  while  others  drove  them  from  the  lakes  towards  the  ambush.  "  Here  the 


&PIORNITHES.  47 

spears  were  thrown  at  them,  and  the  scrub  on  the  sides  of  the  track  would  catch  the 
spears  and  break  the  jagged  end  off,  leaving  it  in  the  bird.  As  it  had  to  pass  many 
men,  the  broken  spear-points  caused  it  to  yield  in  power  when  it  had  gained  the  open 
fern-country,  where  it  was  attacked  in  its  feeble  condition  by  the  most  daring  of  the 
tribe."  The  killed  bird  was  cut  up  with  a  knife  of  obsidian,  made  for  that  exclusive 
use,  and  which  only  served  a  single  time.  "What  wild,  weird  scenes,"  exclaims 
Russell,  "those  deep  valleys  of  the  southern  Alps  must  have  witnessed,  when,  after 
the  successful  hunt,  the  natives  gathered  about  their  camp-fires,  that  lit  up  their  dark 
tattooed  faces,  and  shone  on  the  strange  vegetation  around,  to  feast  on  the  flesh  of  inoa, 
or  partake  of  its  huge  eggs,  roasted  on  the  hot  stones  of  the  oven ! " 

It  will  be  perceived  from  many  of  the  facts  related  above  that  the  extermination 
of  the  giant-birds  of  New  Zealand  cannot  have  taken  place  at  a  very  distant  period. 
Dr.  Haast,  on  the  contrary,  has  taken  the  position  that  the  moas  were  extinct  before 
the  immigi-ation  of  the  Maori  race,  which  now  inhabits  the  islands,  occurred,  and  that 
these  huge  birds  had  been  exterminated  by  an  aboriginal  people  which  he  calls  the 
"  moa-hunters."  This  theory  has  been  successfully  opposed  by  Mantell,  Dr.  Hector, 
Hochstetter,  and  especially  by  Mr.  A.  de  Quatrefages,  from  whose  interesting  memoir 
(1883)  much  of  the  above  has  been  borrowed.  We  may  perhaps  not  be  prepared  to 
accept  as  fully  trustworthy  the  testimony  of  Haumataugi,  the  old  Maori,  who  in  1844 
related  that  during  his  childhood  he  had  seen  living  moas,  a  statement  which  would 
bring  the  year  of  extinction  down  to  about  1770  or  1780  ;  still  we  cannot  doubt  that 
the  extinction  took  place  at  a  comparatively  recent  date,  as  it  is  otherwise  impossible 
to  account  for  the  discovery  of  remains  of  soft  tissue  in  such  a  condition  that  the 
muscles  could  still  be  dissected ;  especially  if  we  remember  that  the  climate  of  New 
Zealand  is  mild  and  moist,  conditions  favorable  to  a  speedy  dissolution  of  the  car- 
casses. We  may  finally  record  the  view  of  a  man  who,  more  than  anybody  else,  has 
a  right  to  be  heard  in  this  question,  viz.,  Professor  Richard  Owen.  As  late  as  1882  he 
expresses  the  opinion  that  "  in  the  remote,  well-wooded,  and  sparsely  populated  dis- 
tricts of  the  southern  division  of  New  Zealand,  a  recovery  of  a  still-existing  specimen 
of  moa  might  be  less  unlikely  than  that  of  the  JVbtorniSj  also  originally  recognized  by 
fossil  remains." 

ORDER  II.  — ^EPIORNITHES. 

Eleven  years  after  the  discovery  of  Dinornis  had  been  announced  by  Owen  in 
England,  some  few  remains  of  a  not  less  gigantic  bird  from  Madagascar  reached  the 
museum  at  Paris,  and  two  days  after,  on  the  27th  of  January,  1851,  Isidore  Geoffroy- 
Saint-Hilaire  read  before  the  Parisian  Academy  of  Sciences  a  paper,  in  which  he 
described  two  enormous  eggs  and  part  of  the  metatarsus  of  a  bird  which  he  called 
^Epiornis  maximus,  meaning  "  the  bii'd  big  as  a  mountain." 

This  brought  again  to  mind  the  old  story  of  the  famous  Venetian  traveler,  Marco 
Polo,  who  located  the  rue  or  roc,  the  giant  bird  of  the  Arabian  tales,  upon  Madaua^- 
car,  and  related  that  the  Great  Khan  of  the  Tartars,  having  heard  of  the  bird,  sent 
messengers  to  Madagascar,  who  brought  back  a  feather  nine  spans  long,  and  two  palms 
in  circumference,  at  which  His  Majesty  expressed  his  unfeigned  delight.  This,  like  so 
many  others  of  his  strange  tales,  had  been  regarded  as  a  fable,  but  now  there  were 
enough  of  believers  who  were  satisfied  that  the  egg  of  the  rue  had  been  found ;  for 
the  eggs  exhibited  measured  nearly  34  inches  in  circumference,  and  would  hold 
more  than  two  gallons:  in  other  words,  had  a  capacity  of  nearly  150  hen's  eggs, 


48  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

or  17  cassowary's  eggs,  or  6  ostrich  eggs !  The  length  measurer!  12.6  inches,  the 
breadth  8.6  inches,  and  the  shell  had  a  thickness  of  0.11  of  an  inch.  No  wonder  that 
the  natives  employed  them  for  different  domestic  purposes.  In  fact,  the  first  knowl- 
edge of  the  eggs  was  received  when  some  Madagascar  natives  came  to  Mauritius  to 
buy  rum,  bringing  dEpiornis  eggs  with  them  to  hold  the  liquor.  This  led  to  inquiries, 
and  two  eggs  and  some  fragments  of  bones  were  obtained  by  Mr.  Malavois,  and  sent 
to  Paris.  Since  that  time  other  remains,  which  have  furnished  the  material  for 
Alphonse  Milne  Edwards's  investigations,  published  in  1869  and  1873,  were  discovered 
by  Grandidier  and  others. 

It  has  been  shown  that  the  earlier  calculations  of  the  size  of  jffipiornis  were  much 
too  high,  and  that  ^E.  maximus  in  reality  was  not  taller  than  a  large  African  ostrich, 
notwithstanding  the  enormous  size  of  the  egg,  and  that  the  smallest  of  the  three 
species  known,  ^E.  modesties,  was  not  much  larger  than  the  great  bustard.  The  more 
astounding  is  the  stoutness  and  massiveness  of  the  hind  extremities,  which  were  still 
more  '  elephantine '  than  those  of  the  elephant-footed  moa.  The  characters  of  the 
bones  at  once  refer  the  elephant-birds  of  Madagascar  to  the  neighborhood  of  the 
ostriches  and  moas,  particularly  the  former;  and,  as  they  seem  to  have  had  only  three 
toes,  Professor  Bianconi's  idea  that  they  were  rapacious,  or  rather  condor-like,  birds 
—  the  rue  was  said  to  be  a  bird  of  that  order  —  is  not  well  founded.  An  additional 
proof  is  that  the  microscopic  examination  of  the  egg,  according  to  Nathusius,  shows 
an  approach  to  that  of  Struthio,  and  bears  no  resemblance  to  that  of  the  larger 
raptores. 

The  chief  characters  of  the  bones  known  are  the  remarkable  widening  and  flatten- 
ing of  the  metatarsal  bone ;  the  enormous  size  of  the  leg-bone,  which  is  over  25  inches 
long,  with  a  circumference  at  its  upper  extremity  of  18  inches,  while  the  bone  at  its  most 
contracted  portion  is  only  6  inches  round,  thus  showing  a  singular  enlargement  of  the 
articular  ends;  it  differs  from  the  same  bone  in  the  Dinornithoideae  in  having  no 
osseous  bridge  over  the  groove  of  the  extensor  muscle  of  the  toes,  in  this  respect 
agreeing  with  the  existing  Struthiones.  The  thigh-bone  was  of  singular  proportions, 
being  of  extraordinary  thickness,  while  in  length  it  does  not  measure  one  half  more 
than  its  lower  extremity ;  it  was  pneumatic,  contrary  to  what  exists  in  Apteryx  and 
Dinornis. 

The  natives  of  Madagascar  assert  that  a  few  of  the  giant  birds  are  still  alive  in 
some  of  the  most  secluded  and  unexplored  parts  of  the  island,  and  occasionally  an 
exciting  report  of  some  traveler  having  been  in  the  neighborhood  of  them  reaches  us 
through  the  newspapers,  but  the  probability  is  that  they  are  totally  exterminated,  and 
without  doubt  by  the  hand  of  man,  as  the  famous  French  traveler  Alfred  Grandidier 
emphatically  assures  us;  but  there  are  reasons  to  believe  that  the  report  of  some 
having  been  still  alive  not  more  than  two  hundred  years  ago  is  not  entirely  unfounded. 
The  whole  history  of  the  ^Epiornithes,  the  enormous,  massive  Struthious  birds,  con- 
fined to  a  large  island  in  the  southern  seas,  and  extinguished  by  the  action  of  man,  is 
a  remarkable  counterpart  of  that  of  the  moas  on  New  Zealand. 

ORDER  III.  —  APTERYGES. 

The  English  naturalists  who,  about  seventy  years  ago,  received  the  first  kiwi 
skin  from  New  Zealand  through  Captain  Barclay,  of  the  ship  'Providence,'  were 
greatly  perplexed  as  to  the  relationship  of  that  singular  bird,  not  larger  than  a  hen,  and 
which  had  no  wings,  was  covered  with  hair-like  feathers,  possessed  a  long  beak  with 


KIWIS.  49 

the  nostrils  placed  at  the  tip,  and  had  four  toes.  Latham  called  it  the  "  apterous  pen- 
guin," since  it  had  four  toes  and  no  wings,  remarking,  however,  that  "  the  form  of  the 
foot  is  not  greatly  unlike  that  of  the  dodo,  and  in  the  above  specimen  the  toes  were 
not  connected  by  an  intervening  membrane ;  yet  from  certain  inequalities  on  the  sides 
it  is  possible  that  there  may  have  been  one,  and  that  it  had  been  eaten  away  by 
insects."  Shaw,  making  it  the  type  of  the  genus  Apteryx,  '  the  wingless  bird,'  did 
not  remove  it  from  the  neighborhood  of  the  penguins,  pointing  to  the  fact  that  the  bill 
also  was  "  somewhat  in  the  form  of  that  of  the  Patagonian  penguin."  Temminck 
united  Apteryx  and  Didus,  the  dodo,  into  a  separate  "  order,"  the  "  Inertes,"  but 
"could  not  find  a  more  convenient  place  for  these  two  genera  than  by  associating  them 
in  some  way  or  another  with  the  penguins."  It  was  not  before  Yarrell  in  1833 
described  the  curious  bird,  that  its  true  nature  as  a  near  ally  of  the  Struthious  birds 
was  generally  understood  and  admitted.  Numerous  specimens  of  kiwis  (Fig.  19), 
have  since  been  obtained,  and  not  less  than  four  living  species  are  now  represented  in  the 
different  museums,  while  a  fifth  one  (A.  maxima,  the  largest  one,  being  of  the  size  of  a 
turkey)  is  only  known  from  remains  of  a  skin  forming  part  of  a  Maori-chiefs  dress. 
We  have  now  also  full  and  excellent  descriptions  of  the  internal  anatomy  of  these 
birds  from  the  master-hands  of  Richard  Owen  and  Huxley,  besides  not  less  valuable 
information  concerning  their  habits  and  way  of  living,  as  observed  by  such  men  as 
Dr.  Buller  and  the  other  New  Zealand  naturalists  of  recent  fame. 

Like  the  other  related  birds,  the  kiwis  are  droma3Ognathous,  but  the  vomer  unites 
with  the  palatines  and  pterygoids,  contrary  to  what  is  the  case  in  the  ostrich ;  there 
are  no  clavicles  at  all,  and  the  arm,  or  wing,  is  rudimentary,  as  in  the  Casuaroideae,  the 
hand  having  only  one  ungual  phalanx,  which  is  provided  with  a  long  external  claw  ; 
like  the  latter,  they  have  both  ischium  and  pubis  free  except  in  front.  The  ambiens 
muscle  is  strong,  as  in  Stmthio  and  Mhea,  while  it  is  absent  in  Casuarius  and  Dromaius. 
It  was  long  believed  that  the  respiratory  system  was  quite  peculiar,  and  more  especially 
that  the  kiwis  possessed  a  kind  of  diaphragm  corresponding  to  the  membrane  dividing 
the  cavity  of  the  body  in  mammals,  but  quite  recent  investigations  of  Professor  Hux- 
ley show  that  the  respiratory  organs  on  the  whole  are  like  those  of  most  other  birds, 
and  that  the  diaphragm  is  a  myth,  there  being  not  a  trace  of  such  a  membrane.  Only 
the  left  carotid  is  present,  there  being  two  in  other  Struthious  birds  except  Rhea. 
The  most  noteworthy  external  features  are  the  long  snipe-like  bill,  with  nostrils  open- 
ing near  the  end ;  the  rudimentary  wing,  which  supports  a  row  of  numerous  rudimen- 
tary quills,  evidently  degraded  remiges ;  absence  of  separate  tail-feathers ;  presence 
of  a  short,  elevated  hind  toe ;  finally,  a  covering  of  more  or  less  bristly  feathers  with 
downy  bases,  but  without  aftershafts,  in  this  respect  differing  highly  from  the  cassowa- 
ries, emus,  and  moas ;  the  fore  part  of  the  head  and  sides  of  the  face  are  beset  with 
straggling  hairs,  or  feelers,  varying  in  length  from  one  to  six  inches. 

Dr.  Buller  says  that  a  full  and  complete  history  of  the  wingless  birds  which, 
even  to  the  present  day,  form  the  most  distinctive  feature  in  the  avi-fauna  of  New 
Zealand,  would  necessarily  fill  a  volume.  We  shall  therefore  here  only  remark  that 
of  the  four  existing  well-known  species,  one,  A.  mantelli,  inhabits  the  North  Island 
alone ;  two  others,  A.  australis  and  haasti  are  confined  to  the  South  Island,  while 
A.  oweni  is  found  on  both  islands.  The  general  color  is  a  dull  mottled  brownish  or 
grayish,  the  latter  and  smaller  species  being  rather  gray,  and  therefore  usually 
called  the  gray  kiwi.  A.  haasti  is  the  "  roa-roa,"  of  the  natives,  and  is  the  larger 
one.  The  two  other  species  can  hardly  be  told  apart  by  sight  alone,  but  are  said 
VOL.  iv.  —  4 


50  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

to  be  readily  distinguished  by  the  touch ;  for  in  the  South  Island  kiwi  (A.  australis) 
the  feathers  of  the  upper  parts  feel  soft  and  yielding  when  stroked  against  the 
grain,  whereas  in  Mantell's  kiwi,  from  the  North  Island,  the  feathers  have  stiffened 
points,  and  are  harsh  and  prickly  to  the  touch,  owing  to  a  peculiarity  in  the  structure 
of  the  shaft. 

The  kiwis  are  nocturnal  birds,  the  different  species  having  nearly  identical  habits, 
and  the  following  life  history  of  the  commonest  species,  A.  mantelli,  which  we  borrow 
from  Buller's  excellent  account,  will  therefore  also  cover  the  other. 

Of  a  bird  kept  in  captivity,  he  writes ;  It  appears  to  be  blinded  by  the  strong  glare 
of  sunlight,  and  although  it  recovers  itself  in  the  shade,  it  can  then  only  detect  objects 
that  are  near.  Night  is  the  time  of  its  activity,  and  the  whole  nature  of  the  bird  then 
undergoes  a  change.  Coming  forth  from  its  diurnal  retreat  full  of  animation,  it  moves 
about  the  aviary  unceasingly,  tapping  the  walls  with  its  long,  slender  bill,  and  probing 
the  ground  in  search  of  earth-worms.  The  feeding  of  this  bird  at  night  with  the 
large  glow-worm  is  a  very  interesting  sight.  This  annelid,  which  often  attains  a 
length  of  twelve,  and  sometimes  twenty  inches,  with  a  proportionate  thickness,  emits 
at  night  a  bright  phosphoric  light.  The  mucous  matter  which  adheres  to  its  body 
appears  to  be  charged  with  the  phosphorus,  and  on  its  being  disturbed  or  irritated,  the 
whole  surface  of  the  worm  is  illumined  with  a  bright  green  light,  sufficiently  strong  to 
render  adjacent  objects  distinctly  visible.  Seizing  one  of  these  large  worms  in  its  long 
mandibles,  the  kiwi  proceeds  to  kill  it  by  striking  it  rapidly  on  the  ground,  or  against 
some  hard  object.  During  this  operation  the  bird  may  be  clearly  seen  under  the  phos- 
phoric light ;  and  the  slime  which  attaches  itself  to  the  bill  and  head  renders  these 
parts  highly  phosphorescent,  so  that,  even  after  the  luminous  body  itself  has  been 
swallowed,  the  actions  of  the  bird  are  still  visible.  There  is  no  longer  the  slow  and 
half  stupid  movements  of  the  head  and  neck ;  but  the  bill  is  darted  forward  with  a 
restless  activity,  and  travels  over  the  surface  of  the  ground  with  a  continued  sniffing 
sound,  as  if  the  bird  were  guided  more  by  scent  than  by  sight  in  its  search  for  food. 
Of  some  young  birds  he  remarks  that  they  are  particularly  savage,  using  their  feet  as 
weapons  of  offence,  and  manifesting  their  anger  by  an  audible  snapping  of  the  bill ; 
at  other  times  they  emitted  a  peculiar  chuckle,  but  only  once  he  heard  them  produce 
the  loud  whistling  cry  which  is  so  familiar  to  the  ear  in  the  wild  mountain-haunts  of 
the  kiwi.  They  often  huddled  together  when  at  rest,  laying  one  upon  another,  like 
little  pigs ;  and  when  sound  asleep  no  amount  of  noise  would  rouse  them. 

The  kiwi,  Dr.  Buller  continues,  is  in  some  measure  compensated  for  the  absence  of 
wings  by  its  swiftness  of  foot.  When  running,  it  makes  wide  strides,  and  carries  the 
body  in  an  oblique  position,  with  the  neck  stretched  to  its  full  extent  and  inclined  for- 
wards. In  the  twilight  it  moves  about  cautiously,  and  as  noiselessly  as  a  rat,  to  which 
indeed,  at  this  time  it  bears  some  outward  resemblance.  In  a  quiescent  posture,  the 
body  generally  assumes  a  perfectly  rotund  appearance ;  and  it  sometimes,  but  only 
rarely,  supports  itself  by  resting  the  point  of  the  bill  on  the  ground.  It  often  yawns 
when  disturbed  in  the  daytime,  gaping  its  mandibles  in  a  very  grotesque  manner. 
The  story  of  its  striking  the  ground  with  its  feet  to  bring  the  earthworms  to  the  sur- 
face, which  appears  to  have  gained  currency  among  naturalists,  is  as  fanciful  as  the 
statement  of  a  well-known  author  that  it  is  capable  of  "  inflicting  a  dangerous  blow, 
sometimes  even  killing  a  dog." 

While  hunting  for  its  food,  the  bird  makes  a  continual  sniffing  sound  through  the 
nostrils.  Whether  it  is  guided  as  much  by  touch  as  by  smell,  I  cannot  safely  say ;  but 


T1XAMOUS.  51 

it  appears  to  me  that  both  senses  are  called  into  action.  It  is  probable  that,  in  addi- 
tion to  a  highly  developed  olfactory  power,  there  is  a  delicate  nervous  sensitiveness  in 
the  terminal  enlargement  of  the  upper  mandible.  It  is  interesting  to  watch  the  bird, 
in  a  state  of  freedom,  foraging  for  worms,  which  constitute  its  principal  food;  it 
moves  about  with  a  slow  action  of  the  body,  and  the  long,  flexible  bill  is  driven  into 
the  soft  ground,  generally  home  to  the  very  root,  and  is  either  immediately  withdrawn 
with  a  worm  held  at  the  extreme  tip  of  the  mandibles,  or  it  is  gently  moved  to  and 
fro,  by  an  action  of  the  head  and  neck,  the  body  of  the  bird  being  perfectly  steady. 
On  getting  the  worm  fairly  out  of  the  ground,  it  throws  up  its  head  with  a  jerk,  and 
swallows  it  whole. 

The  enormous  size  of  the  kiwi's  egg  has  often  been  the  subject  of  speculation  and 
comment,  for,  until  the  fact  was  established  beyond  all  question,  it  seemed  almost 
impossible  that  the  very  large  eggs  occasionally  brought  in  by  the  natives  were  the 
produce  of  this  bird.  The  evidence  has  been  furnished  by  eggs  laid  in  the  Zoological 
Gardens,  and  by  another  taken  in  utero.  One  of  the  former  is  stated  to  have  weighed 
14£  ounces,  or  about  one  fourth  of  the  bird's  own  weight.  The  probability  is  that  the 
male  alone  sits  on  the  egg.  The  kiwis  are  monogamic. 

ORDER  IV.  —  CRYPTURI. 

Even  the  older  authors  were  aware  of  some  of  the  Struthious  features  of  these 
small  South  American  ground-birds,  which  usually  are  referred  to  the  Gallinaceous 
order.  Illiger  remarked  as  early  as  1811  that  "  the  bill  is  wonderfully  conformable  with 
that  of  Rhea"  and  later  on  (1835)  Sundevall  stated  that  they  "  recall  small  ostriches." 
Their  small  size,  and  a  certain  superficial  resemblance  to  the  gallinaceous  birds  pre- 
vented the  recognition  of  their  true  nature  until  Parker's  celebrated  anatomical 
monograph  appeared  in  1865.  The  presence  of  a  crest  on  their  breast-bone,  however, 
seemed  to  Huxley  to  be  so  strong  a  character,  that  he  would  not  admit  them  to  the 
division  including  the  ostriches,  and  so  he  made  of  them  a  separate  order,  the  distinc- 
tive feature  of  which  was  the  predominance  of  Struthious  characters.  We  have 
stated  above,  why  the  presence  or  absence  of  a  keel  to  the  sternum  seems  to  us  to  be 
a  matter  of  only  slight  consequence,  particularly  when  seeing  that  most  of  the  other 
characters  of  importance  are  chiefly  struthionine.  That  certain  birds  of  other  orders 
for  instance,  Dendrortyx,  Jfemipodhis,  Syrrhaptes,  the  rails,  and  the  plovers,  present 
characters  to  a  certain  degree  also  found  in  the  Crypturi,  is  quite  natural,  as  these 
forms  are  comparatively  generalized  and  therefore  possess  the  reptilian  features  of 
the  common  ancestors  less  obscured  than  their  more  specialized  relatives  of  the 
Euornithic  series  or  super-order.  It  is  therefore  not  quite  correct  to  say  that  the 
Crypturi  are  intermediate  between  the  Struthious  and  the  Gallinaceous  birds,  when 
the  fact  is  that  the  latter  are  intermediate  between  their  own  and  the  Dromaeos- 

O 

nathous  birds'  common  ancestors,  on  the  one  hand,  and  those  of  the  rest  of  the 
Euornithes  on  the  other. 

Not  only  is  the  bill  struthionine,  but  still  more  so  the  palatal  arrangement,  for  the 
broad  coalescing  vomer  in  front  joins  the  end  of  the  broad  maxillo-palatines,  receiving 
behind  the  hinder  end  of  the  palatines  (which  do  not  articulate  with  the  basisphenoid), 
and  the  anterior  ends  of  the  pterygoids.  Another  Struthious  feature  is  that  the  head 
of  the  quadrate  bone  is  single.  Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  wings  of  the 
tinamous,  as  the  birds  of  this  order  are  called,  are  functional,  the  shoulder-girdle  and 
the  sternum  present  enough  characters  to  show  that  they  have  "not  escaped  from  the 


52 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


struthious  group,  yet,"  as  Parker  puts  it.  According  to  this  authority,  the  wings  also 
seem  to  be  struthious  rather  than  gallinaceous,  for  in  the  humerus  the  crest  for  the 
insertion  of  the  pectoralis  major  is  not  turned  over  as  in  the  fowl ;  this  answers  to 
the  extreme  (struthious)  thinness  of  that  muscle  in  the  tinamou,  this  bird  having  but 
little  power  to  depress  his  wings.  He  can  elevate  them,  however.  It  is  highly  inter- 
esting, he  says,  to  see  the  tinamou  lift  his 
wings,  just  in  the  same  manner  as  the  ostrich 
elevates  hers.  The  tinamou's  "organs  of 
flight "  are  still  much  more  rudimentary 
than  those  of  the  fowl,  seeing  that  they  are 
constructed  far  more  for  elevation  than 
for  depression,  the  latter  movement  being 
the  one  so  necessary  to  flight. 

Again  the  pelvic  arch  presents  the  very 
mark  common  to  the  birds  we  have  hitherto 
treated  of,  namely,  that  the  ischium  is  not 
united  with  the  backward  extension  of  the 
ilium  by  bone,  as  is  the  case  in  all  other 
birds.  To  the  struthious  character  of  the 
breast-muscles  corresponds  peculiarities  of 
the  muscles  of  the  legs,  of  which  the  ac- 
cessory femoro-caudal  has  a  slip  arising 
above  the  sciatic  foramen,  found  elsewhere, 
according  to  Garrod,  only  in  the  Struthiones. 
Finally,  Dr.  Nathusius  has  found  that  the 
minute  structure  of  the  tinamou  egg-shells 
is  quite  different  from  those  of  the  true  Gal- 
linae,  in  that  respect  showing  most  resem- 
blance to  Apteryx. 

Among  external  characters  may  be  men- 
tioned that  the  bill  is  depressed,  and  the 
mouth  split  open  to  under  the  eyes ;  the 
head  is  comparatively  small,  the  neck 
rather  long  and  narrow.  The  wings  are 
short  and  rounded,  the  tail  feathers  con- 
cealed under  the  coverts,  or  altogether  absent.  The  feet  are  provided  with  a  rather 
short  hind  toe,  elevated  from  the  ground.  Powder-downs  are  present  among  the 
feathers,  and  in  some  the  feathers  have  aftershafts. 

Several  genera  with  a  number  of  species,  about  fifty,  distributed  in  two  sub-families, 
are  recognized  from  Central  and  South  America,  where  they  are  usually  known  as 
Perdiz,  partridge,  being  in  fact,  as  game  birds,  a  kind  of  substitutes  for  true  Gallinae. 
Their  size  ranges  between  that  of  a  ruffed  grouse  and  a  ring  plover.  They  are  emi- 
nently ground-birds,  which  never  perch  on  trees  or  shrubs. 

The  largest  and  best  known  species  is  the  Perdiz  grande  or  1'  Ynambu  (Rhyncho- 
tus  rufescens)  from  Brazil  southward.  It  is  of  a  rusty  yellow,  banded  crosswise 
on  the  upper  surface  with  blackish ;  bill  rather  long,  with  the  nostrils  in  the  basal 
part,  hind  toe  well  developed,  and  tail  feathers  short  and  soft.  Mr.  Hudson,  having 
the  opportunity  of  studying  the  habits  of  several  species  of  tmamou,  has  published 


FIG.  21. — Crypturus  megapodius. 


TIN  AM  0  US. 


53 


some  interesting  sketches,  from  which  the  following  concerning  the  present  species  is 
selected :  — 

This  bird  has  no  cover  but  the  giant  grasses,  through  which  it  pushes  like  a  rail, 
and  wherever  the  country  is  settled  it  soon  disappears.     It  is  solitary  in  its  habits,  con- 


Fi<;.  L'L1.  —  ttltynchotus  rufescens,  Perdiz  grande,  1'Ynambu. 

ceals  itself  in  the  grass  very  closely,  and  flies  with  great  reluctance.   I  doubt  if  there  is 

anywhere  a  bird  with  such  a  sounding  flight  as  this  ;  and  I  can  only  compare  the  whirr 

of  its  wings  to  the  rattling  of  a  light  vehicle  driven  at  great  speed  over  a  hard  road. 

From  the  moment   it 

rises    till    it    again 

alights,  there  is  no 

cessation  in  the  rapid 

vibration  of  the  wings; 

but,  like  a  ball  thrown 

by  the  ha^d,  the  bird 

goes  gradually  sloping 

towards  the  earth,  the 

distance  it  is  able  to 

V  Vi  fl'    lit    FlG.  23.— -Pelvis  of  Tinamus robustus ;  a,  acetabulum  ;  it,  ilium  ;  is,  ischiutn  ;  ;>,  pubis. 

being  from  fifteen  hundred  to  two  thousand  yards.     This  flight  it  can  repeat,  when 
driven  up  again,  as  many  as  three  times,  after  which  the  bird  can  rise  no  more.      The 


54  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS.    • 

call  is  composed  of  live  or  six  long  notes,  with  a  mellow,  flute-like  sound,  and  so 
impressively  uttered  and  sweetly  modulated,  that  it  is,  perhaps,  the  sweetest  bird- 
music  heard  in  the  Pampas. 

The  tinamous  are  considered  rather  stupid  birds,  and  Darwin  relates  of  another 
species,  Nothura  major,  which  is  smaller,  has  a  short  bill,  and  no  tail,  that  a* man  on 
horseback,  by  riding  round  and  round  in  a  circle,  or  rather  in  a  spiral,  so  as  to  approach 
closer  each  time,  may  knock  on  the  head  almost  as  many  as  he  pleases.  The  more 
common  method  is  to  catch  them  with  a  noose,  or  little  lasso,  made  of  the  stems  of  an 
ostrich's  feather,  fastened  to  the  end  of  a  long  stick.  A  boy  on  a  quiet  old  horse  will 
frequently  thus  catch  thirty  or  forty  in  a  day. 

The  smallest  species  is  the  Ynambu  carape  ( Taoniscus  nanus)  from  Brazil  and 
Paraguay,  it  being  only  six  inches  long.  It  has  no  rectrices,  but  the  coverts  are  dense 
silky,  and  greatly  elongated  so  as  to  form  a  kind  of  a  train.  It  seems  to  be  still  more 
unable  to  keep  up  a  continued  flight  than  the  Hkynchotus;  but  little  is  known  of  its 
habits  beyond  Azara's  account. 

The  foregoing  birds,  together  with  most  of  the  species  composing  the  family, 
belong  to  the  group  Tinamina?.  In  the  martinets  (Calopezus  elegans)  we  have  a 
representation  of  the  Tinamotinae.  Mr.  Hudson  dissected  a  specimen,  and  found 
a  most  extraordinary  structure  of  the  intestinal  canal,  which  he  describes  as  divided 
near  the  stomach  into  a  pair  of  great  ducts  that  extend  almost  to  the  entire  length  of 
the  abdominal  cavity,  and  are  thickly  set  with  rows  of  large,  membranous,  clam-shaped 
protuberances.  Externally,  the  martineta.  from  size  and  mottled  plumage,  somewhat 
resembles  the  Rhynchotus,  but  is  less  reddish,  and  has  a  shorter  bill,  while  its  head  is 
ornamented  with  a  long,  slender  crest,  "  which,  when  excited,  the  bird  carries  direct  for- 
ward, like  a  horn."  Mr.  Hudson  remarks  further  that  it  is  found  in  the  northwestern 
portion  of  the  Plata  States,  and  south  to  the  Rio  Negro  of  Patagonia,  frequenting  the 
elevated  table-lands,  where  patches  of  scattered  dwarf  scrub  occur  among  the  close 
thickets,  and  subsisting  on  seeds  and  berries.  They  go  in  coveys  of  from  half  a  dozen 
to  twenty  individuals,  and,  when  disturbed,  do  not  usually  take  to  flight,  but  start  up 
one  after  another,  and  run  off  with  amazing  swiftness.  They  are  extremely  fond  of 
.dusting  themselves. 

ORDER.  —  GASTORNITHES. 

In  March,  1855,  it  was  announced  to  the  French  Academy  of  Sciences  that  M. 
Gaston  Plante  had  found  in  the  conglomerate  underneath  the  plastic  clay  at  Bas- 
Meudon,  France,  a  leg-bone  of  a  gigantic  bird,  to  which  Mr.  Herbert  gave  the  name 
Gastornis  parisiensis,  "  in  order  to  indicate  both  the  name  of  the  discoverer  and  the 
locality  where  it  was  found."  Shortly  after,  a  thigh-bone  was  discovered,  only  three 
metres  distant  from  the  place  where  the  leg-bone  had  been  found.  These  remains, 
from  the  lowest  eocene  beds,  were  conscientiously  studied  by  several  savants,  but  the 
great  difference  in  their  conclusions  did  not  throw  much  light  upon  the  affinities 
of  the  bird.  Mr.  Herbert,  Milne-Edwards,  and  Lemoine  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
Gastornis  —  or  rather  its  legs  —  showed  relationship  to  the  Lamellirostres,  or  the  duck 
order.  Valenciennes  referred  it  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  albati'osses,  while  Lartet  and 
Owen  demonstrated  some  points  of  resemblance  to  the  waders,  particularly  the  rails. 

Recently  additional  material  was  discovered  by  the  indefatigable  Dr.  Lemoine, 
of  Reims,  France,  who  has  been  enabled  to  describe  two  other  species  of  Gastornis,  G. 
minor  and  G.  edtcardsii,  the  former,  however,  from  the  fragment  of  a  leg-bone  only, 


GASTORNITHES. 


55 


i.oo_ 


0.60P» 


while  numerous  bones,  and  fragments  of  bones,  of  the  latter,  have  been  preserved. 
Both  were  found  in  lower  tertiary  deposits  near  Reims,  and  from  the  same  geological 
horizon  as  the  typical  species,  and  in  1883  L.  Dollo  announced  a  thigh-bone  from 
the  same  formation  in  the  neighborhood  2.M™ 
of  Mons,  Belgium.  Upon  these  fossils  is 
based  the  restoration  represented  in  the 
accompanying  cut,  in  which  the  shaded 
portions  indicate  the  parts  which  have 
been  found.  The  most  unique  and  re- 
markable character  of  the  bird  is  said  to 
be  the  distinctness  in  the  adult  bird  of  the 
sutures  between  the  different  bones  of  the 
skull,  since  in  all  other  known  birds  these 
bones  are  anchylosed,  and  the  sutures  ob- 
literated. This  feature  alone  justifies  the 
view  that  Gastornis  is  a  peculiar  type  of 
at  least  ordinal  rank,  which  accordingly  has 
been  attributed  to  it  here.  On  the  other 
hand,  we  cannot  assign  it  a  place  very  re- 
mote from  the  dromaeognathous  birds,  with 
which  the  pelvic  remains  and  the  anterior 
extremities  seem  to  indicate  relationship. 
It  may  be  that  here  is  a  representative  of 
the  ancestral  stock  from  which  flamingos, 
screamers,  and  ducks  have  sprung,  or  rather 
a  form  which  takes  the  same  position  to  the 
latter  forms  as  do  the  Crypturi  to  the  Galli- 
naceous birds.  The  true  position  of  this  type 
is  impossible  to  make  out  at  present,  how- 
ever, and  it  has  therefore  been  placed  at  the  Fjo  24  _  Gastorn^wan(siit  as  restored  by  L.  Dollo. 
end  of  the  series  called  Dromaeognathae. 

Before  closing  the  chapter  of  the  Dromaeognathous  birds  we  may  mention  a  few 
fossil  remains  which  seem  to  belong  to  this  group,  the  greater  abundance  of  which  dur- 
ing former  geological  periods  is  evident. 

Professor  Brandt  has  described  a  gigantic  egg  found  in  an  old  watercourse  on  the 
steppes  of  southern  Russia.  It  had  a  capacity  of  about  forty-two  hens'  eggs,  and 
showed  distinct  struthious  characters.  He  called  the  supposed  bird  Struthiolithus 
chersonensis.  It  may  have  been  related  to  Gastornis. 

The  Diatryma  giganteum,  from  the  eocene  of  New  Mexico,  was  described  by 
Professor  Cope  from  a  tarsus-metatarsus  discovered  by  himself.  "  The  characters  of 
its  proximal  extremity  resemble  in  many  points  those  of  the  order  Cursores  (repre- 
sented by  the  Struthionidae  and  Dinornis),  while  those  of  the  distal  end  are,  in  the 
middle  and  inner  trochleae,  like  those  of  the  Gastornis  of  the  Paris  basin.  Its  size 
indicates  a  species  with  feet  twice  the  bulk  of  those  of  the  ostrich."  The  discovery 
introduces  this  group  of  birds  to  the  known  faunae  of  North  America  recent  and 
extinct,  and  demonstrates  that  this  continent  has  not  been  destitute  of  the  gigantic 
forms  of  birds  heretofore  chiefly  found  in  the  faunae  of  the  southern  hemisphere. 

LEONHARD  STEJNKGER. 


56  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


SUPER-ORDER  II.  — IMPENNES. 

This  group,  which,  for  reasons  given  further  on,  we  here  propose  to  treat  as  a 
superorder  equivalent  to  the  Dromaeognathas  (ostriches,  etc.)  and  Euornithes  (including 
the  rest  of  the  living  birds),  has  suffered  a  curious  fate  under  the  hands  of  ornitholo- 
gists. Although  one  of  the  most  distinct  and  peculiar  divisions  within  the  homo- 
geneous bird-class,  its  position  among  the  other  groups  has,  until  lately,  been  a  very 
subordinate  one. 

Linnaeus  did  not  even  recognize  the  penguins  as  a  separate  genus.  He  placed  one  of 
these  fin-winged  species  together  with  the  swift-flying  sun-birds,  or  tropic-birds,  while 
another  was  ranked  with  the  albatross.  Brisson,  the  great  contemporaneous  ornithol- 
ogist, however,  made  both  those  species  types  of  separate  genera,  the  latter  of  the 
genus  Spheniscus,  the  former  he  called  Catarractes.  They  were  shortly  after  com- 
bined, by  Forster  and  Gmelin,  with  other  species  into  the  genus  Aptenodytes. 
The  efforts  of  Cuvier  and  the  ornithologists  of  his  age  resulted  in  the  cutting  up  of 
Linnaeus's  'families,'  —  as  his  'ordines'  were  styled  at  that  time, — into  several 
orders,  the  Natatores,  among  which  the  penguins  had  been  placed,  being  divided  in 
Pinnipedes  (Steganopodes),  Macropteres  (Longipennes),  Serrirostres  (Lamellirostres) 
and  Brachypteres  (Pygopodes),  and  among  the  latter  were  placed  the  divers,  auks, 
and  penguins  as  genera  of  equal  rank.  A  decided  progress  was  made  by  Illiger  in 
1811,  who  divided  the  'order'  Natatores  in  six  families,  the  last  being  the  Impennes, 
which  only  included  the  genus  Aptenodytes.  But  when  Vigors  in  1825  established  the 
families  ending  in  idee,  the  penguins  were  again  included  among  the  'Alcidae.' 
Bonaparte,  soon  after  (1831),  made  them  the  types  of  the  family  Spheniscidae,  a  posi- 
tion they  held  for  nearly  forty  years  without  any  serious  challenge,  as  even  Huxley 
failed  to  recognize  their  true  position,  assigning  them,  as  he  did,  a  place  as  a 
'  family '  of  equal  taxonomic  value  with  the  plovers,  cranes,  gulls,  etc.  G.  R.  Gray 
had  placed  the  penguins  between  the  auks  and  the  guillemots,  consequently  between 
two  groups  the  typical  species  of  which  (the  razor-billed  auk,  and  the  common  guil- 
lemot), by  many  prominent  ornithologists  of  the  present  day,  are  regarded  as  not 
even  generically  distinct;  but  it  was  not  before  he  (in  1871)  repeated  this  master- 
piece of  systematical  perversity,  that  it  became  evident  to  all  that  the  true  relation- 
ship of  these  remarkable  birds  had  been  grossly  misunderstood.  Nevertheless,  the 
rank  of  '  order '  was  all  that  could  be  afforded  at  the  time,  and  it  is  not  until  very 
recently  that  it  has  been  set  clearly  forth  that  the  penguins,  notwithstanding  the  keel 
on  their  breast-bone,  are  as  remote  from  the  other  Carinatse  (birds  with  keeled  sternum) 
as  these  are  from  the  ostriches,  if  not  more  so. 

We  have  discussed  this  point  at  some  length  because  of  the  interesting  parallelism 
it  presents  with  the  fate  of  the  Struthious  birds,  which  at  times  also  have  been  treated 
as  a  genus  merely  under  different  families,  or  orders  even  (Cursores ;  Otididae),  until 
the  truth  of  their  distinctness  was  recently  acknowledged.  The  assertion  of  Profes- 
sor Huxley,  that  the  extinct  great  auk  (Plant  us  impennis)  "  shows  itself  to  be  an 
almost  intermediate  form  "  between  the  penguins  and  the  auks,  for  a  short  while  pre- 
vented the  full  recognition  of  the  broad  gap  between  the  former  and  the  rest  of  the 
living  birds,  but  recent  investigations  show  quite  an  opposite  result. 

In  1883  Professor  Watson,  in  the  seventh  volume  of  the  Report  on  the  Results  of 
the  Challenger  Expedition,  presented  an  excellent  "  Report  on  the  Anatomy  of  the 


PENGUINS. 


57 


FIG.  25.  — Pelvis  of 
Catarractes  dem.fr- 
sus,  dorsal  view. 


Spheniscida?,"  from  which,  on  account  of   the  importance  of  determining  the  rela- 
tionship of  the  higher  group  of  birds,  we  shall  quote  freely  in  the  following. 

The  vertebral  column  is  characterized  by  the  opisthoccelous  character  of  the  dor- 
sal vertebra?,  a  character  which,  judging  from  the  frequency  of  its  occurrence  in  the 
two  groups,  is  more  truly  reptilian  than  avian,  and  by  the  mobility  of 
the  dorsal  vertebra?  upon  one  another,  and  the  absence,  even  in  the 
adult,  of  that  complete  anchylosis  between  the  dorsal  and  lumbo- 
saeral  vertebra?  on  the  one  hand,  and  of  the  latter  with  the  pelvic 
bones  on  the  other,  which  obtains  in  the  majority  of  birds.  The 
opisthocoelous  character  of  the  vertebra?  shows  itself  for  the  first  time 
in  the  third  dorsal ;  the  cervical  and  the  two  first  dorsal  vertebra?  being 
saddle-shaped.  The  succeeding  dorsals  differ  in  having  the  ante- 
rior surfaces  rounded  and  globular,  while  their  posterior  surfaces  are 
deeply  concave.  The  lumbo-sacral  portion  of  the  vertebral  column 
never  becomes  anchylosed  with  the  pelvic  bones,  not  even  in  the 
adult  (Fig.  25).  The  pubis  does  not  coalesce  with  the  ischium,  ex- 
cept where  it  enters  the  acetabulum. 

The  uncinate  processes  of  the  ribs  are  exceptionally  large,  and 
are  only  connected  with  the  ribs  by  articulations,  never  becoming 
anchylosed  with  them  as  in  the  majority  of  birds. 

The  shoulder-blade  (Fig.  26)  is  remarkable  for  its  enormous  size  and  its  great 
width  posteriorly,  and  the  coracoid  bone  for  its  great  strength.  The  most  characteris- 
tic feature  of  the  wing,  as  a  whole,  is  perhaps  the  great  amount  of  compression  exhib- 
ited by  all  its  bones,  offering,  when  the  wing-paddle  is 
carried  forward  while  swimming,  the  minimum  resist- 
ance to  the  surrounding  water.  Furthermore,  the 
movements  permissible  between  the  different  bones  are 
much  more  limited  than  in  other  birds  —  so  much  so 
that  flexion  and  extension  in  the  joints  beyond  the  FIG.  26.  -  Scapula  of  Caterracftw. 
shoulder  can  scarcely  be  said  to  be  possible.  These  articulations,  however,  admit  of  a 
very  considerable  amount  of  rotation,  converting  the  wing  into  a  screw-like  blade.  The 
wings  are  never  used  as  oars,  but  are  brought  into  use  alternately.  The  metacarpal 
consists  of  a  single  bone,  which  shows,  however,  the*  three  elements  of  which  it  is 
composed.  The  first  or  radial  metacarpal  is  destitute  of  any  phalanx,  and  the  pollex 
is  consequently  absent;  the  second  finger  has  two  phalanges,  and  the  third  only  one. 

The  legs  are  less  modified  than  the  wings,  but  the  tarso-metatarsus  presents  fea- 
tures which  serve  at  once  to  distinguish  that  bone  from  the  corresponding  skeletal 
element  of  any  other  group  of  birds,  being  altogether  shorter  and 
broader  than  in  these,  with  the  single  exception  of  the  genus  Fregata. 
From  Fregata,  however,  as  from  all  other  birds,  the  penguin  is  dis- 
tinguished by  the  clearly-defined  separation  of  the  metatarsal  elements, 
the  shafts  of  which  are  differentiated  from  one  another,  while  in  other 
birds  these  bones  are  indistinguishably  fused  together.  Of  the  other 
bones,  only  the  patella  is  remarkable,  it  being  very  large  and  wedge- 
shaped,  with  a  greatly  developed  groove  for  the  tendon  of  the  ambiens 
muscle.  Four  toes  are  always  present,  the  hallux  being  directed  forward. 

It  has  been  suggested  to  me,  Professor  Watson  further  says,  that  the  large  devel- 
opment of  the  cutaneous  muscles  in  these  birds  is  probably  a  means  whereby  water 


FIG.  27.— Right 
metatarsus  of 
Catarractes. 


58  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

may  be  readily  expelled  from  the  interstices  of  the  plumage  so  soon  as  the  bird  quits 
the  water.  Were  it  otherwise,  in  the  low  temperature  of  the  Antarctic  region,  which 
the  majority  of  these  birds  inhabit,  the  plumage  would  soon  be  frozen  into  an  icy 
mass,  the  high  temperature  of  the*  bird  being  of  itself  insufficient  to  obviate  this, 
although  assisted  by  the  great  development  of  the  subcutaneous  fatty  layer,  which  far 
exceeds  in  thickness  that  of  the  corresponding  structure  in  the  member  of  any  other 
group  of  birds,  and  recalls  to  mind  the  fatty  deposit  or  'blubber'  of  the  seals  and 
cetaceans. 

The  cutaneous  system  is  thoroughly  characteristic  of  the  group,  and  differs  from 
that  of  every  other  order  of  birds,  in  respect  of  the  uniform  distribution  of  the 
feathers  over  every  part  of  the  integument,  and  in  the  consequent  absence  of  the  bare 
tracts  or  apteria  met.  with  in  other  birds.  The  feathers,  which  are  narrow  and  rigid, 
each  possess  an  aftershaft.  The  remiges  are  not  distinguishable  from  the  surrounding 
feathers,  but  the  rectrices  are  clearly  differentiated. 

ORDER  V.  —  PTILOPTERI. 

The  superorder  Impennes  only  comprises  one  order,  the  Ptilopteri,  and  the  order 
again  only  one  family,  the  SPHENISCIDJE,  the  remnant  of  a  group  of  birds,  which,  at  an 
earlier  date  of  the  earth's  history  probably  played  a  more  important  role  than  nowa- 
days, when  they  are  represented  by  only  a  few  genera  with  hardly  more  than  twenty 
species  and  subspecies. 

Being  adapted  in  the  highest  degree  to  the  life  in  the  water,  the  penguins  represent 
among  the  birds  the  seals  among  the  mammals,  and  curious  indeed  are  the  many  fea- 
tures in  which  the  two  groups  show  parallel  developments  both  in  structure  and  habits, 
and  particularly  striking  is  the  analogy  with  the  eared  seals,  which  chiefly  inhabit  the 
southern  hemisphere,  like  the  penguins,  the  distribution  of  which  is  exclusively  con- 
fined to  that  part  of  the  globe.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  penguins  are  totally 
absent  from  all  seas  washing  the  shores  of  continents  or  continent-like  islands,  where 
no  members  of  the  Struthious  superorder  are  now  living,  or  have  existed  during  the 
present  geological  period. 

Like  the  fur-seal  and  its  allies,  the  penguins  pass  the  greater  time  of  their  lives  on 
the  ocean,  heedless  of  storm  and  waves ;  down  into  the  deep  they  go  in  pursuit  of 
their  food,  and  down  they  go  into  the  quiet  regions  never  stirred  up  by  any  hurricane, 
if  the  surface  is  getting  too  turbulent,  though  it  must  be  hard  weather  indeed  when  a 
penguin  goes  in  search  of  shelter,  for  he  enjoys  the  wildest  surf  and  loves  the  roaring 
gale.  The  swimming  of  the  penguins  is  quite  peculiar,  and  differs  widely  from  the  same 
movement  as  performed  by  all  other  swimming  and  diving  birds.  It  has  already  been 
remarked  that  the  paddle-shaped  wings  are  brought  in  motion  alternately,  thus  acting 
like  a  screw,  but  while  in  other  birds  the  legs  also  come  into  play  at  least  as  accessary 
propulsive  organs  when  the  bird  is  diving,  these  organs  in  the  penguins  only  act  as  a 
rudder,  except  when  sAvimming  on  the  surface  of  the  water. 

Neither  are  the  legs  very  well  adapted  for  rapid  locomotion  upon  land,  for  the 
leg  proper  is  almost  wholly  included  within  the  skin  of  the  body,  and  the  foot  is  broad 
and  clumsy,  and  the  metatarso-phalangeal  articulations  so  stiff  that  the  whole  tarsus 
is  applied  to  the  ground  when  the  bird  is  walking,  a  condition  unknown  among  other 
birds.  The  penguins  are  plantigrade,  and  their  peculiar  upright  position  when  on 
land  is  due  to  that  unique  arrangement.  It  is  mainly  for  the  purpose  of  propagation 
that  their  legions  go  ashore  a  short  season  every  year,  enlivening  the  desolate  rocka 


"v 


Aptenodytes  lonyirostris,  king  penguin. 


PENGUINS.  59 

and  islands  of  an  ocean  seldom  visited  by  other  men  than  the  sealer,  and  whaler,  and 
the  few  fortunate  naturalists  who  are  permitted  to  see  for  themselves  that  peculiar 
animal  life  of  that  distant  region,  while  we  will  have  to  content  ourselves  with  what 
we  can  learn  from  the  best  of  their  accounts. 

We  recognize  three  different  types  of  penguins,  represented  by  the  king  penguin,  the 
jackass  penguin,  and  the  rock-hopper,  three  well-defined  groups  of  generic,  or  perhaps, 
rather,  super-generic  rank,  which  we  shall  call  Aptenodytes,  Spheniscus,  and  Catarractes. 

The  largest  and  one  of  the  oldest  and  best  known  forms  is  the  king  penguin,  the  type  of 
Aptenodytes,  a  genus  easily  distinguished  by  the  size,  and  the  length  and  slenderness  of 
the  bill,  which  is  slightly  arched,  with  which  are  associated  a  great  number  of  anatom- 
ical characters;  for  instance,  the  persistence  throughout  life  of  the  intermaxillary 
suture,  the  absence  of  a  complete  coracoid  foramen  for  the  transmission  of  the  nerve 
to  the  middle  pectoral  muscle,  the  absence  of  any  differentiation  of  syringeal  from 
the  adjoining  tracheal  rings,  the  presence  of  a  tracheal  septum,  etc.  With  the  Apten- 
odytes proper  are  here  associated  the  members  of  the  group  usually  called  Pygoscelis, 
which  have  the  bill  stouter  and  more  feathered,  and  the  tail  longer. 

Best  known  is  A.  longirostris,  the  king  penguin  of  the  Falkland  Islands,  Kerguelen 
Island,  and  some  other  rocks  and  islands  in  the  Antarctic  Ocean.  The  color  of  the 
back  is  a  mixture  of  slate-color  and  black,  the  under  parts  of  the  body  white,  head  and 
throat  black,  a  stripe  from  behind  the  eyes,  down  the  sides  of  the  neck,  yellow,  as  is 
also  the  anterior  part  of  the  latter.  The  nearly  related  A.  patachonica  is  larger,  the 
base  of  the  lower  mandible  and  the  tarsus  more  feathered.  The  accompanying  plate 
represents  A.  longirostris,  in  regard  to  which  Professor  Moseley's  criticism  of  another 
drawing  is  equally  applicable.  He  says :  "  In  the  figure  the  birds'  heads  are  drawn  as 
if  held  horizontally.  This  is  unnatural.  The  head  and  neck  should  be  stretched  out 
vertically,  quite  straight,  with  the  tips  of  the  beak  pointed  directly  upwards."  The 
same  gentleman  says  that  the  king  penguin  stands  as  high  as  a  man's  middle,  and  when 
disturbed,  made  a  loud  sound  like  '  urr-urr-urr?  At  Marion  Island  he  obtained  an  egg 
which  was  of  a  uniform  chalky  white,  pyriform  in  shape,  and  measuring  4.4  by  3.0 
inches. 

Dr.  J.  H.  Kidder  had  good  facilities  of  observing  A.  papua  at  their  breeding-places 
on  Kerguelen  Island,  and  has  given  a  very  interesting  account  of  his  experience  (Bull. 
U.  S.  Nat.  Mus.  No.  2),  from  which  we  take  pleasure  in  copying  the  following :  "  No 
living  thing  that  I  ever  saw  expresses  so  graphically  a  state  of  hurry  as  a  penguin, 
when  trying  to  escape.  Its  neck  is  stretched  out,  flippers  \vhirring  like  the  sails  of  a 
windmill,  and  body  wagging  from  side  to  side,  as  its  short  legs  make  stumbling  and 
frantic  efforts  to  get  over  the  ground.  There  is  such  an  expression  of  anxiety  written 
all  over  the  bird ;  it  picks  itself  up  from  every  fall,  and  stumbles  again  with  such  an  air 
of  having  an  armful  of  bundles,  that  it  escapes  capture  quite  as  often  by  the  laughter  of 
the  pursuer  as  by  its  own  really  considerable  speed." 

The  jackass  penguins  (Spheniscns}  have  received  their  name  from  their  voice,  which 
is  said  to  be  very  like  the  braying  of  donkeys.  Their  bills  are  straight  and  moderately 
short,  but  very  stout  and  deep ;  the  tip  of  the  upper  mandible  is  hooked,  and  that  of 
the  lower  one  truncate.  Of  anatomical  characters  the  great  development  of  the  trans- 
verse temporal  crest,  the  relatively  slight  curvature  of  the  zygomatic  arch,  and  the 
relative  great  length  of  the  metatarsus,  are  among  the  more  noteworthy  features. 
Several  species  are  known,  of  which  the  Australian  S.  minor,  with  white  throat  and 
without  any  dark  collar,  probably  requires  recognition  as  a  separate  genus,  Bonaparte's 


60  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

Eudyptula,  on  account  of  several  important  anatomical  characters,  among  which  is 
the  absence  of  a  tracheal  septum. 

The  South  African  species,  S.  demersus,  is  one  of  the  oldest  known  members  of  the 
order.  It  is  slate-colored  above,  white  underneath ;  a  face-mask,  offset  from  the  rest  of 
head  by  a  broad  white  band,  is  blackish,  and  so  is  a  narrow  collar  which  continues 
down  along  the  sides  of  the  body,  a  dark  stripe  separated  from  the  dark  color  of  the 
back  by  a  continuation  of  the  white  band  of  the  head. 

Professor  Moseley,  of  the  'Challenger'  expedition,  gives  the  following  account  of  a 
visit  to  a  rookery  of  this  bird  at  Seal  Island,  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  "It  is  a  mere  shel- 
ving rock,  on  which  it  is  only  possible  to  land  on  very  favorable  occasions.  The  birds 
here  nested  on  the  open  rock,  which  was  fully  exposed  to  the  burning  sun  and  occa- 
sional rain.  There  was  not  a  blade  of  grass  on  the  rock,  but  it  was  covered  with 
guano,  with  little  pools  of  filthy  green  water.  The  birds  nested  under  big  stones^ 
wherever  there  was  place  for  them.  Most  of  the  nests  were,  however,  quite  in  the 
open.  The  nests  were  formed  of  small  stones  and  shells  of  a  Balanus,  of  which  there 
were  heaps  washed  up  by  the  surf,  and  of  old  bits  of  wood,  nails,  and  bits  of  rope, 
picked  up  about  the  ruins  of  a  hut  which  were  rotting  on  the  island,  together  with  an 
old  sail,  some  boat's  spars,  and  bags  of  guano,  evidently  left  behind  by  guano-seekers. 
The  object  of  thus  making  the  nest  is  no  doubt  to  some  extent  to  secure  drainage  in 
case  of  rain,  and  to  keep  the  eggs  out  of  water  washing  over  the  rocks ;  but  the  birds 
evidently  have  a  sort  of  magpie-like  delight  in  curiosities.  Spheniscus  magellanicusy 
at  the  Falkland  Islands,  similarly  collects  variously  colored  pebbles  at  the  mouth  of  its 
burrow.  Two  pairs  of  the  birds  had  built  inside  the  ruins  of  the  hut. 

"  All  the  birds  fought  furiously,  and  were  very  hard  to  kill.  They  make  a  noise 
very  like  the  braying  of  donkeys,  — hence  their  name  ;  they  do  not  hop,  but  run  or  wad- 
dle. They  do  not  leap  out  of  the  water  like  the  crested  penguin,  when  swimming,  but 
merely  come  to  the  surface  and  sit  there  like  ducks  for  a  while,  and  dive  again." 

A  nearly  allied  but  quite  distinct  species,  Spheniscus  magellanicus,  easily  recog- 
nized by  the  double  black  band  across  the  breast,  is  found  at  the  southern  end  of 
South  America,  and  is  particularly  well  known  from  the  Falkland  Islands  and  South 
Georgia.  An  extremely  interesting  account  of  this  species,  which  also  is  known  as  the 
jackass  penguin,  and  its  habits  at  the  latter  locality,  was  published  last  year  by  Dr.  Will, 
who,  during  a  year's  sojourn  at  the  German  polar  station  there,  1882-'83,  enjoyed  un- 
usual opportunities  for  the  study  of  these  birds.  We  translate  his  account  in  full,  as 
it  probably  is  the  most  complete  description  of  the  habits  of  birds  the  home  of  which 
is  so  remote  from  regularly  inhabited  localities. 

"Much  more  droll  than  the  ferocious  looking  'rock-hopper'  and  the  solemn  king 
penguin,  is  the  jackass  penguin,  which  in  size  (about  70  cm.)  agrees  with  the  former. 

"  The  area  covered  by  our  excursions  embraced  six  colonies,  one  of  which  was  occu- 
pied by  thousand  of  penguins ;  these,  together  with  the  frequent  occurrence  of  these 
animals  on  the  beach  at  the  station,  afforded  good  opportunity  for  studying  thoroughly 
these  queer  birds,  so  singularly  adapted  for  aquatic  life. 

"  At  the  beginning  of  October  the  penguins  were  almost  exclusively  seen  on  the 
beach,  crowded  together  and  taking  it  easy  after  the  copious  meal,  some  of  them  in  a 
standing  position,  others  laying  down  with  the  head  under  one  of  the  wings.  Before 
long,  however,  they  became  more  lively,  and,  tottering  over  the  snowy  slopes  in  long 
rows,  went  in  search  of  the  higher  parts  of  the  valleys  opening  into  the  bay,  apparently 
most  pleased  with  grass-clad  and  flat  ground. 


PENGUINS.  61 

"A  colony  of  penguins  presents  many  interesting  features  during  the  nesting. 
The  breeding  grounds  are  mostly  completely  razed,  the  grass  having  been  torn  off  for 
nesting  purposes,  so  that  everywhere  the  soil  is  bare  between  the  irregularly  strewn 
nests,  and  converted  by  rain  and  the  droppings  of  the  animals  into  a  malodorous 
puddle.  The  nests  are  very  rudely  built,  some  by  taking  advantage  of  an  already 
existing  hummock  after  biting  off  the  grass ;  others  consisted  only  of  a  shallow  cavity 
trampled  into  the  ground,  and  surrounded  with  small  pebbles,  and  particularly  with 
grass-roots  and  moss  which  the  bird  pulls  out  with  the  bill. 

"The  building  of  the  nests  does  not  occur  without  furious  fights.  Every  opportu- 
nity to  steal  grass  and  moss  from  unwatched  nests  (usually  one  of  the  mates  is  sitting 
in  the  nest  while  the  other  carries  the  building  materials  to  the  spot)  for  use  in  their 
own  nest  is  seized  upon,  and  then  the  depredators,  who  do  not  limit  their  pillaging  to 
their  own  colony,  are  pursued  with  blows  and  pecks  of  wings  and  bills. 

"  We  found  the  first  eggs  about  the  end  of  October,  and  usually  only  two  are  laid ; 
if  taken  away,  however,  or  stolen  by  the  skuas  (Stercorariiis  antarcticus)  two  other 
eggs  may  again  be  laid,  but  these  are  then  always  smaller.  They  vary  considerably  in 
size,  the  longer  diameter  being  from  seven  to  nine  centimetres.  The  white  has  a 
bluish  gloss,  the  yolk  is  orange,  the  shell  very  thick.  The  eggs  are  of  considerable 
practical  importance,  as  a  great  number  may  be  collected  in  a  short  time  without  diffi- 
culty, although  the  taste  is  rather  coarse. 

"  The  breeding  requires  on  an  average  six  weeks,  and  is  performed  alternately  by 
both  parents.  They  sit  on  the  eggs  like  other  birds,  and  can  only  be  removed  from 
the  nest  by  force,  in  which  case  their  conduct  is  extremely  ludicrous,  as  they  defend 
themselves,  blowing  like  geese,  with  the  bill  wide  open,  and,  arising  slightly,  peck  at  the 
hand  which  dares  encroach  upon  them.  Pushed  off  the  nest,  the  bird  runs  away  as 
fast  as  possible,  returns  very  soon,  however,  and  jumping,  both  feet  at  a  time,  into 
the  nest,  looks  foolish  and  bewildered  at  finding  it  empty ;  after  searching  all  around 
within  and  outside  the  nest,  until  finally  it  dawns  upon  its  mind  that  it  has  been 
robbed,  the  penguin  lifts  its  head,  giving  vent  to  its  grief  by  a  doleful  and  discordant 
scream.  When  hearing  the  screeching  of  the  plundered  birds  one  may  imagine  being 
removed  to  a  goose-pasture. 

"  The  young  ones  are  guarded  and  fed  with  the  utmost  care  ;  the  broad  paths  are 
alive  with  a  never-ceasing  swarm  of  going  and  coming  birds  engaged  in  bringing  food. 
The  old  ones  feed  out  of  the  crop ;  the  young  take  the  food  from  the  bill  of  the  old 
ones. 

"Toward  the  end  of  the  breeding  season,  at  the  beginning  of  March,  the  old 
penguins  are  very  lean,  presenting,  on  the  whole,  an  unusually  miserable  appearance 
during  the  molt  which  occurs  shortly  after  the  young  ones  have  exchanged  their 
gray  down  for  the  first  plumage.  They  generally  leave  the  colony  at  that  time,  retir- 
ing with  the  young  ones  to  some  sheltered  place,  if  possible  in  the  vicinity  of  a  rivulet, 
where  they  await  the  molt. 

"  On  shore  the  penguins  move  only  slowly  and  clumsily  if  not  attacked ;  they  remain 
unmoved  if  approached  quietly,  gazing  with  curiosity  at  the  intruder,  and  may  be 
driven  for  hours  like  a  flock  of  geese.  When  attacked,  however,  they  defend  them- 
selves by  striking  violently  with  the  wings,  but  finally  try  to  escape  by  lying  down 
on  the  belly,  rushing  away  by  means  of  both  feet  and  wings,  moving  the  latter  as 
when  they  are  swimming.  Their  speed  is  so  great  that  the  pursuer  only  with  difficulty 
can  overtake  them,  particularly  on  snow-fields.  I  have  repeatedly  measured  the  dis- 


62  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

tance  between  the  impressions  made  by  the  wing  in  the  snow,  and  found  it  to  be,  on 
an  average,  twenty-seven  inches. 

"  The  water  is  their  proper  element,  to  which  the  whole  structure  of  the  body  and 
the  smooth  scale-like  plumage  is  adapted.  Standing  on  shore  they  plunge  into  the 
rising  wave,  and  dart  through  the  water  like  a  shot,  by  means  of  the  wings  only.  The 
speed  and  impetus  may  easily  be  tested  by  fixing  a  long  line  to  the  bird,  and  then 


FIG.  28. —  Catarractes  demersus,  rock-hopper. 

letting  it  off  into  the  water.  The  shock  felt  when  it  has  run  the  line  out  is  quite  con- 
siderable. The  bird  reappears  at  some  distance  from  land  to  breathe,  Avhen  it  immedi- 
ately again  dives,  continuing  its  flight  under  water. 

"The  greater  part  of  the  day  is  spent  at  sea,  the  fauna  of  which  yields  the 
voracious  birds  an  abundant  supply  of  food.  They  return  to  the  shore  before  dark. 
Shoals  of  penguins  may  often  be  seen,  when  on  their  way  towards  the  shore,  alternately 
jumping  clear  out  of  the  water  and  then  diving  again.  If  the  attention  of  such  a  flock 
be  attracted  by  any  foreign  object,  for  instance,  a  boat,  the  whole  company  will  stop 
and  lie  quiet  on  the  water  for  a  moment,  stretching  their  necks  far  out,  but  continue 


PENGUINS.  63 

immediately,  as  if  ordered,  jumping  and  diving  in  a  different  direction.  Such  excur- 
sions of  larger  parties  seem  not  to  be  the  rule,  however ;  they  return  usually  simulta- 
neously to  their  station  singly  or  in  small  numbers." 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  that  the  habits  of  the  same  species  on  the  Falkland 
Islands  have  been  modified  considerably  on  account  of  the  permanent  residence  of 
man  in  the  vicinity  of  the  breeding  grounds,  for  Captain  Abbott  remarks  that,  in  the 
neghborhood  of  the  settlement  of  Stanley,  the  burrows  run  in  to  a  considerable  distance, 
"  on  account,  I  conclude,  of  their  being  so  often  robbed  of  their  eggs,  which  are  taken 
out  by  means  of  a  piece  of  iron  hoop  fastened  to  the  end  of  a  pole." 

The  accompanying  cut  gives  a  good  idea  of  the  remaining  members  of  the  order, 
the  rock-hoppers,  Catarractes,  also  known  as  Eudyptes,  easily  recognized  by  their  ele- 
gant yellow  superciliary  crests  and  the  short  bill,  with  the  upper  jaw  of  a  character- 
istic oval  form.  Two  species  are  generally  admitted,  C.  demersus  (catarractes  and 
chrysocome)  and  C.  chrysolophus,  the  latter  being  the  '  macaroni '  of  the  sealers ;  but  it 
seems  as  if  the  birds  referred  to  the  former,  the  true  rock-hoppers,  may  be  separated  ac- 
cording to  the  different  localities,  Falkland  Islands,  Kerguelen  Island,  New  Zealand,  and 
Tristan  d'Acunha,  in  several  forms  of  at  least  sub-specific  value.  A  few  short  extracts 
from  Professor  Moseley's  excellent  account  may  be  found  acceptable  to  complete  the 
picture  of  this  singular  order  of  birds:  "It  is  impossible  to  conceive  the  discomfort  of 
making  one's  way  through  a  big  rookery.  You  plunge  into  one  of  the  lanes  in  the  tall 
grass,  which  at  once  shuts  the  surroundings  from  your  view.  You  tread  on  a  slimy, 
black,  damp  soil  composed  of  the  bird's  dung.  The  stench  is  overpowering,  the  yell- 
ing of  the  birds  perfectly  terrifying.  The  nests  are  placed  so  thickly  that  you  cannot 
help  treading  on  eggs  and  young  birds  at  almost  every  step.  A  parent  bird  sits  on 
each  nest,  with  its  sharp  beak  erect  and  open,  ready  to  bite,  yelling  savagely,  '  caa, 
caa,  urr,  HIT,'  its  red  eye  gleaming,  and  its  plumes  at  half-cock,  and  quivering  with 
rage.  No  sooner  are  your  legs  within  reach  than  they  are  furiously  bitten,  often  by 
two  or  three  birds  at  once  —  that  is,  if  you  have  not  got  on  strong  leather  gaiters,  as 
on  the  first  occasion  of  visiting  a  rookery,  you  pi'obably  have  not.  At  first  you  try  to 
avoid  the  nests,  but  soon  find  that  impossible ;  then,  maddened  almost  by  the  pain, 
stench,  and  noise,  you  have  recourse  to  brutality,  and  the  path  behind  you  is  strewed 
with  the  dead  and  dying  and  bleeding.  But  you  make  miserably  slow  progress,  and, 
worried  to  death,  at  last  resort  to  the  expedient  of  stampeding  as  far  as  your  breath 
will  carry  you.  I  always  adopted  the  stampede  method  in  rookeries.  These  penguins 
make  a  nest  which  is  simply  a  shallow  depression  in  the  black  dirt,  scantily  lined  with 
a  few  bits  of  grass,  or  not  lined  at  all.  They  lay  two  greenish-white  eggs  about  as  big 
as  duck  eggs,  and  both  male  and  female  incubate.  This  penguin  is  called  'rock- 
hopper  '  from  its  curious  mode  of  progression.  The  birds  hop  from  rock  to  rock  with 
both  feet  placed  together,  scarcely  ever  missing  their  footing." 

Little  is  known  as  yet  as  to  the  geological  history  of  the  penguins,  except  that  it 
dates  back  to  the  upper  eocene  at  least,  since  fossil  bones  (humerus,  coracoids,  and 
metatarsus)  of  a  gigantic  form,  Palceeudyptes  antarcticus  have  been  found  in  strata 
of  that  age  on  New  Zealand.  This  form  stood  from  six  to  seven  feet  high,  or  higher 
than  an  average  man !  We  have  here  a  distinct  evidence  of  the  great  age  of  the 
group,  as  might  also  be  inferred  from  their  remoteness  from  all  other  known  birds. 
Their  relations  seem  to  be  with  the  other  schizognathous  Natatores,  rather  than  with 
any  other,  but  the  exact  affinities  are  very  obscure,  for,  as  Professor  Newton  remarks, 
there  is  perhaps  scarcely  a  feather  or  a  bone  which  is  not  diagnostic. 

LEONHARD  STEJNEGER. 


64  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


SUPER-ORDER  III.  — EUORNITHES. 

With  the  above  name  I  have  designated  the  rest  of  the  existing  birds.  This  super- 
order,  therefore,  embraces  all  living  birds  except  the  Dromaeognathae  and  the  penguins. 
After  these  two  groups  are  removed,  there  remains  a  vast  number  of  very  differently 
organized  forms  which,  however,  by  intermediate  links  and  connections  on  all  sides, 
show  greater  relationships  inter  se  than  with  any  of  those  treated  of  on  the  foregoing 
pages. 

The  characters  of  this  assemblage,  as  a  whole,  are  rather  of  negative  nature,  though 
this  statement  may  be  little  more  than  a  play  of  words,  since  the  absence  of  a  certain 
feature  is  just  as  'positive'  a  character  in  one  group  as  is  its  presence  in  another.  The 
phrase  only  means  that,  while  we  are  familiar  with  the  general  characters  of  the  bird- 
class,  and  while,  from  the  previous  account,  we  have  learned  the  chief  characters  of 
the  groups  removed,  we  consequently  now  should  know  the  peculiarities  of  the  last 
group  without  any  further  characterization.  A  brief  summary  may  nevertheless  be 
useful. 

The  Euornithes  are  not  dromaeognathous,  and,  I  need  not  say,  their  jaws  are  not 
possessed  of  teeth ;  the  two  mandibular  halves  are  firmly  united  in  a  median  sym- 
physis ;  the  head  of  the  quadrate  bone  has  two  facets ;  the  sutures  of  the  skull  disap- 
pear entirely  in  the  adult;  the  dorsal  vertebrae  are  saddle-shaped,  and  more  or  less 
firmly  united ;  the  sacral  vertebrae  are  anchylosed  with  the  pelvic  bones,  of  which  the 
ilia  and  ischia  are  anchylosed  behind,  thus  forming  an  ilio-sciatic  foramen ;  the  tail  is 
short,  and  the  last  vertebrae  fused  into  a  pygostyle ;  the  wings,  when  in  rest,  are  folded 
up,  the  bones  lying  more  or  less  parallel  to  the  main  axis  of  the  body ;  the  scapula 
forms  an  angle  with  the  coracoid,  and  not  an  arch ;  the  hand  has  a  free  pollex ;  three 
metatarsal  elements  are  never  separately  distinguishable  ;  the  feathers  are  distributed 
over  certain  pterylae  with  interlying  apteria. 

The  exact  relationship  of  the  present  superorder  to  the  two  foregoing  ones  is  by  no 
means  obvious,  since  it  may  well  be  disputed  whether  the  so-called  schizognathous 
"Natatores,"  on  the  one  hand,  are  nearer  related  to  the  penguins  than  are  the  gallina- 
ceous birds  to  the  ostriches,  on  the  other.  All  the  evidence  tends  to  show,  however, 
that  the  three  groups  separated  very  early,  but  our  present  material  is  too  defective  to 
allow  any  trustworthy  speculations  as  to  the  probable  process.  Fossil  Euornithes  are 
by  no  means  rare,  however ;  but  they  are  mostly  from  more  recent  strata,  and  nearly 
all  belong  to  still  existing  types,  in  some  instances  of  more  generalized  features,  but 
the  'connecting  links'  are  still  missing.  The  search  for  fossil  birds  has,  especially  in 
France,  unearthed  many  interesting  facts  concerning  the  geological  history  of  the 
Euornithes  and  their  former  distribution,  and  the  discovery,  in  deposits  near  Paris,  of 
several  tropical  and  particularly  African  forms,  for  instance,  Trogon  and  Leptosomus, 
are  extremely  interesting  as  compared  with  the  later  arctic  and  sub-arctic  faunas  of 
the  same  latitudes  during  the  glacial  periods.  But  though  the  Euornithic  forms  origi- 
nated during  an  earlier  geological  epoch,  the  present  day  is  emphatically  the  era  of 
the  Euornithes. 

ORDEK  VI.  —  CECOMORPH^E. 

It  is  particularly  among  the  'swimmers'  and  'waders,'  the  Natatores  and  Gral- 
latores  of  the  old  systems,  that  the  modern  investigations  into  the  structure  and  the 
affinities  of  birds  have  made  a  sad  havoc,  entirely  revolutionizing  our  ideas  as  to  the 


WATER   BIRDS. 


65 


mutual  relationships  of  the  water  birds.  Their  position  and  sequence  has  consequently 
been  completely  changed,  and  the  aspect  of  that  part  of  the  system  is  quite  upset. 
Ornithologists  of  the  old  school  will  have  some  difficulty  in  locating  themselves. 

Instead  of  the  two  old  orders,  Natatores  and  Grallatores,  or  three  with  the  addition 
of  the  Herodiones,  the  modern  researches  have  revealed  four  centres  of  relationship, 
which  may  be  styled  Pluvialiformes,  Anseriformes,  Ciconiiformes,  and  Pelecani- 
formes,  —  the  three  latter  forming  the  desmognathous,  the  first-mentioned  group  the 
schizognathous  series.  The  latter  series  more  especially  comprises  the  birds  which 
usually  constitute  the  orders  Pygopodes,  Longipennes  and  Limicolae,  the  two  first  men- 
tioned being  here  merged  into  Cecomorphae,  according  to  Professor  Huxley's  view. 
The  arrangement  may  not  be  regarded  as  final,  however,  for  there  are  reasons  to  sus- 
pect that  it  will  be  necessary,  ere  long,  to  divide  the  schizognathous  swimmers  into 
three  orders,  Eretmopodes  for  the  first 
two  superfamilies  of  the  present  arrange- 
ment, Tubinares  for  the  superfamily 
Procellaroidese,  and  Pluviales  for  the 
rest  of  the  members  of  the  two  orders. 

The  fact  is,  that  not  only  are  the 
gulls  very  nearly  allied  to  the  auks,  but 
their  affinities  with  the  Grallae,  through 
the  plovers,  are  unmistakable.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  grebes  seem  to  be  only 
distantly  related  to  the  other  'Pygo- 
podes,' and  the  puffins  and  albatrosses 
similarly  so  to  the  'Longipennes'  or 
gulls.  But  there  is  one  feature  of  more 
novel  systems  which  we  are  not  willing 
to  adopt,  viz.,  the  position  of  the  plovers 
at  the  base  of  the  series  as  the  most 
generalized  forms.  That  in  these  birds 
some  anatomical  features  of  quite  a  gen- 
eralized character  remain  during  the 
whole  lifetime,  while  in  the  gulls  they 
are  only  present  in  the  embryonic  state, 
is  no  argument  in  favor  of  the  view  of 
the  latter  being  only  a  degraded  branch 
of  the  former,  since  we  find  ample  proof 
all  through  the  class  that  one  or  more 
character!  of  the  ancestral  stock  may 
survive  in  a  highly  specialized  group,  while  they  may  be  lost  comparatively  early  in 
another,  which,  on  the  whole,  has  departed  only  slightly  from  the  common  ancestor. 
Our  knowledge  of  these  birds  is  as  yet  particularly  deficient  concerning  the  degree  of 
affinity  between  the  different  forms,  and  it  will  therefore  be  found  that  in  the  follow- 
ing we  have  given  the  generally  adopted  sequence  the  benefit  of  the  doubt. 

As  stated  above,  the  members  of  this  order  are  strictly  schizognathous ;  another 
cranial  feature  is  that  they  are  schizorhinal.     Their  palmate  feet  will  serve  to  distin- 
guish them  externally,  a  feature  which,  among  the  Grallae,  is  only  found  in  the  avocets, 
which  are  not  easily  confounded  with  the  birds  here  in  question  on  account  of  their 
VOL.  iv. —5 


FIG.  29.  —  Skeleton  of  Colymbus  cristatus. 


66  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

long  legs  and  feet,  features  which  none  of  them  share.  The  grebes  have  only  lobate 
feet,  like  the  phalaropes  and  the  gallinules,  which,  however,  have  well-developed  rec- 
trices,  not  possessed  by  the  grebes. 

The  grebes  already  in  their  external  appearance  manifest  aberrant  characters, 
which  secure  for  them  a  separate  position  as  COLYMBOIDE^  (with  exclusion  of  the 
loons,  the  Urinatoridae,  which,  though  having  some  general  resemblance  to  the  former, 
differ  in  many  very  essential  points).  The  grebes  have  no  supraorbital  depression  for 
the  nasal  glands;  the  number  of  cervical  vertebrae  (15  to  19)  is  unusually  large;  the 
sternum  is  quite  different,  the  xiphoid  process  being  shorter  than  the  lateral  ones,  and 
notched  behind ;  the  pelvis  is  also  singularly  long  and  narrow,  and  the  diverging  pubic 
bones  rather  peculiar;  the  ambiens  muscle  is  absent,  and  the  formula  of  the  leg 
muscles  is  BX,  while  in  the  loons  the  ambiens  is  present  and  the  formula  is  ABX ; 
only  one  carotid  is  present ;  the  primaries  are  eleven,  a  very  unusual  number ;  true 
rectrices  are  absent ;  the  toes  are  lobate.  In  all  these  and  several  other  features  do- 
they  differ  from  the  loons,  with  which  they  share  the  long  cnemial  process  of  the 
tibia  in  front  of  the  knee.  The  head  is,  in  a  good  many  species,  most  singularly 
adorned  during  the  breeding  season  by  bright-colored  ruffs  and  crests,  which  give 
the  birds  a  very  odd  appearance,  still  further  increased  by  the  broad,  flattened 
toes,  and  the  total  absence  of  an  external  tail.  The  grebes  look  extremely  old- 
fashioned  ;  that  is,  they  impress  us  as  if  their  grotesque  figures  were  only  survivors 
from  by-gone  periods,  which  we  are  used  to  imagine  populated  by  all  sorts  of  fanciful 
creatures. 

Only  one  family,  COLYMBIDJE,  also  known  as  Podicipidae,  with  about  thirty  species 
referable  to  a  few  genera,  composes  at  present  this  superfamily.  As  a  group  they  are 
nearly  cosmopolitan,  though  mainly  confined  to  the  temperate  regions  of  both  hemi- 
spheres. Their  habits  present  many  strange  features  quite  in  keeping  with  their  curi- 
ous aspect.  They  are  among  the  most  expert  divers,  but,  in  contradistinction  to  the 
penguins,  never  use  the  wing  in  diving,  the  large,  curiously-shaped  feet  performing 
the  propulsion  alone.  The  extreme  compression  of  the  tarsus,  to  use  Macgillivray's 
words,  and  the  arrangement  of  the  toes,  enable  the  feet  to  be  brought  forward  with- 
out receiving  almost  any  opposition  from  the  water,  and  in  giving  the  propelling 
stroke,  the  blade,  thus  folded  up,  is  expanded  into  a  broad,  lobate  paddle.  Among 
flying  birds  none  are  so  completely  water  birds  as  are  the  grebes.  They  very  seldom 
leave  the  water,  and  must  be  pressed  very  hard  before  they  take  to  the  wing;  nothing 
but  the  direst  necessity  will  force  them  on  land,  for  not  only  do  they  feed  entirely  on 
the  products  of,  and  in,  the  water,  but  they  sleep  and  even  breed  on  the  surface  of 
that  element.  Their  nests  are  floating  masses  of  wet  vegetable  material,  which  the 
parents  secure  by  diving ;  this  swimming  abode,  which  they  anchor  to  some  reed  or 
grass,  is  sometimes  constructed  over  deep  water,  and  the  eggs  are  often  hatched  when 
partly  lying  in  the  water.  When  out  of  the  shell,  the  young  has  not  far  to  walk ;  he 
looks  a  few  moments  over  the  edge  of  his  water-drenched  cradle,  and  down  he  goes 
with  the  expertness  of  an  old  diver.  The  grebes  have  a  peculiar  faculty  of  regulating 
their  floating  in  the  water ;  usually  they  lie  quite  high,  but  if  alarmed,  and  fearing 
danger,  they  can  press  themselves  down  under  the  surface,  so  that  only  the  long,  thin 
neck  and  the  back  of  their  flat  body  is  visible  above.  They  feed  chiefly  upon  fishes, 
and  may,  therefore,  in  some  localities,  become  injurious.  Their  skin,  with  the  peculiar 
silky  feathers,  is  in  great  demand  for  trimmings,  ladies'  hats,  muffs,  etc. 

The  grebes  are  migratory  in  the  colder  parts  of  their  range,  and  spend  the  breed- 


GREBES. 


67 


ing  season  exclusively  on  fresh  water.     Only  during  the  migrations  and  winter-time 
are  they  to  be  found  at  sea. 

The  crested  grebe  (Colynibus  cristatus),  the  species  represented  in  the  cut,  is  one 
of  the  largest  of  the  genus.  It  has  formerly  been  considered  an  inhabitant  of  this 
continent,  but,  as  it  seems,  quite  erroneously,  it  being  confined  to  the  temperate  parts 


FIG.  30.  —  Colymbus  cristatus,  crested  grebe. 

of  the  Old  World,  including  Europe.  The  western  grebe  (^Echmophorus  occidentalis) 
inhabits  the  western  and  southwestern  portion  of  the  Nearctic  region.  It  is  charac- 
terized by  its  extremely  elongated  neck,  long  and  slender  bill,  and  by  the  absence  of 
parti-colored  ruffs  or  crests.  Podiceps  dominicanus,  from  South  and  Central  America, 
represents  in  the  New  World  the  well-known  European  dab-chick  (P../?uwata7«s),both 
very  small  species,  destitute  of  crests  or  ruffs,  the  latter  represented  all  over  the  Old 


68  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

World  by  several  geographical  varieties.  The  American  genus,  Podilymbus,  is  par- 
ticularly characterized  by  its  high  and  stout  bill,  and  by  the  bristly  feathers  of  the 
forehead.  The  American  dab-chick,  P.  podiceps,  is  common  in  eastern  North  America. 

We  have  here  to  consider  a  small  group  of  birds,  consisting  of  perhaps  not  more 
than  four  species,  and  constituting  a  separate  superfamily  which  we  have  called  HELI- 
ORNITHOIDE^E,  though  by  no  means  convinced  that  this  is  the  best  place  that  could 
be  assigned  to  them.  They  are  more  usually  referred  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  rails, 
but  as  this  position  does  not  satisfy  us  better,  the  view  of  the  late  Professor  W.  A. 
Forbes  has  here  been  followed  in  placing  them  nearer  to  the  grebes. 

With  the  latter,  the  fin-foots,  or  sun-grebes,  as  they  have  also  been  called,  agree  in 
the  form  of  the  bill,  and  like  them  they  have  lobated  toes,  which,  among  other  things, 
however,  differ  in  having  the  middle  toe  decidedly  longer  than  the  outer  one.  Their 
plumage  is  not  dense  and  glossy  like  that  of  the  grebes,  from  which  the  fin-foots  differ 
most  essentially  in  having  not  less  than  eighteen  well-developed  tail-feathers.  Another 
point  characteristic  of  the  pterylosis  of  these  remarkable  birds  is  that  the  feathers 
are  without  an  aftershaft.  The  head  is  small,  and  the  neck  very  thin  and  narrow. 

The  fin-foots  are  still  a  great  puzzle  to  ornithologists,  for  not  only  is  their  structure 
imperfectly  known,  but  information  concerning  their  habits  is  extremely  scanty. 
Their  geographical  distribution  is  not  less  pei-plexing ;  for  one  genus,  with  one  species, 
Heliornis  fulica,  inhabits  South  America,  two  species  of  the  genus  Podica  are  peculiar 
to  Africa,  while  a  third  one  is  at  home  in  eastern  Asia,  a  distribution  which  offers  cer- 
tain points  of  analogy  to  that  of  the  darters. 

The  South  American  fin-foot  inhabits  rivers  of  the  Brazilian  empire  and  other 
eastern  states  on  the  Neotropical  continent.  It  is  about  the  size  of  the  European  dab- 
chick,  of  a  brownish  olive  color  above,  with  head  and  upper  neck  black ;  it  is  buffy 
white  underneath  ;  neck,  throat,  and  a  postocular  stripe  pure  white.  Very  characteris- 
tic are  the  broad  and  distinct  black  bands  which  cross  the  joints  of  the  yellow  feet. 
The  'picapare,'  as  it  is  called  by  the  inhabitants,  prefers  shadowy  and  quiet  rivers, 
even  those  of  the  deep  virgin  forests,  feeding  upon  fishes,  water  insects,  and  seeds.  It 
is  said  to  sit  for  hours  on  a  branch  overhanging  the  water  and  half  submerged,  but 
diving  is  only  resorted  to  in  danger  or  when  wounded.  Two  naked  young  ones  are 
hatched  in  December.  Heard  from  a  distance,  the  voice  is  said  to  resemble  the  bai'k- 
ing  of  a  small  dog. 

The  following  superfamily,  the  ALCOIDE^E,  is  of  a  very  varied  appearance,  and  is 
in  many  respects  of  great  impoi'tance,  not  only  on  account  of  the  great  number  of  differ- 
ing forms  of  which  it  is  composed,  and  the  zoological  interest  connected  with  them, 
but  also  because  the  enormous  number  of  individuals  of  several  species  make  them  a 
notable  object  in  the  economy  of  many  a  tribe  of  mankind  inhabiting  the  inhospitable 
regions  surrounding  the  north  pole.  In  fact,  the  members  of  this  supcrfamily  are  dis- 
tinctive of  the  northern  circumpolar  fauna,  and  not  a  single  one  is  found  on  the 
southern  hemisphere,  nor  does  a  single  species  inhabit  any  part  of  the  tropical  zone. 
As  a  consequence  of  the  circumpolar  distribution,  all  the  genera  and  nearly  all  the 
species  occur  in  America. 

We  distinguish  two  very  well  defined  families,  the  UrinatoridaB  and  the  Alcidae. 
Externally  they  differ  especially  by  the  former  having  four,  the  latter  only  three  toes. 
A  very  striking  anatomical  difference  is  the  presence  in  the  former  of  a  very  powerful 
cnemial  process  of  the  tibia  in  front  of  the  knee-pan,  another  being  that  the  former 
have  an  ambiens  muscle  whic"  the  latter  lack. 


AUKS.  69 

The  URINATORID^E,  or  loons,  are  usually  by  systeraatists  associated  more  or  less  in- 
timately with  the  grebes,  though,  it  appears,  with  no  good  foundation,  being,  however, 
on  the  whole,  the  most  generalized  forms  of  the  present  superfamily,  and  therefore 
nearest  related  to  the  ancestral  stock  from  which  both  grebes  and  auks  have  started. 
Even  in  coloration  the  loons  are  less  specialized  than  the  other  members  of  the  super- 
family,  since  in  the  latter  the  young  ones  at  once  assume  the  plumage  of  the  adult 
birds,  while  the  young  loons  first  have  to  pass  a  more  or  less  speckled  stage. 

Only  a  single  genus,  Urinator,  with  five  distinct  species,  of  which  the  red-throated 
diver  (U.  lumme)  is  the  most  common  and  best-known  form,  constitutes  the  family. 
They  inhabit  high  latitudes  and  propagate  always  on  fresh  water,  in  the  neighborhood 
of  which  they  deposit  their  dai'k  olive-colored  eggs  in  a  rude  depression  in  the  ground, 
but  they  retire  to  the  sea  as  soon  as  the  breeding  is  over.  They  are  solitary  birds,  and 
seldom  more  than  one  pair  occupy  a  lake.  Their  voice  is  loud  and  harsh ;  heard  during 
a  dark  and  stormy  night,  it  sounds  like  cries  of  people  in  danger  or  distress ;  during  the 
daytime  their  Jca,  Jcakara  which  they  repeat  when  flying,  is  a  fitting  song  to  the  ac- 
companiment of  the  roaring  surf,  and  has  procured  for  the  red-throated  species  the 
distinction  of  being  styled  by  humorous  Norsemen  "the  nightingale  of  Lofoten." 
There,  as  elsewhere,  where  the  divers  are  at  home,  they  have  given  rise  to  many  popular 
tales  and  superstitions.  Thus  it  is  said  about  the  loon  {U.  imber)  that  it  was  first 
made  without  legs,  but  that  Nature,  becoming  sensible  of  her  mistake,  got  into  a  pet, 
and  flung  a  pair  of  legs  after  the  bird,  which  fully  accounts  for  their  singularly  pos- 
terior situation.  Even  the  old  naturalists  were  full  of  these  fables,  and  Pontoppidan, 
the  celebrated  Norwegian  bishop  and  author  of  the  last  century,  relates  how  "the 
immer  is  never  seen  to  come  ashore,  excepting  in  the  week  before  Christmas,  where- 
fore the  fourth  Sunday  in  Advent  is  called  by  the  people  Immer  Sunday."  He  also 
tells  that  the  bird  has  two  holes  under  its  wings,  wherein  it  deposits  its  eggs,  which  it 
carries  about  with  it,  hatching  them  with  as  much  facility  on  the  water  as  other  birds 
do  on  dry  land. 

The  auk  family  (ALCID^E)  consists  of  a  number  of  birds  of  varied  appearance,  nearly 
all  of  which  are  of  a  somewhat  clumsy  build,  with  rather  large  heads,  the  legs  placed  far 
back,  and  only  three  toes,  the  hind  one  being  invariably  absent.  The  sexes  are 
colored  alike,  and  the  young  ones  differ  only  slightly.  They  have  a  double  molt, 
and  the  breeding  plumage  is  usually  somewhat  different  from  that  worn  during  the 
rest  of  the  year,  but  the  change  is  mainly  confined  to  the  face  and  the  anterior  parts 
of  the  lower  surface. 

The  family,  as  a  whole,  is  circuinpolar,  although  several  of  the  forms  have  quite  a 
restricted  distribution,  especially  those  peculiar  to  the  North  Pacific  Ocean.  It  is 
noteworthy  that,  at  present,  only  two  genera  are  peculiar  to  the  Atlantic  and  adjoining 
parts  of  the  Arctic  Ocean,  viz.  Alca  and  Alle,  while  not  less  than  seven  genera  are  con- 
fined to  the  Pacific  side.  Three  genera  are  circumpolar. 

Though  closely  resembling  the  black-and-white  auks  and  guillemots  proper,  as  far 
as  coloration  is  concerned,  the  little  sea-dove  (Alle  alle),  'rotge,'  as  it  is  commonly 
called  by  all  the  sailors  visiting  its  breeding  places  in  the  Atlanto-Arctic  Ocean,  or 
king-auk,  as  it  is  styled  by  the  Norsemen,  seem  to  be  of  a  somewhat  different  structural 
type.  We  shall  here  only  mention  the  peculiar  shape  of  the  bill,  which  is  entirely  unique 
even  in  this  family  of  birds,  which  excels  in  curiously  shaped  bills  of  the  most  different 
pattern.  These  can  be  traced  back  to  a  few  types,  however ;  but  the  bill  of  the  bird  in 


70 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


question  represents  quite  a  type  of  its  own,  being  nearly  gallinaceous  in  form,  and  re- 
markable for  an  exceedingly  short  gonys.  That  this  form  is  said  to  have  only  one 
carotid,  while  the  other  Alcidae  have  two,  is  perhaps  of  less  moment,  though  we  must 
remember  that  the  grebes  were  similarly  specialized. 

The  sea-dove  is  truly  hyperborean  in  its  breeding  habits,  being  found  in  incredible 
numbers  along  the  island  shores  of  the  western  Arctic  Ocean.  Nordenskjold  gives  a 
very  graphic  description,  from  which  we  extract  the  following.  The  rotge  occurs  only 
sparingly  off  the  southern  part  of  Novaja  Zemlja,  and  does  not,  so  far  as  I  know, 
breed  there.  The  situation  of  the  land  is  too  southerly,  the  accumulations  of  stones 


FIG.  31. —  Uria  ringvia,  spectacled  guillemot. 

along  the  sides  of  the  mountains  too  inconsiderable,  for  the  thriving  of  this  little  bird. 
But  on  Spitzbergen  it  occurs  in  incredible  numbers,  and  breeds  in  the  talus  a  hundred 
to  two  hundred  metres  high,  which  frost  and  weathering  have  formed  at  several  places 
on  the  steep  slopes  of  the  coast  mountain  sides.  These  stone  heaps  form  the  palace  of 
the  king-auk,  richer  in  rooms  and  halls  than  any  other  in  the  wide  round  world.  If 
one  climbs  up  among  the  stones,  he  sees  at  intervals  actual  clouds  of  fowl  suddenly 
emerge  from  the  ground,  either  to  swarm  round  in  the  air  or  else  to  fly  out  to  sea,  and 
at  the  same  time,  those  that  remain  make  their  presence  underground  known  by  an 


AUKS  AND   GUILLEMOTS. 


71 


increasing  cackling  and  din.  The  birds,  circling  in  the  air,  soon  settle  again  on  the 
stones  of  the  mountain  slopes,  where,  squabbling  and  fighting,  they  pack  themselves  so 
close  together  that  from  fifteen  to  thirty  of  them  may  be  killed  by  a  single  shot. 
Their  food,  which  they  secure  by  diving,  consists  of  crustaceans  and  worms.  The 
single  bluish-white  egg  is  laid  on  the  bare  ground  without  a  nest,  so  deep  down  among 
the  stones  that  it  is  only  with  difficulty  that  it  can  be  got  at. 


FIG.  32.  —  Plautua  impennis,  great  auk. 

The  three  genera,  Uria,  Alca,  and  Plautus,  like  the  foregoing,  black  with  white 
breast  and  belly,  and  white  fore-neck  during  the  winter,  constitute  another  group 
characterized  by  their  more  or  less  compressed  bills,  upon  which  the  feathering  of  the 
head  protrudes  quite  a  considerable  distance.  The  first-named  genus  contains  the  two 
different  species  of  guillemots,  murres,  or  lomvias  ( V.  troile  and  U.  lomvia)  repre- 
sented in  the  Pacific  and  Atlantic  Oceans  by  separate  varieties,  particularly  remark- 


72  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

able  for  their  enormous  number  on  the  northern  bird-rookeries,  and  for  the  variability 
in  color  of  the  single  large  and  pear-shaped  egg,  which  may  be  found  from  nearly  uni- 
form white  to  deep  sea-green,  heavily  spotted  and  singularly  streaked  with  black  and 
brown.  The  accompanying  cut  represents  a  puzzling  variety,  the  so-called  spectacled 
guillemot  (17.  ringvia),  which  is  identical  with  the  common  species  except  in  possess- 
ing a  white  ring  round  the  eyes,  and  a  white  streak  behind  them  running  backward 
above  the  ear-coverts.  While  rather  scarce,  and  not  occurring  in  all  places  where  the 
common  guillemot  breeds,  it,  on  the  other  hand,  is  never  found  except  where  the  latter 
occurs.  The  status  of  the  variety  is  therefore  not  settled,  though  most  ornithologists, 
perhaps,  at  present  regard  it  as  a  mere  individual  variation.  In  regard  to  the  cut,  it 
may  be  remarked  that  the  shoulder  feathers  ought  to  be  more  uniform  black. 

Next  in  order  come  the  true  auks,  both  characterized  by  the  transverse  grooves  on 
the  bill,  and  both  confined  to  the  North  Atlantic  Ocean.  The  first  is  the  razor-bill, 
(Alca  tordd),  the  other  the  great  auk  (Plaulus  impennis),  with  its  many  names,  the 
gejr  or  gare-fowl  of  the  Icelanders,  the  northern  penguin,  the  celebrated  'wing- 
less bird,'  which  formerly  inhabited  both  shores  of  the  Atlantic,  in  its  northern  tem- 
perate parts,  but,  contrary  to  the  popular  notion,  not  the  Arctic  Ocean.  This  famous 
bird,  famous  because  of  its  tragic  fate,  bred  numerously  on  Newfoundland  and  on  the 
Funk  Islands  during  the  last  century ;  in  1844  the  last  survivors  of  the  last  colony  in 
Iceland  were  killed.  Now  its  skin  and  bones  and  eggs  are  regarded  as  the  most 
precious  treasures  of  the  museums ;  and  long  monographical  accounts  are  published, 
showing  the  exact  number  of  these  relics,  the  museums  in  which  they  are  found,  and 
the  history  of  each  single  specimen  as  far  as  it  can  be  traced.  The  last  list  (1884)  is 
by  Professor  W.  Blasius,  who  enumerates  76  authenticated  skins  or  mounted  birds,  68 
eggs,  9  more  or  less  complete  skeletons,  besides  numerous  skulls  and  detached  bones.  • 
Half  the  skins  and  most  of  the  bones  are  probably  of  American  origin,  but  not  more 
than  five  skins  are  in  American  museums ;  among  these  is  the  one  which  Mr.  Robert 
L.  Stuart  recently  bought  for  $625,  and  presented  to  the  museum  in  New  York.  The 
gare-fowl  is  of  special  interest,  since  it  is  the  only  one  of  the  order  which  is  known  to 
have  been  deprived  of  the  power  of  flight,  and  which  therefore  became  extermi- 
nated by  the  agency  of  man.  It  was  a  kind  of  representative,  in  northern  waters,  of 
the  flightless  Antarctic  penguins,  by  which  name  it  was  principally  known  on  the 
American  side  of  the  Atlantic  during  the  last  century,  penguin  being  probably  only  a 
corrupt  derivative  of  pin-wing,  though  usually  derived  from  the  Latin  pinguis,  fat. 
We  need  not  here  repeat  the  differences  of  the  true  penguins,  but  will  only  call  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  the  great  auk  was  provided  with  normal  remiges,  and  that  it 
was  only  the  smallness  of  the  wings  which  made  them  unfit  for  flight. 

The  black  guillemots  (  Cepphus)  form  a  small  group  of  Arctic  birds  which  in  their 
history  exhibit  too  little  to  detain  us  further.  Through  a  number  of  rather  obscurely 
known  forms  (JBrachyramphus,  etc.,)  peculiar  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  we  are  led  to  the 
curiously  ornamented  pigmy  auks  of  the  same  ocean,  conspicuous  among  other  charac- 
ters for  their  white-colored  eyes ;  and  to  the  much  larger  sea-parrots  or  puffins.  Of  the 
former  may  be  mentioned  the  least  auk  (Simorhynchus pusillus),  a  beautiful  little 
sea-bird,  not  so  large  as  a  robin,  and  with  a  peculiar  knob  on  top  of  the  bill  near  its 
base,  which  is  shed  annually  when  the  breeding  season  is  over.  Two  other  species 
of  the  same  genus  (S.  pygmceus  and  cristatettus)  are  somewhat  larger,  but  look 
very  odd  from  the  red  or  orange  bill,  the  many  white  crests  and  moustaches,  and 
the  peculiar  tuft  of  feathers  on  the  forehead,  bent  forward  in  exactly  the  same  man- 


PUFFINS.  73 

ner  as  the  feather  crest  of  the  California  quail.  All  these  inhabit  principally  the 
rocky  shores  of  the  Aleutian  Islands,  breeding  in  deep  holes  of  the  rocks  and  be- 
tween the  stones.  Then  we  have  the  rhinoceros  auk  (CerorJdna  monocerata)  with 
its  peculiar  deciduous  horn  on  top  of  the  bill.  We  may  also  mention  the  parrot  auk 
( Cyclorhynchus  psittactdus),  because  of  its  most  extraordinary  bill,  of  which  Cassin 
says  that  "  it  seems  to  obtain  a  maximum  of  oddity  amongst  the  queer  bills  of  this  fam- 
ily of  birds,  the  whole  affair  looking  as  if  it  might  be  a  nose  of  wax,  badly  pinched  and 
jerked  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  under  mandible,"  but  especially  because  we  wish 
to  warn  against  the  often-repeated  theory,  that  the  knife-shaped  or  falcate  under 
mandible,  together  with  the  compressed  upper  bill,  are  thus  adapted  for  prying  open 
bivalve  molluscs ;  nobody  has  seen  them  open  shells  in  that  way,  and,  in  fact,  the  food 
of  these  birds  consists  only  of  fish-fry,  crustaceans,  cephalopods,  and  small  molluscs  which 
they  can  swallow  whole,  as  I  have  verified  by  numerous  dissections. 

Nearly  related  to  the  foregoing  is  another  small  group  of  auks  consisting  of  only 
two  genera  and  three  well-defined  species,  viz.,  the  puffins,  or,  as  the  German  ornitholo- 
gists sometimes  call  them,  the  masked  divers,  a  name  deriving  its  application  from 
the  white  face  '  mask,'  quite  a  distinctive  feature  in  these  birds ;  and  not  at  all  alluding 
to  the  grotesque,  high,  extremely  compressed,  transversely  grooved,  and  gayly  col- 
ored bill,  much  less  to  the  deciduous  nature  of  the  basal  parts  of  the  bill,  a  peculiar- 
ity which  was  not  known  until  the  French  naturalist,  L.  Bureau,  made  the  discovery 
in  1876.  By  examining  the  bill  of  breeding  birds  we  will  find  that  it  consists  of  two 
differently  colored  parts,  —  a  terminal  one,  with  several  transverse  grooves,  and  a  basal, 
purplish,  yellow,  or  green  part  separated  from  the  former  by  a  furrow,  and  again  sub- 
divided by  other  furi'ows  into  several  distinct  pieces  ;  nearest  to  the  feathering  of  the 
forehead  is  a  somewhat  swollen  orlet,  with  numerous  fine  pits,  like  the  top  of  a  thimble  ; 
all  these  parts  are  hard  like  the  tip  of  the  bill,  but  the  corner  of  the  mouth  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  soft  wattle,  the  '  rosette ; '  and  in  the  genus  Fratercula,  soft  wattles  are 
also  found  under  and  above  the  eyes,  the  latter  being  the  so-called  '  horns.'  Towards 
the  end  of  the  breeding  season  the  furrows  between  these  basal  plates  become  deeper, 
until  finally  they  are  entirely  detached,  when  they  fall  off,  giving  place  to  a  brownish 
soft  membrane  or  '  cere.'  Upon  closer  examination  we  now  find  that  the  outline  of 
the  bill  has  changed  considerably,  it  is  much  lower  where  it  joins  the  feathering,  and 
the  latter  occupies  now  the  place  of  the  orlet  with  the  numerous  pits.  Shortly  after 
midwinter  these  basal  parts  commence  to  swell  and  harden,  becoming  brighter  colored 
when  the  breeding  season  draws  near ;  the  feathers  on  the  orlet  drop  off,  the  pits  indi- 
cating where  they  were  originally  inserted.  Simultaneously  with  this  shedding  of  the 
bill,  the  double  molt  of  the  plumage  takes  place,  but  the  only  difference  between  the 
breeding  attire  and  that  of  the  rest  of  the  year  is  that  the  mask  is  white,  against 
gray  or  black,  and  that  in  the  genus  Lunda  at  that  time  an  elegant  tuft  of  long,  pend- 
ant straw-yellow  plumes  is  developed  behind  the  eyes.  Both  sexes  are  absolutely 
similar,  and  the  shedding  of  bill  and  plumes  identical  in  both. 

The  North  Atlantic  Ocean  is  inhabited  by  the  common  puffin  (Fratercula  arcticd) 
and  its  different  geographical  varieties.  Its  Pacific  representative  is  the  horned  puffin 
(F.  corniculata)  with  the  base  of  the  bill  canary-yellow.  More  peculiar  to  the  latter 
ocean  is  the  tufted  puffin  (Lunda  cirrhatd)  which  occurs  from  the  Farralones,  outside 
of  San  Francisco  Bay,  all  along  the  northwestern  coast  and  across  the  Aleutian  Islands 
to  Kamtschatka.  The  present  writer  has  had  good  opportunity  of  observing  the 
latter  species  while  prosecuting  ornithological  researches  on  the  Kamtschatkan 


74  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

Islands  two  years  ago,  and  takes,  therefore,  the  liberty  to  introduce  a  sketch  of  his 
experience  with  this  little  known  but  very  interesting  species,  extracted  from  an  ad- 
vanced sheet  of  his  report.  "  With  the  beginning  of  May  the  '  toporok '  (plur. 
'•toporki'')  as  it  is  called  by  the  Russians,  makes  its  appearance  at  the  islands,  an 
event  to  which  the  natives,  heartily  tired  of  their  winter  food,  the  salted  seal-meat, 
look  forward  with  great  impatience.  On  a  bright  afternoon  we  therefore  started,  a 
gay  picnic  party,  consisting  mostly  of  Aleuts  and  their  wives  or  lady  friends,  for  the 
small  islet  Toporkoff,  about  three  miles  off.  During  our  passage  out  only  a  few  birds 
were  seen,  as  it  was  no  '  land-day,'  but  I  was  assured  by  the  natives  who  had  watched 
them  that  they  would  be  in  on  the  following  morning.  The  toporki  and  their  allies 
show  during  this  season,  previous  to  the  breeding,  the  peculiarity  of  appearing  regu- 
larly —  as  it  seems  —  in  great  abundance  near  shore  on  one  day,  while  next  day  they 
all  disappear,  staying  away  on  the  high  sea  for  two  days,  when  again  they  take  a 
'  land-day.'  Toporkoff  Island,  which  has  received  its  name  from  the  fact  that  it  is 
one  of  the  greatest  rookeries  of  these  birds,  consists  of  a  horizontal  plateau  about  thirty 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  rising  abruptly  from  a  beach  fifty  to  two  hundred  feet 
broad.  The  plateau  is  covered  with  a  thick  huminocky  sod,  which  in  every  direction 
is  perforated  by  the  numberless  nest  holes  dug  out  by  the  toporki.  When  evening 
set  in,  the  picnic  party  went  home,  leaving  us  men  to  pass  the  night  on  the  island. 
The  ornithological  spectacle  at  daybreak  the  following  morning  was  unique  and 
grand.  Hundreds  and  thousands  of  Lunda  cirrhata  crossed  and  recrossed  the  island, 
coming  from  all  directions,  and  disappearing  on  the  opposite  side,  in  order  to  return 
again  and  again.  A  wonderful  sight !  The  black  birds  with  their  conspicuous  white 
face-mask,  the  long,  floating,  yellow  ear-tufts,  bent  like  the  horns  of  a  ram,  with  large 
red-and-green-colored  beaks  and  red  legs,  looked  like  fantastical  creatures  of  the 
tropics  rather  than  inhabitants  of  the  less  extravagant  north.  Like  black  specks  they 
rose  from  the  horizon,  heading  for  the  island ;  the  nearer  they  came,  the  larger  they 
grew,  until  they  passed  over  us,  disappearing  as  specks  again  on  the  other  side,  and 
when  once  started,  nothing  seemed  to  be  able  to  bring  them  out  of  their  straight 
course.  These  clumsy  looking,  puffy  birds  possess,  nevertheless,  a  very  rapid  flight, 
so  that,  at  the  first  acquaintance,  one  is  rather  apt  to  shoot  behind  them  ;  but  they  ao 
not  fly  very  high.  The  natives  take  advantage  of  this  difficulty  of  making  a  sudden 
turn,  and  throw  a  net,  fastened  to  a  long  pole,  in  the  way  of  the  flying  bird,  which 
thus  falls  to  the  ground  and  is  captured.  When  I  turned  out,  the  Aleuts  were  already 
in  their  places,  waiting  for  the  rush.  By  the  dawning  day  we  discern  a  small  flock  of 
toporki  surrounding  each  of  them,  stretching  their  necks  and  pointing  their  bills 
heavenward  in  quite  an  unaccountable  manner.  A  closer  inspection  reveals  that  these 
are  only  decoys :  empty  skins  held  in  position  by  a  stick  thrust  into  the  ground.  It  is 
'  land-day '  indeed,  and  we  only  wonder  that  the  innumerable  birds  do  not  suffer 
collision  during  their  airy  sailing,  for  they  are  thick  as  May-flies  round  an  electric 
light.  Suddenly  the  nearest  Aleut  raises  his  net ;  a  bird,  unable  to  turn  aside,  runs 
into  it  Avith  a  clash,  falls  to  the  ground,  and  in  a  twinkling  is  added  to  the  heap  of 
other  unfortunates  with  broken  necks." 

Though  in  their  external  appearance  extremely  unlike  the  Alcoideae,  the  birds  con- 
stituting the  superfamily  LAROIDE^E,  or  the  gulls,  are  intimately  related  to  them. 
Their  wings  are  long ;  the  feet  are  placed  more  under  the  middle  of  the  body,  which 
therefore  is  carried  nearly  horizontal,  instead  of  upright,  they  have  usually  four  toes, 
the  three  anterior  ones  palmate.  But  the  characters  of  the  plumage  agree  pretty 


SKUAS.  75 

/ 

closely,  and  so  does  the  anatomical  structure  too.     Without  going  further  into  detail, 

we  only  mention  that,  in  contradistinction  to  the  foregoing  groups,  the  members  of 
the  present  one  have  the  part  of  the  f rentals  occupying  the  space  between  the  depres- 
sions for  the  nasal  glands  widened  to  a  flat  surface  instead  of  being  a  sharp  ridge.  As 
to  the  palatal  characters,  may  be  noticed  the  presence  of  basipterygoid  processes. 
The  superfamily  is  equal  to  the  former  order,  Longipennes,  minus  the  Tubinares? 
which  here  constitute  the  superfamily  Procellaroideae,  a  separation  to  be  closer  dis- 
cussed under  the  latter. 

Two,  three,  or  four  families  are  recognized  in  this  group,  according  to  the  value 
assigned  to  distinguishing  characters  by  the  diffei*ent  authors,  viz.,  two  when  skimmers 
and  terns,  on  the  one  hand,  are  placed  against  jaegers  and  gulls  on  the  other ;  three 
when  the  two  latter  are  deemed  sufficiently  distinct  to  form  separate  families ;  four 
when  the  two  former  ai'e  also  allowed  family  rank.  Notwithstanding  the  common 
usage,  the  present  writer  is  unable  to  detect  even  a  sub-family  distinction  between  the 
gulls  and  the  terns,  while  he  is  willing  to  regard  the  skimmers  as  constituting  such  a 
division.  The  jasgers  he  will  treat  as  a  distinct  family,  however. 

This  family,  called  the  STERCORARIID^E,  consists  only  of  a  few  species — about  half 
a  dozen  —  which  exhibit  a  series  of  characters  not  shared  by  the  rest  of  the  members  of 
the  superfamily,  being  in  many  respects  a  remarkable  and  highly  interesting  group 
of  birds.  One  of  the  most  obvious  features  is  the  so-called  '  cere,'  covering  the  basal 
part  of  the  beak  above  the  nostrils ;  this  cere  is  by  some  authors  said  to  be  soft,  others 
again  say  that  it  is  only  a  hard  thin  lamella,  while  the  fact  seems  to  be  that  both  are 
correct,  but  that  it  is  soft  or  hard  according  to  the  season.  In  my  opinion  this  cere  is 
the  homologue  of  the  '  nasal  cuirass '  of  the  puffins,  and  is  shed  in  precisely  the  same 
manner,  as  I  have  a  specimen  from  Kamtschatka  which  seems  to  be  in  the  process 
of  shedding,  a  discovery  here  announced  for  the  first  time.  The  pterylosis  deviates 
somewhat  from  that  of  the  Laridae,  the  feather  tracts  being  considerably  broader, 
and  the  arrangement  of  the  inferior  tract  different.  Of  anatomical  features  we  will 
only  mention  that  the  Stercorariidae  have  only  one  notch  on  each  side  of  the  poste- 
rior margin  of  the  breast  bone,  while  the  Laridae  have  two,  and  that  in  the  former  the 
caeca  are  very  much  longer. 

We  distinguish  two  genera,  the  members  of  which  disagree  not  only  in  external 
appearance,  but  also  in  their  habits.  The  first  one  consists  of  the  great  skuas  (Mega- 
lestris)  strong,  large,  dusky  brown-colored  birds,  with  the  bearing  of  a  large  gull.  The 
bill  is  strong,  and  the  tail  is  nearly  even.  One  species  inhabits  the  North  Atlantic 
(M.  skua)  while  two  representative  forms  are  found  in  the  antarctic  seas.  Dr.  J.  H. 
Kidder  had  the  opportunity  of  observing  the  habits  of  one  of  the  latter  (M.  antarcti- 
cus)  while  connected  with  the  U.  S.  Transit-of- Venus  Expedition  to  Kerguelen  Island ; 
and  as  his  interesting  sketch  of  its  habits  illustrates  the  peculiarities  of  the  genus,  we 
introduce  an  extract  as  follows  :  "  It  was  at  first  taken  for  a  hawk  by  all  of  us  ;  its 
manner  of  flight,  watchfulness  of  the  ground  over  which  it  flew,  and  habit  of  perch- 
ing on  spots  commanding  a  wide  view,  all  suggesting  this  impression.  It  was,  indeed, 
difficult  to  believe  the  evidence  of  my  own  senses  when  I  found  a  web-footed  bird 
avoiding  the  water,  and  preying  solely,  so  far  as  my  observation  extended,  upon  other 
birds.  When  any  of  the  party  went  out  shooting,  he  was  pretty  sure  to  be  followed 
by  one  or  two  'sea-hens,'  as  the  sealers  call  them,  and  had  often  to  be  very  prompt  to 
secure  his  game  before  it  should  be  carried  off  in  his  very  presence.  November  21, 
in  order  to  settle  the  question  whether  they  attack  and  kill  their  own  game  when  it  is 


76  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

unhurt,  Mr.  Stanley  and  I  dug  up,  by  the  aid  of  the  dog,  a  well-grown  and  nearly- 
fledged  young  bird  (supposed  to  be  of  Majaqueus  cequinoctialis),  as  large  as  an 
ordinary  domestic  fowl.  A  pair  of  skuas  being  near  at  hand,  watching  our  proceed- 
ings, I  threw  the  young  bird  up  into  the  air,  so  that  it  flew  some  distance  and  alighted 
perhaps  two  hundred  yards  away  from  us.  One  of  the  skuas  immediately  flew  up  to 
it,  and  killed  it  by  repeated  blows  upon  the  head  with  its  beak ;  the  other  remaining 
at  some  distance,  on  guard,  as  I  at  first  thought,  but,  as  afterward  appeared,  afraid  of 
its  mate,  for,  while  we  stood  watching  the  first  skua  eating  its  capture  (nearly  as  large 
as  itself),  the  other  approached  by  degrees,  uttering  short,  plaintive  chirps,  but  not 
daring  to  share  in  the  meal.  When,  after  a  few  minutes,  we  drove  them  off,  the 
abdomen  of  the  petrel  had  been  torn  open  and  its  entrails  partly  devoured.  As  a 
general  rule,  its  habits  are  terrestrial,  and  on  the  few  occasions  when,  probably  after 
poor  success  in  hunting,  I  have  seen  it  alight  in  the  water,  it  has  held  its  wings  up 
perpendicularly,  like  a  butterfly,  as  if  afraid  of  wetting  them.  At  the  pairing  season, 
this  trick  of  holding  up  the  wings  becomes  quite  a  prominent  characteristic.  Two 
will  alight  upon  a  knoll,  quite  near  together,  holding  their  wings  perpendicularly  in 
the  air,  and  set  up  a  vociferous  cackling.  The  note  is  loud,  harsh,  and  hoarse,  sugges- 
tive of  the  cry  of  the  gull.  The  nest  is  a  shallow  cavity  in  the  long  grass  (Festucd), 
lined  sparingly  with  grass  stems,  and  always  in  a  dry  spot.  The  old  birds  make  it  very 
lively  for  the  egg-hunter,  attacking  him  on  opposite  sides  with  great  vigor  and  deter- 
mination, and  keeping  up  an  outcry  that  is  really  appalling.  Seeing  a  skua  fly  by 
the  house  one  day,  apparently  going  somewhere  in  a  great  hurry,  I  snatched  up  a  re- 
volver (no  gun  being  at  hand)  and  followed  him.  He  was  going  to  join  the  female  on 
her  nest,  as  I  suspected,  and  when  I  approached  both  attacked  me  as  usual.  I  suc- 
ceeded in  killing  the  male,  but  emptied  the  revolver  at  the  female  without  success, 
and  was  kept  standing  for  certainly  twenty  minutes,  pelting  the  enraged  bird  with 
stones  as  she  swooped  down  at  my  head,  with  the  two  eggs  in  plain  sight,  but  not  dar- 
ing to  pick  them  up." 

The  members  of  the  genus  Stercorarius  are  arctic  and  sub-arctic,  being  of  smaller 
size  than  the  foregoing,  and  characterized  by  having  the  middle  pair  of  tail  feathers 
protruding  considerably  beyond  the  others.  The  Pomarine  jasger  (/S.  pomarinus)  is 
of  a  somewhat  rare  occurrence,  but  is  easily  distinguished  by  the  middle  tail  feathers, 
which  are  obtuse  at  the  end,  having  the  portion  beyond  the  others  twisted  so  that  the 
webs  stand  nearly  vertical  instead  of  lying  flat.  The  long-tailed  jasger  (S.  longi- 
caudus)  is  another  northern  species,  characterized  by  its  enormously  elongated  and 
pointed  central  tail  feathers,  and  its  blue  tarsus.  It  is  more  an  inland  bird,  often  in- 
habiting moors  and  swamps  in  the  mountains,  and  to  a  great  extent  feeding  upon 
field-mice  and  lemmings.  The  best-known  species  is  the  so-called  Richardson's  jaeger, 
known  among  fishermen  and  sailors  as  the  '  boatswain,'  '  teaser,'  '  dung-hunter,'  etc., 
the  first  name  referring  to  the  pointed  central  tail  feathers  as '  marling-spikes,'  the  office 
emblem,  so  to  speak,  of  the  boatswain  ;  the  third  one  alluding  to  the  belief,  which  at 
one  time  even  was  shared  by  the  men  of  science,  that  these  birds  feed  on  the  dung  of 
gulls  and  terns,  while  the  second  name  fitly  illustrates  one  of  the  remarkable  habits 
of  these  birds,  to  be  mentioned  below,  and  which  has  secured  for  it  its  scientific  name 
/S.  parasiticus.  Though  written  more  than  fifty  years  ago,  William  Macgillivray's 
spirited  account  of  the  habits  of  this  bird  is  still  unsurpassed,  so  we  maybe  excused  for 
reprinting  it  here  :  "  The  sea-birds  are  on  wing,  wheeling  and  hovering  all  around, 
vociferous  in  their  enjoyment,  their  screams  mingling  into  one  harsh  noise,  not  less 


JjEGERS.  77 

pleasing  for  a  time  than  the  song  of  the  lark  or  blackbird  (Merula).  Every  now  and 
then  a  tern  dips  into  the  water,  and  emerges  with  a  little  fish  in  its  bill,  which  it  swal- 
lows without  alighting.  In  the  midst  of  all  this  bustle  and  merriment,  there  comes 
gliding  from  afar,  with  swift  and  steady  motion,  a  dark  and  resolute-looking  bird, 
which,  as  it  cleaves  a  path  for  itself  among  the  white  terns,  seems  a  messenger  of 
death.  But  a  few  minutes  ago  he  was  but  a  dim  speck  on  the  horizon,  or  at  least 
some  miles  away,  and  now,  un thought  of,  he  is  in  the  very  midst  of  them.  Nay,  he 
has  singled  out  his  victim,  and  is  pursuing  it.  The  latter,  light  and  agile,  attempts  to 
evade  the  aggressor.  It  mounts,  descends,  sweeps  aside,  glides  off  in  a  curve,  turns, 
doubles,  and  shoots  away,  screaming  incessantly  the  while.  The  sea-hawk  follows 
the  frightened  bird  in  all  its  motions,  which  its  superior  agility  enables  it  to  do 
with  apparent  ease.  At  length  the  tern,  finding  escape  hopeless,  and  perhaps  terrified 
by  the  imminence  of  its  danger,  disgorges  part  of  the  contents  of  its  gullet,  probably 
with  the  view  of  lightening  itself.  The  pursuer,  with  all  his  seeming  ferocity,  had  no 
designs  upon  the  life  of  the  poor  tern  ;  and  now  his  object  is  evident,  for  he  plunges 
after  the  falling  fish,  catches  it  in  his  descent,  and  presently  flies  off  to  attack  another 
bird.  In  this  way  the  marauder  makes  his  rounds,  exacting  tribute  from  all  whom 
he  thinks  capable  of  paying  it,  and  not  sturdy  enough  to  resist  oppression.  The 
teaser  never  fishes  for  himself  on  such  occasions,  although  his  organization  seems  to 
fit  him  for  aquatic  rapine,  even  more  than  that  of  the  tern  or  gull.  The  pirate  can 
neither  dive  nor  plunge,  but  it  swims  with  ease,  and  sits  lightly  on  the  water,  like  a. 
gull.  The  instinct  that  enables  it  to  select  a  bird  that  has  something  to  spare  for  its 
wants  is  truly  surprising.  I  have  never  seen  it  give  chase  to  a  gull  or  tern,  without 
accomplishing  its  purpose.  It  is  not  a  singular  case  that  an  animal  should  be  destined 
to  live  by  the  labors  of  others  of  different  species ;  but  in  the  class  to  which  the  pirate 
belongs  there  are  very  few  instances  of  such  an  arrangement.  It  cannot,  however,  be 
said  to  live  without  labor,  for  tbe  trouble  of  compelling  its  unwilling  vassals  to  dis- 
gorge is  apparently  greater  than  what  would  abundantly  supply  it  with  honestly 
obtained  food." 

Before  closing  the  history  of  this  bird,  we  may  remark  that  it  breeds  almost  exclu- 
sively near  fresh  water,  though,  of  course,  not  so  very  far  from  the  sea,  unless  in  the 
neighborhood  of  a  colony  of  terns  or  gulls,  likewise  breeding  at  an  inland  lake.  We 
have  already,  in  the  introduction,  mentioned  the  remarkable  dichromatism  of  this 
species,  which  has  no  connection  with  age,  season,  or  sex,  but  which  seems  to  be  some- 
what influenced  by  the  geographical  distribution,  since  the  dark  phase  is  the  most 
numerous  form  in  the  southern  part  of  the  range,  while  in  the  highest  north  the  bird 
with  the  whitish  under  side  is  the  predominating,  and  possibly  the  only  occurring. 

In  the  next  family,  the  LARID^E,  the  horny  covering  of  the  bill  is  continuous,  there 
being  no  cere  or  separate  piece  overhanging  the  nostrils.  The  hind  border  of  the 
sternum  is  provided  with  two  notches  on  each  side,  and  the  caeca  are  short.  The  di- 
vision in  two  sub-families  has  already  been  mentioned.  The  first  one  of  these  com- 
prises the  gulls  and  terns,  which  we,  at  present,  can  see  no  reason  for  separating, 
except  as  subordinate  groups.  The  latter  are  usually  of  a  slenderer  build,  and  the 
nostrils  are  mostly  placed  in  the  basal  half  of  the  bill,  while  in  the  gulls  they  open 
near  the  middle,  and  furthermore,  their  bill  is  not  hooked  at  the  end,  as  usually  in  the 
gulls,  but  these  differences  are  only  those  of  degree,  and  they  run  nearly  imperceptibly 
into  each  other.  The  popular  notion  as  to  the  characters  separating  these  two  groups 
is  that  the  gulls  have  an  even  tail,  the  terns  a  forked  one  ;  but  while  this  mark  holds 


78 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


good  in  most  of  the  forms,  it  is  by  no  means  reliable,  since  we  have  gulls  with  deeply 
forked  tails,  and  both  gulls  and  terns  in  which  the  tail  is  wedge-shaped  or  graduated. 

The  predominating  color  of  the  adult  members  of  this  sub-family  is  white  with  a 
gray  mantle,  varying  in  shade  from  the  most  delicate  pearl  gray  to  dark  blackish  slate, 
or  nearly  black,  and  the  head  is  often  more  or  less  marked  with  black  in  summer. 
The  seasonal  change  is  not  great,  and  affects  chiefly  the  color  of  the  head,  which,  in 
species  with  black  hoods,  turn  white  in  winter,  while  the  white-headed  gulls  usually  get 
that  part  streaked  with  dusky  during  the  same  season.  There  are,  however,  several 
forms,  both  among  gulls  and  terns,  which  are  more  or  less  dusky.  The  bills  and  feet 
are  usually  brightly  colored,  yellow  or  red,  and  the  sexes  are  alike  in  color.  The 
young  ones,  however,  are  very  different  from  the  adult,  being  mostly  of  a  brownish- 
gray,  spotted  or  streaked  with  dusky,  and  with  dusky  wings  and  tail,  the  bill  also 
being  dark. 

The  gulls  inhabit  the  oceanic  shores  and  inland  lakes  alike,  though  most  species 
are  truly  mai'ine,  or  nearly  so,  and  as  they  are  distributed  all  over  the  world,  their 


FIG.  33.—  Hydrocolceus  ridibuiulus,  black-headed  gull. 

graceful  form  is  familiar  to  everybody,  whether  he  dwells  near  the  coast  or  far  in  the 
interior.  Our  own  shores  of  the  two  .oceans  are  thickly  populated  by  their  noisy  crowds, 
and  on  our  large  inland  waters  numerous  colonies  rear  their  black-speckled  brood. 
We  therefore  need  only  refer  to  the  accompanying  full-page  cut,  to  recall  to  our 
readers  the  fascinating  view  of  a  gull  rookery  with  its  ceaseless  uproar,  caused  by  the 
screaming  and  quarrelling  birds,  overnoising  even  the  thunder  of  the  surf.  The  black- 
hooded  gulls,  of  which  the  cut  illustrates  a  characteristic  and  well-known  Old  World 
representative  (Hydrocolceus  ridibundus),  are  still  more  clamorous,  and  their  voice 
more  penetrating,  than  that  of  their  larger  relatives  (.Z/arws),  resembling,  in  fact,  that 


x>-  v  i 


GULLS.  79 

of  the  terns,  which  they  approach  both  in  general  coloration,  structure,  movements, 
and  habits.  A  not  distantly  related  species,  without  black  on  the  head,  however,  is 
the  mackerel-gull  of  New  Zealand  (H.  scopulinus),  the  'tarapunga'  of  the  Maori, 
which  seems  to  be  somewhat  similar  in  habit  to  Richardson's  jaeger,  just  mentioned 
on  a  previous  page,  judging  from  Dr.  W.  L.  Buller's  account,  which  is  to  the  follow- 
ing effect :  "  This  pretty  little  gull  is  one  of  our  commonest  birds,  frequenting  every 
part  of  the  coast  [of  New  Zealand],  and  being  equally  plentiful  at  all  seasons  of  the 
year.  It  is  a  bird  of  very  lively  habits,  and  its  presence  goes  far  to  relieve  the  mono- 
tony of  a  ride  over  such  dreary  stretches  of  sand  as  the  Ninety-mile  Beach,  and  the 
coast-line  between  Wanganui  and  Wellington.  At  one  time  you  will  meet  with  a  flock 
of  fifty  or  more  in  council  assembled,  fluttering  their  wings,  chattering  and  screaming 
in  a  state  of  high  excitement ;  at  another  you  will  observe  them  silently  winnowing 
the  air,  turning,  and  passing  up  and  down  at  regular  intervals,  as  they  eagerly 
scan  the  surface  of  the  water.  Here  you  find  them  ranged  apart  along  the  smooth 
beach,  like  scouts  on  a  cricket-ground  ;  there  you  see  a  flock  of  them  packed  together 
on  a  narrow  sand-pit,  standing  closer  than  a  regiment  of  soldiers  —  heads  drawn  in, 
one  foot  up,  '  standing  at  ease.'  Then,  again,  if  you  observe  them  closely,  you  may 
see  them  following  and  plundering  the  oyster-catcher  (Hcematopus)  in  a  very  sys- 
tematic manner.  Nature  has  furnished  the  last-named  bird  with  a  long  bill,  with  which 
it  is  able  to  forage  in  the  soft  sand  for  blue  crabs  and  other  small  crustaceans.  The 
mackerel-gull  is  aware  of  this,  and  cultivates  the  society  of  his  long-billed  neighbor  to 
some  advantage,  he  dogs  his  steps  very  perseveringly,  walking  and  flying  after  him, 
and  then  quietly  standing  by  till  something  is  captured,  when  he  raises  his  wings  and 
makes  a  dash  at  it.  The  oyster-catcher  may  succeed  in  flying  off  with  his  prey ;  but 
the  plunderer,  being  swifter  on  the  wing,  pursues,  overtakes,  and  compels  a  surrender. 
The  gentleman  of  the  long  bill  looks  gravely  on  while  his  crab  is  being  devoured,  and, 
having  seen  the  last  of  it,  he  gives  a  stifled  whistle,  and  trots  off  in  search  of  another, 
his  eager  attendant  following  suit." 

From  the  Antipodes  we  turn  our  attention  towards  the  icy  shores  surrounding  the 
North  Pole,  where  one  of  the  most  beautiful  species  of  the  whole  family  of  gulls  has 
taken  up  his  summer  residence,  and  whence  —  even  in  winter  —  he  only  very  seldom 
makes  a  visit  to  countries  inhabited  by  civilized  man.  We  refer  to  Ross's  gull  (Eho- 
dostethia  rosect),  or  the  wedge-tailed  gull,  as  it  is  also  called,  on  account  of  the  form 
of  its  tail.  It  is  a  rather  small  species,  white,  with  a  light  pearl-gray  mantle,  and  a 
very  characteristic  black  collar  round  the  middle  of  the  neck ;  the  white  being  suf- 
fused with  a  delicate  peach-blossom  red  in  the  fresh  bird,  which  gradually  fades  away 
after  death.  The  bill  is  black,  the  feet  are  red.  The  history  of  this  bird  deserves  to 
be  given  in  detail,  since  it  is  also  the  history  of  how  slowly  our  knowledge  of  the  birds 
inhabiting  the  locality  where  it  lives  has  advanced,  and  the  efforts  which  have  been 
made  by  heroic  explorei-s  to  elucidate  the  mystery  as  to  the  true  locality  of  the  species. 
The  first  two  specimens  were  obtained  at  Alagnak,  Melville  Peninsula,  69°  30'  north 
latitude,  by  Sir  James  C.  Ross,  during  the  latter  part  of  June,  1823,  on  Parry's  second 
voyage.  Since  then  a  few  birds  were  seen  by  some  of  the  following  expeditions.  Ac- 
cidental stragglers  to  southern  countries  were  obtained  in  Kamtschatka,  England, 
Faroes,  Heligoland,  and  six  specimens  found  their  way  to  European  collections  from 
Greenland.  During  the  Austro-Hungarian  '  Tegethoff '  expedition,  one  was  obtained 
off  Franz-Josef  Land,  but  was  lost  when  the  vessel  was  crushed  in  the  ice,  and  Profes- 
sor Nordenskjold  was  fortunate  enough  to  secure  at  the  '  Vega's '  winter  quarters  a  bird 


80 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


in  summer  plumage,  on  July  1,  1879.  None  had  been  obtained  by  Americans,  or  had 
found  their  way  to  any  American  collection,  though  all  our  earlier  expeditions  had  been 
on  a  sharp  lookout  for  the  rare  and  beautiful  bird,  until  Mr.  E.  W.  Nelson,  the  col- 
lector of  the  U.  S.  National  Museum,  brought  home  from  Alaska  a  young  one 
obtained  at  St.  Michaels,  Oct.  10,  1879.  Three  days  earlier,  in  north  latitude  71°  50' 
north  of  Siberia,  on  the  ill-fated  '  Jeannette,'  Mr.  R.  L.  Newcomb  shot  two  in  au- 
tumnal plumage,  and,  during  the  drift  of  the  vessel  in  the  ice  the  following  year,  he 
secured  specimens  in  the  latter  part  of  June  ;  altogether  he  obtained  eight  birds. 
But  when  he  had  to  leave  the  doomed  ship,  "  when  it  was  a  question  of  saving  their 
bare  lives,  and  the  necessaries  of  existence  which  each  one  of  the  shipwrecked  crew 
could  carry  had  to  be  weighed  literally  by  the  ounce,  Mr.  Newcomb  gallantly  stuck  to 
three  of  these  birds,  and  brought  them  in  safety  across  Asia  and  Europe  to  the  Smith- 


FIG.  34.  —  Rhodostethia  rosea,  Ross's  gull. 

sonian  Institution."  In  the  records  of  collecting,  we  can  call  to  mind  no  similar 
instance  of  bull-dog  tenacity,  remark  the  editors  of  "  The  Ibis,"  when  commenting 
upon  the  heroic  deed.  Finally,  Mr.  J.  Murdoch,  naturalist  of  the  Point  Barrow  expe- 
dition, collected  a  great  number  of  adults  and  young  during  the  latter  part  of 
September  and  the  beginning  of  October,  1882,  when  flocks,  evidently  migrating, 
passed  the  Point,  coming  along  the  coast  from  the  southwest.  He  sent  home  to  the 
National  Museum  a  greater  number  of  specimens  than  had  ever  been  observed  before. 
For  all  that,  nobody  has  yet  found  the  breeding  place,  and  no  one  has  collected  its 
eggs  or  its  downy  young,  or  observed  its  habits ;  nor  have  we  any  information  con- 
cerning where  it  spends  the  winter.  But  the  mystery  is  not  so  great  as  it  was ; 
Ross's  gull  has  been  found  all  round  the  North  Pole,  and  it  is  safe  to  predict  that  it 


TERNS.  81 

breeds  on  the  islands  of  that  yet  untrodden  region,  inhabited  by  several  other  species 
of  birds,  the  breeding  grounds  of  which  have  not  been  reached  by  the  explorer  and 
collector.  In  winter  it  probably  follows  the  edge  of  the  ice,  thus  avoiding  the  shores 
and  the  vicinity  of  man. 

The  gulls  having  already  occupied  more  space  than  was  originally  allotted  them, 
we  will  have  only  to  mention  the  kittiwakes  (Missa  tridactyla  and  brevirostris)  popu- 
lating the  Arctic  bird-rookeries,  the  dazzling  white  ivory-gull  ( Gavia  alba)  from  the 
icy  circumpolar  regions,  and  the  fork-tailed  gulls,  constituting  the  genus  Jferaa,  one 
of  which,  X.  sabinii,  inhabits  the  high  north,  while  the  other,  X.  furcata,  a  bird  ex- 
tremely rare  in  collections,  is  a  resident  of  a  probably  very  restricted  area  in  the 
tropics,  possibly  of  the  Galapagos  Islands  alone. 

Of  those  just  mentioned,  the  kittiwake  is  perhaps  most  interesting,  because  of 
the  immense  number  of  birds  composing  their  breeding  colonies,  an  account  of  which 
will  be  of  great  interest,  and  we  therefore  take  pleasure  in  introducing  the  following 
sketch,  by  Henry  Seebohm,  of  one  of  those  rookeries. 

"  The  largest  colony  of  birds  which  I  have  ever  seen  is  that  at  Svarholt,  not  far 
from  the  North  Cape,  in  Norway,  on  the  cliffs  which  form  the  promontory  between 
the  Porsanger  and  the  Lakse  Fjords.  It  is  a  stupendous  range  of  cliffs,  nearly  a  thou- 
sand feet  high,  and  so  crowded  with  nests  that  it  might  easily  be  supposed  that  all  the 
kittiwakes  in  the  world  had  assembled  there  to  breed.  The  number  of  birds  has, 
however,  been  grossly  exaggerated.  If  we  estimate  the  surface  of  the  cliff  covered 
by  the  nests  at  about  640,000  square  feet,  and  allow  for  each  nest  a  foot  in  width  and 
two  feet  and  a  half  in  height,  we  obtain  a  total  of  (say)  a  quarter  of  a  million  breed- 
ing birds.  Supposing  the  non-breeding  birds  to  be  ten  to  one,  surely  a  very  high  esti- 
mate, we  only  reach  live  and  a  half  million  birds.  When  a  recent  writer  says  that 
'  the  number  of  individuals  must  amount  to  milliards,'  or  thousands  of  millions,  he  is 
simply  talking  unmitigated  nonsense,  and  obviously  has  no  conception  of  what  a  mil- 
liard is.  One  milliard  kittiwakes  laid  in  a  row,  and  touching  one  another,  would  reach 
twenty  times  round  the  world.  But  in  spite  of  all  this  tall  talk,  the  number  is  in- 
credible. It  is  the  custom  to  fire  off  a  cannon  opposite  the  colony ;  peal  after  peal 
echoes  and  re-echoes  from  the  cliffs,  every  ledge  appears  to  pour  forth  an  endless 
stream  of  birds,  and  long  before  the  last  echo  has  died  away,  it  is  overpowered  by  the 
cries  of  the  birds,  whilst  the  air  in  every  direction  exactly  resembles  a  snowstorm,  but 
a  snowstorm  in  a  whirlwind.  The  birds  fly  in  cohorts  ;  those  nearest  the  ship  are  all 
flying  in  one  direction,  beyond  them  other  cohorts  are  flying  in  a  different  direction, 
and  so  on,  until  the  extreme  distance  is  a  confused  mass  of  snowflakes.  It  looks  as  if 
the  fjord  was  a  large  chaldron  of  air,  in  which  the  birds  were  floating,  and  as  if  the 
floating  mass  was  being  stirred  by  an  invisible  rod.  The  seething  mass  of  birds  made 
an  indelible  impression  on  my  memory;  it  photographed  itself  on  my  mind's  eye, 
as  such  scenes  often  do." 

The  chief  characteristic  of  the  terns,  as  distinguished  from  the  gulls,  have  already 
been  given  on  a  previous  page.  In  their  habits  they  resemble  the  gulls,  especially  the 
smaller  species,  but  in  the  same  way  as  their  appearance  and  structure  is,  so  to 
speak,  a  kind  of  intensification  of  the  gull  type ;  so  are  also  their  habits  and  peculi- 
arities, like  those  of  the  gulls,  in  a  maximized  and  intensified  degree.  Let  us,  for 
instance,  mention  only  their  curiosity.  Thus  writes  J.  F.  Naumann,  the  famous 
German  ornithologist,  of  Sterna  paradiscea,  the  arctic  tern  :  "  When  something  new 
happens,  such  a  bird  soon  arrives,  inspects  it  closely,  and,  fluttering  over  it,  gives  out  a 
VOL.  iv. — 6 


82 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


cry  that  in  a  moment  brings  together  quite  a  gathering,  which,  after  having  satisfied 
their  curiosity,  disperses  by  and  by.  If  a  new  mound  of  earth  be  thrown  up,  or  a 
handkerchief  or  a  piece  of  paper  be  lost,  or  if  they  see  a  recently  killed  bird  lying,  or 
a  captured  one  flapping  its  wings,  immediately  are  they  at  hand,  flutter  and  vacillate, 
screaming  over  the  object  of  their  admiration,  and,  when  through  gaping  and  tired  of 
crying,  fly  off  in  different  directions." 

Did  space  permit,  long  and  interesting  accounts  could  be  given  of  the  terns,  but 
we  are  compelled  to  dismiss  them  with  but  few  words. 


FIG.  35.  —  Sterna  tschegrava,  Caspian  tern. 

The  terns  exhibit  in  their  flight  some  remote  resemblance  to  the  swallows,  which, 
in  connection  with  the  usually  deeply  forked  tail,  has  given  rise  to  the  name  of  sea- 
swallows,  as  they  are  called  in  many  languages  ;  while  the  elegance  of  their  motions , 
when  on  the  wing  has  caused  many,  an  enthusiastic  outburst  both  of  poets  and 
naturalists.  "  Light  as  a  sylph,"  says  Audubon,  "  the  arctic  tern  dances  through  the 
air  above  and  around  you.  The  Graces,  one  might  imagine,  had  taught  it  to  perform 
those  beautiful  gambols  which  you  see  it  display  the  moment  you  approach  the  spot 
it  has  chosen  for  its  nest."  The  terns  only  seize  their  prey,  which  usually  consists  of 
small  fishes,  by  darting  headlong  upon  them  from  a  considerable  height,  and  the  force 
of  their  sudden  and  dashing  plunges  is  really  astonishing.  "  The  descent  of  a  tern, 


SKIMMERS.  83 

to  quote  from  Mr.  William  Brewster's  excellent  paper  on  the  terns  of  the  New  Eng- 
land coast,  "  upon  its  victim  is  performed  with  inimitable  ease  and  grace.  The  bird 
frequently  disappears  entirely  beneath  the  surface,  and  occasionally  even  swims  a 
short  distance  under  water  before  reappearing."  His  description  of  the  scene  when  a 
flock  of  terns  have  discovered  a  school  of  blue-fish  is  so  animated  and  picturesque, 
that  I  feel  justified  in  quoting  once  more :  "  Dozens  dash  down  at  once,  cleaving  the 
water  like  darts,  and,  rising  again  into  the  air,  shake  the  salt  spray  from  their  feathers 
by  a  single  energetic  movement,  and  make  ready  for  a  fresh  plunge.  Every  bird 
among  them  is  screaming  his  shrillest,  and  the  excitement  waxes  fast  and  furious. 
Beneath,  the  blue-fish  are  making  the  water  boil  by  their  savage  rushes,  and  there  is 
fun  and  profit  for  all  save  the  unfortunate  prey." 

Though  a  group  of  considerable  homogeneity,  the  SterneaB  comprise  a  few  somewhat 
outlying  genera,  as  the  noddies  (Anous),  dusky  of  color,  and  the  white  terns  (  Gygis) 
pure  white  all  over,  both  forms  with  graduated  or  wedge-shaped  tails.  Both  are  trop- 
ical, the  latter  especially  inhabiting  the  islands  of  the  South  Atlantic  and  the  Indian 
Ocean,  Polynesia,  and  Australia,  while  numbers  of  the  former  genus  also  occur  in  the 
New  "World,  a  single  species  (A.  stolidus)  even  belonging  to  the  fauna  of  the  United 
States.  The  genus  (or  rather  super-genus)  Sterna,  includes  about  fifty  species, 
among  them  our  common  terns,  but  is  divisible  into  several  more  or  less  well-defined 
groups.  Thus  the  bird  represented  in  our  cut  (Sterna  tschegrava  or  caspia),  the 
largest  species,  is  the  type  of  Thalasseus,  while  the  smallest  species — for  instance,  our 
/S.  antillarum  and  the  European  S.  minuta  —  form  the  group  Sternula. 

"We  now  come  to  a  small  group  of  Laroid  birds,  remarkable  for  their  curious  bill, 
the  lower  mandible  of  which  has  been  compared  with  a  "  short-handled  pitchfork," 
and  for  their  long  wings,  viz.,  the  skimmers,  the  Rhynchopina?,  not  less  remarkable  for 
their  peculiar  habits  and  their  geographical  distribution,  parts  of  America,  Asia,  and 
Africa  being  inhabited  by  one  species  each.  The  American  species  (Rhynchops  nigra), 
the  black  skimmer,  or  shearwater,  as  it  is  also  called,  which  occurs  on  our  east 
coast  up  to  New  Jersey,  has  found  many  excellent  biographers  and  describers,  from 
whom  we  only  make  two  selections.  Our  immortal  Wilson  thus  describes  this  singular 
bird :  "  The  shearwater  is  formed  for  skimming,  while  on  wing,  the  surface  of  the  sea 
for  its  food,  which  consists  of  small  fish,  shrimps,  young  fry,  etc.,  whose  usual 
haunts  are  near  the  shore  and  towards  the  surface.  That  the  lower  mandible,  when 
dipped  into  and  cleaving  the  water,  might  not  retard  the  bird's  way,  it  is  thinned  and 
sharpened  like  the  blade  of  a  knife ;  the  upper  mandible,  being  at  such  times  elevated 
above  water,  is  curtailed  in  its  length,  as  being  less  necessary,  but  tapering  gradually 
to  a  point,  that,  on  shutting,  it  may  offer  less  opposition.  To  prevent  inconvenience 
from  the  rushing  of  the  water,  the  mouth  is  confined  to  the  mere  opening  of  the  gul- 
let, which  indeed  prevents  mastication  taking  place  there ;  but  the  stomach,  or  gizzard, 
to  which  this  business  is  solely  allotted,  is  of  uncommon  hardness,  strength,  and  mus- 
cularity; far  surpassing,  in  these  respects,  any  other  water  bird  with  which  I  am 
acquainted.  To  all  these  is  added  a  vast  expansion  of  wing,  to  enable  the 
bird  to  sail  with  sufficient  celerity  while  dipping  in  the  water.  The  general 
proportion  of  the  length  of  our  swiftest  hawks  and  swallows  to  their  breadth  is  as 
one  to  two  ;  but  in  the  present  case,  as  there  is  not  only  the  resistance  of  the  air,  but 
also  that  of  the  water,  to  overcome,  a  still  greater  volume  of  wing  is  given,  the  shear- 
water measuring  nineteen  inches  in  length,  and  upwards  of  forty-four  in-  extent.  In 
short,  whoever  has  attentively  examined  this  curious  apparatus,  and  observed  the  pos- 


84 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


sessor,  with  his  ample  wings,  long  bending  neck,  and  lower  mandible,  occasionally 
dipped  into,  and  ploughing,  the  surface,  and  the  facility  with  which  he  procures  his 
food,  cannot  but  consider  it  a  mere  playful  amusement,  when  compared  with  the  dash- 
ing immersions  of  the  tern,  the  gull,  or  the  fish-hawk,  who,  to  the  superficial  observer, 
appear  so  superiorly  accommodated." 

Darwin  observed  the  skimmer  in  South  America.  That  excellent  observer  gives 
us  the  following  account  of  its  habits:  "Near  Maldonado  (in  May),  on  the  borders 
of  a  lake  which  had  been  nearly  drained,  and  which  in  consequence  swarmed  with 
small  fry,  I  watched  many  of  these  birds  flying  backwards  and  forwards  for  hours 
together,  close  to  its  surface.  They  kept  their  bills  wide  open,  and  with  the  lower 

mandible  half  buried  in  the  water.  Thus  skim- 
ming the  surface,  generally  in  small  flocks,  they 
ploughed  it  in  their  course  ;  the  water  was  quite 
smooth,  and  it  formed  a  most  curious  spectacle  to 
behold  a  flock,  each  bird  leaving  its  narrow  wake 
on  the  mirror-like  surface.  In  their  flight  they 
often  twisted  about  with  extreme  rapidity,  and 
so  dexterously  managed,  that  they  ploughed  up 
small  fish  with  their  projecting  lower  mandibles, 
and  secured  them  with  the  upper  half  of  their 
scissor-like  bills.  This  fact  I  repeatedly  witnessed, 
as,  like  swallows,  they  continued  to  fly  backwards 
and  forwards,  close  before  me.  Occasionally, 
when  leaving  the  surface  of  the  water,  their  flight 
was  wild,  irregular,  and  rapid ;  they  then  also 
uttered  loud,  harsh  cries.  When  these  birds  were 
seen  fishing,  it  was  obvious  that  the  length  of 
the  primary  feathers  was  quite  necessary  in  order 
to  keep  their  wings  dry.  When  thus  employed, 
their  forms  resembled  the  symbol  by  which  many 
artists  represent  marine  birds.  The  tail  is  much 
used  in  steering  their  irregular  course." 

It  has  already  been  hinted  at,  on  a  previous 
page,  that  the  super-family  PROCELLAROI- 
DE^E  might  perhaps  better  constitute  a  sepa- 
rate order,  Tubinares.  Their  differences  from 
all  the  foregoing  birds  are  many  and  important, 

and  their  affinities  seem  to  be  more  with  the  Steganopodes  and  Herodiones  than  with 
the  gulls  or  the  auks,  to  some  of  which  many  of  the  petrels  show  a  remarkable  external 
and  superficial  resemblance.  We  will  give  their  essential  characters,  as  contrasted  with 
those  of  the  Laroideae,  in  order  to  show  this.  The  petrels  are  holorhinal,  the  gulls 
schizorhinal ;  the  former  have  tubular  nostrils,  the  latter  normal  ones ;  whenever  a 
hind  toe  is  present,  it  consists  in  the  petrels,  of  one  phalanx  only,  while,  in  the  gulls, 
the  normal  number  of  two  phalanges  is  always  present,  however  rudimentary  the  toe ; 
in  the  petrels,  the  great  pectoral  muscle  is  disposed  in  two  quite  separate  layers,  an 
arrangement  unknown  in  the  gulls,  and  the  pectoralis  tertius  of  the  former  is  entirely 
unrepresented  in  the  latter ;  the  muscular  formula  of  the  legs  in  petrels  is,  as  a  rule, 
A  B  X  Y,  a  combination,  so  far  as  we  know,  never  found  in  the  gulls ;  the  form 


FIG.  36.  —  Skeleton  of  giant  fulmar. 


ALBATROSSES.  85 

of  the  stomach  and  the  characters  of  the  caeca  are  entirely  different  in  the  two 
groups,  and  so  are  the  characters  of  the  plumages  of  the  young  (adult  of  both  sexes, 
and  young,  except  the  Albatrosses,  being  alike) ;  the  number  and  color  of  eggs,  etc., 
all  points  of  special  importance  in  settling  the  question  of  affinity.  Some  of  the 
peculiarities  are  quite  unique  among  existing  birds ;  for  instance,  the  tubular  nostrils, 
the  structure  of  the  hind  toe,  and  the  form  of  the  stomach, —  features  which  should 
secure  a  distinct  position  for  the  group,  it  being,  as  mentioned  above,  rather  probable 
that  the  Tubinares  should  be  placed  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Steganopodes  and 
Herodii,  notwithstanding  the  desmognathism  of  the  latter,  since  the  palate  in  the 
albatrosses,  though  yet  schizognathous,  shows  a  decided  tendency  towards  becoming 
desmognathous,  being,  in  fact,  intermediate  between  these  two  categories  of  palatal 
structure.  At  all  events,  Professor  Huxley's  remark,  that  "  the  gulls  grade  insensibly 
into  the  Procellariida3,"  has  been  shown,  by  the  researches  of  Garrod  and  Forbes,  to 
be  entirely  erroneous,  since,  from  their  investigations,  it  is  evident,  that  the  Procel- 
laroideae  represent  the  rather  specialized  offshoot  (in  some  features)  of  a  very  general- 
ized ancestor,  being  certainly  a  group  of  considerable  isolation,  great  antiquity,  and 
consequently  highly  interesting  to  the  systematic  ornithologist. 

We  shall  here  adhere  to  the  commonly  accepted  division  of  this  group,  in  three 
families,  Diomedidae,  Procellariidae,  and  Pelecanoidida3 ;  the  first  one  characterized  by 
the  lateral  and  separate  position  of  the  nasal  tubes,  while  the  last  is  remarkable  for 
the  shortness  of  its  wings  and  the  total  absence  of  a  hind  toe.  The  albatrosses  have 
usually  been  regarded  as  three-toed,  but,  while  one  genus  really  has  a  minute  external 
hind  toe,  the  ossicles,  or  rudimentary  bones  of  a  fourth  toe,  have  been  found  under- 
neath the  skin  in  the  others ;  the  toe  proper,  in  all  cases,  consisting  of  one  phalanx  only. 
We  cannot  pass  by  in  silence,  however,  the  arrangement  proposed  by  Garrod  and 
Forbes,  distributing  the  Tubinares  in  two  primary  groups,  according  to  the  presence 
(Oceanitidae)  or  absence  (Procellariidae)  of  the  leg-muscle  Y  (accessory  semiten- 
dinosus),  and  the  corresponding  absence  and  presence  of  colic  cceca,  together  with  a 
number  of  other  characters :  but  we  are  not  prepared  to  regard  these  features  as  so 
important  as  those  which  constitute  the  characteristic  marks  of  the  three  families 
mentioned  above,  though,  with  Robert  Ridgway,  we  are  willing  to  admit  the  Oceani- 
tinae  as  a  sub-family  under  the  Procellariidae. 

The  first  family,  then,  consists  of  the  albatrosses  (DIOMEDIDAE),  those  long-winged 
ocean-birds,  which,  for  hundreds  and  hundreds  of  miles,  follow  the  -vessels  over  the 
tropical  and  southern  seas,  circling  about  them  monotonously  day  after  day,  picking 
up  the  offal,  arousing  the  tired  sailor's  admiration  by  the  power  and  endurance  of 
their  scai-cely  moving  wings,  which  seem  never  to  know  or  need  a  rest.  One  of  the 
most  important  characters  of  the  family  has  already  been  mentioned,  viz.,  that  the 
tubes  by  which  the  nostrils  open  outwardly  are  situated  one  on  each  side  of  the  bill, 
and  not  more  or  less  closely  united  on  top  of  the  culmen,  as  in  the  other  families. 
Whether  this  feature  is  an  old  and  generalized  one,  indicating  the  way  by  which, 
finally,  the  curious  and  unique  *  double-barrel '  on  top  of  the  bill  was  formed,  or 
whether  it  represents  an  arrested  development  during  embryonic  life,  cannot  be  dis- 
cussed here.  It  can  only  be  noted  that  the  albatrosses,  so  far  as  color  of  plumage  is 
concerned,  seem  to  be  more  generalized  than  the  rest,  the  young  ones  being  decidedly 
different  from  the  adults.  On  the  other  hand,  they  have  reached  a  high  degree  of 
specialization  in  some  respects ;  for  instance,  the  proportionate  great  length  of  the 
upper  arm-bone,  the  consequent  enormous  length  and  peculiar  shape  of  the  wing,  and 


86 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


the  great  number  of  secondaries.  Formerly,  two  other  distinctive  marks  were  attri- 
buted to  the  albatrosses,  viz.,  want  of  aftershafts,  and  lack  of  hind  toe,  but  rudiments 
both  of  the  former  and  of  the  latter  have  recently  been  proved  to  exist. 

The  longest  and  perhaps  best  known  species  is  the  wandering  albatross  (Diomedea 
exulans),  the  one  represented  by  the  accompanying  cut,  the  largest  water-bird  in  exis- 
tence, and  the  bird  with  the  greatest  stretch  of  wing,  some  specimens  being  said  to 


FlG.  37.  —  Diomedea  exulans,  wandering  albatross. 

measure  fourteen  feet  between  the  tips  of  the  wings.  The  color  is  white,  more  or  less 
waved,  and  vermiculated  with  blackish,  the  hand-feathers  being  black ;  the  eye  is 
brown,  the  naked  ring  round  it  light  greenish,  the  bill  pinkish  white,  and  the  legs  of 
a  light  flesh  color.  Like  all  the  members  of  the  family,  they  are  inter-tropical  and 
sub-antarctic  in  their  distribution,  and  it  is  a  significant  fact  which  should  not  be  lost 
sight  of,  when  discussing  the  affinities  and  genesis  of  the  Tubinares,  that  the  group 
reaches  its  greatest  development  and  number  of  forms  south  of  the  equator. 

No  traveler  has  witnessed  the  albatross  in  the  state  of  nature  without  expressing 


ALBATROSSES.  87 

his  enthusiasm  when  describing  its  sailing  flight.  Says  Dr.  Bennett :  "  It  is  pleasing 
to  observe  this  superb  bird  sailing  in  the  air,  in  graceful  and  elegant  movements,  seem- 
ingly excited  by  some  invisible  power ;  for  there  is  scarcely  any  movement  of  the 
wings  seen  after  the  first  and  frequent  impulses  are  given,  when  the  creature  elevates 
itself  in  the  air,  rising  and  falling  as  if  some  concealed  power  guided  its  various 
motions,  without  any  muscular  exertion  of  its  own."  J.  Gould  is  still  more  enthu- 
siastic :  "  The  powers  of  flight  of  the  wandering  albatross  are  much  greater  than 
those  of  any  other  bird  that  has  come  under  my  observation.  Although  during  calm 
or  moderate  weather  it  sometimes  rests  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  it  is  almost  con- 
stantly on  the  wing  —  and  is  equally  at  ease  while  passing  over  the  glassy  surface, 
during  the  stillest  calm,  or  flying  with  meteor-like  swiftness  before  the  most  furious 
gale  ;  and  the  manner  in  which  it  just  tops  the  raging  billows,  and  sweeps  before  the 
gulfy. waves,  has,  a  hundred  times,  called  forth  my  wonder  and  admiration.  Although 
a  vessel  running  before  the  wind  frequently  sails  more  than  two  hundred  miles  in  the 
twenty-four  hours,  and  that  for  days  together,  still  the  albatross  has  not  the  slightest 
difficulty  in  keeping  up  with  the  ship,  but  also  performs  circles  of  many  miles  in 
extent,  returning  again  to  hunt  up  the  wake  of  the  vessel  for  any  substances  thrown 
•overboard."  It  is  generally  asserted  that  the  albatrosses  and  petrels  which  follow  the 
vessels  are  able  to  continue  their  flight  without  any  rest,  to  speak  of,  for  days  and 
weeks,  thus  showing  an  almost  incredible  power  of  flight,  and  many  interesting  experi- 
ments with  captured  and  marked  birds  are  cited. 

Of  another  species,  the  black-eyebrowed  albatross,  (D.  melanophrys)  Mr.  Gould, 
for  instance,  says ;  "  It  is  very  easily  captured  with  a  hook  and  line,  and,  as  this  opera- 
tion gives  not  the  least  pain  to  the  bird,  the  point  of  the  hook  merely  taking  hold  in 
the  horny  and  insensible  tip  of  the  bill,  I  frequently  amused  myself  by  capturing 
specimens  in  this  way,  and  setting  them  at  liberty  again,  after  having  marked  many, 
in  order  to  ascertain  whether  the  individuals  which  were  flying  round  the  ship  at 
night-fall  were  the  same  that,  were  similarly  engaged  at  daylight  in  the  morning,  after 
a  night's  run  of  120  miles ;  and  this,  in  many  instances,  proved  to  be  the  case."  Capt. 
F.  W.  Button,  however,  who  has  made  the  flight  of  these  birds  a  special  study,  came 
to  different  conclusions  and  asserts  that  the  cases  where  a  single  individual  is  found 
to  follow  a  ship  for  any  length  of  time  are  exceptions,  and  that  the  habits  of  the  alba- 
trosses are  quite  diurnal.  "  It  is,  I  believe,"  he  says,  "  the  generally  received  opinion 
of  naturalists  that  these  birds,  when  seen  for  several  days  together,  have  never  slept 
during  the  whole  period,  but  have  followed  the  ship  night  and  day.  To  me,  however, 
it  appears  incredible  that  any  animal  should  be  able  to  undergo  so  much  exertion  for 
so  long  a  time  without  taking  rest ;  and  1  hope  to  show  that  it  is  not  necessary  to 
suppose  that  it  does  do  so.  Mr.  Gould  says  that  birds  caught  and  marked  are  generally 
seen  next  day ;  but  such  is  not  my  experience.  I  have  sometimes  marked  ten  or 
twelve  Cape-pigeons  {Daption  capense,  one  of  the  Procellariidffi)  in  a  day,  and  seldom 
seen  one  again.  Mr.  Gould,  however,  is  quite  right  when  he  says  that  sometimes  a 
marked  bird  turns  up  after  being  absent  for  two  or  three  days ;  and  how  can  this  be 
accounted  for  except  by  the  theory  of  the  birds  constantly  following  the  ship  ?  A  few 
certainly  can  be  often  seen  flying  under  the  stern  at  night.  Still  they  are  never  numer- 
ous ;  and  where  there  were  fifty  or  a  hundred  birds  in  the  daytime  there  are  only  one 
or  two  at  night.  I  therefore  believe  that,  although  a  few  may  follow  a  ship  for  a  night, 
most  of  them  sleep  in  the  sea,  and  in  the  morning,  knowing  very  well  that  a  ship  is 
the  most  likely  place  to  obtain  food,  they  fly  high  with  the  intention  of  looking  for 


88  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

one.  Some  find  the  ship  that  they  were  with  the  day  before,  some  another  one.  In 
the  latter  case,  if  the  second  ship  is  going  in  an  opposite  direction  to  the  first,  they 
are  never  seen  by  the  first  again ;  if,  however,  the  course  of  the  two  ships  is  the  same, 
the  bird  might,  very  likely,  lose  the  second  ship,  and  rejoin  the  first,  after  a  lapse  of 
two  or  three  days.  A  height  of  1000  feet  would  enable  a  bird  to  see  a  ship  200  feet 
high  more  than  fifty  miles  off,  and  often,  although  unable  to  see  a  ship  itself,  it  would 
see  another  bird  which  had  evidently  discovered  one,  and  would  follow  it  in  the  same 
way  that  vultures  are  known  to  follow  one  another.  This  opinion  is  much  strength- 
ened by  the  fact  that  at  sunrise  very  few  birds  are  round  the  ship,  but  soon  afterwards 
they  begin  to  arrive  in  large  numbers."  The  same  author  enlarges  on  the  general 
history,  especially  the  breeding  habits  of  the  albatross,  a  condensed  account  of  which 
will  be  found  very  interesting.  The  wandering  albatrosses  are  very  common  south  of 
latitude  40°  S.  and  monopolize  nearly  the  whole  of  the  Prince  Edward's  Islands  and 
the  south-east  portion,  or  lee-side,  as  the  sealers  call  it,  of  Kerguelen  Island,  to  which 
places  they  retire  to  breed  in  October.  The  nest,  which  is  always  placed  on  high 
table  lands,  is  in  the  shape  of  the  frustrum  of  a  cone,  with  a  slightly-hollowed  top,  and 
is  made  of  grass  and  mud,  which  the  birds  obtain  by  digging  a  circular  ditch,  about 
two  yards  in  diameter,  and  pushing  the  earth  towards  the  centre,  until  it  is  about 
eighteen  inches  high.  In  this  nest  the  female  bird  lays  one  white  egg,  which  is  not 
hatched  until  January.  It  is  asserted,  upon  the  authority  of  Mr.  Richard  Harris, 
engineer  of  the  Royal  Navy,  that  the  old  birds  leave  their  young  and  go  to  sea,  and 
do  not  return  until  the  next  October.  "  Each  pair  goes  at  once  to  its  old  nest,  and 
after  a  little  fondling  of  the  young  one,  which  has  remained  in  or  near  the  nest  the 
whole  time,  they  turn  it  out,  and  repair  the  nest  for  the  next  brood."  Hutton  thinks 
that  the  old  ones  go  to  sea  when  the  young  are  about  three  months  old,  and  that  the 
latter  are  nocturnal  in  their  habits,  and  go  down  to  the  sea  at  night  to  feed,  returning 
to  their  nests  in  the  morning,  though  Harris's  testimony  is  to  the  effect  that  the  young 
during  that  period  are  unable  to  fly.  Mr.  C.  J.  Anderson  has  suggested  that  the 
young  birds  "  live  on  their  own  fat "  while  the  parents  are  absent,  and  asks :  "  If 
other  animals  can  live  for  several  consecutive  months  on  their  own  fat,  why  not 
birds?" 

The  PEOCELLABIID^E  is  the  group  richest  in  species,  comprising,  as  it  does,  about 
seventy  different  forms,  in  size  varying  from  that  of  a  sparrow,  as  the  stormy  petrels 
(Procellaria,  and  Oceanodroma),  to  that  of  one  of  the  smaller  species  of  albatrosses, 
as  the  giant  fulmar  ( Ossifraga  gigantea).  The  most  essential  external  characters  are 
the  tubular  nostrils  on  top  of  the  culmen,  combined  with  long  wings,  and  the  presence 
of  a  small  hind  toe.  Inter  se  the  members  of  this  family  group  themselves  around 
several  somewhat  diverging  centres,  forming  more  or  less  separate  groups ;  most  inter- 
esting, as  far  as  anatomical  peculiarities  are  concerned,  being  the  so-called  sub-family 
Oceanitinse,  which  comprises  four  genera  of  small  stormy-petrel-like  birds,  the  most 
striking  feature  of  which  are  the  small  number  of  secondaries  (ten  only),  the  booted 
or  transversely  scutellate,  but  never  reticulate  tarsus,  the  flat  and  depressed  claws, 
the  length  of  the  tarsus,  absence  of  colic  coeca,  presence  of  an  accessory  semitendi- 
nosus  muscle,  etc.  Typical  is  Wilson's  petrel  ( Oceanites  oceanica),  like  a  '  Mother 
Carey's  chicken,'  but  with  long,  booted  tarsus,  and  the  webs  between  the  toes  yellow, 
and  also  belonging  to  the  North  American  fauna,  though  its  centre  of  distribution 
seems  to  be  in  the  southern  seas.  It  breeds,  among  other  places,  also  on  Kerguelen's 
Island,  to  which  the  following  sketch  of  its  breeding-places  by  Rev.  A.  E.  Eaton 


DIVING  PETRELS.  89 

applies:  "  Carefully  watching  the  birds  flying  to  and  fro  about  the  rocks,  we  observed 
that  they  occasionally  disappeared  into  crevices  amongst  piles  of  loose  stones,  and 
crept  under  loose  masses  of  rock.  Having  meanwhile  ascertained  their  call,  we  were 
able,  by  listening  attentively,  to  detect  the  exact  positions  of  several  of  these  hidden 
birds.  They  were  easily  caught  when  the  stones  were  rolled  aside  ;  but  they  were  in 
couples,  merely  preparing  for  laying,  and  therefore  we  did  not  find  any  eggs."  It 
may  be  remarked  that  the  petrels  usually  are  found  in  pairs  in  the  holes  before  the 
breeding  commences.  Later,  only  one  of  the  parents  occupies  the  nest,  while  the  other 
one  brings  food  to  the  breeding  mate  during  the  night;  after  the  chick  is  hatched, 
both  parents  stay  away  during  the  day,  only  visiting  and  feeding  it  after  dark.  "  The 
egg,"  Mr.  Eaton  continues,  "  is  laid  upon  the  bare  ground,  within  the  recess  selected 
by  the  birds,  either  in  a  chance  depression  formed  by  contiguous  stones,  or  in  a  shallow, 
circular  hollow  excavated  in  the  earth  by  the  parent.  Having  found  numbers  of  their 
nesting-places  I  will  describe  my  method  of  searching  for  them.  Whenever  there  was 
a  calm  night,  I  used  to  walk  with  a  darkened  bull's-eye  lantern  towards  some  rocky 
hillside,  such  as  the  petrels  would  be  likely  to  frequent.  It  was  best  to  shut  off  the 
light  and  keep  it  concealed,  using  it  only  in  dangerous  places  where  falls  would  be 
attended  with  injury,  and  progress  in  the  dark  was  hardly  possible,  lest  the  birds,  see- 
ing it,  should  be  silenced.  On  arriving  at  the  ground  selected,  it  was  probable  that 
storm  petrels  would  be  heard  in  various  directions,  some  on  the  wing,  others  on  their 
nests,  sounding  their  call  at  intervals  of  from  two  to  five  minutes.  Those  on  nests 
could  be  distinguished  from  others  flying,  by  their  cries  proceeding  from  fixed  posi- 
tions. Having  settled  which  of  the  birds  should  be  searched  after,  a  cautious  advance 
had  to  be  made  in  her  direction,  two  or  three  steps  at  a  time,  when  she  was  in  full 
cry.  As  soon  as  she  ceased,  an  abrupt  halt  was  imperative,  and  a  pause  of  some  min- 
utes might  ensue  before  she  recommenced  her  cry  and  permitted  another  slight 
advance  to  be  effected.  In  the  course  of  this  gradual  approach,  the  position  of  the 
bird  might  be  ascertained  approximately ;  but  it  had  to  be  determined  precisely,  and 
to  learn  exactly  where  she  was,  she  had  to  be  stalked  in  the  dark  noiselessly.  No  gleam 
could  be  permitted  to  escape  from  the  lantern.  Loose  stones,  and  falls  over  rocks, — 
to  avoid  them  it  was  sometimes  necessary  to  dispense  with  slippers,  and  feel  one's  way 
in  stockings  only,  for  should  the  petrel  be  alarmed  once  with  the  noise  or  the  light, 
she  would  probable  remain  silent  a  considerable  time.  Now  and  then  it  would  happen 
that,  upon  the  boulder  beneath  which  she  was  sitting  being  almost  attained,  the  bird 
would  cease  calling.  When  this  occurred,  and  many  minutes  elapsed  without  her  cry 
being  resumed,  it  was  advisable  to  make  a  detour,  and  approach  the  rock  from  the 
opposite  side,  as  her  silence  might  be  attributed  to  her  seeing  a  person  advancing 
towards  her,  and  she  would  probably  recommence  her  call  as  soon  as  he  was  out  of 
sight.  If  she  did  not,  a  small  pebble  thrown  amongst  the  rocks  would  usually  elicit 
some  sounds  from  her,  as  she  would  most  likely  conclude  that  the  noise  was  being 
made  by  her  mate  returning  to  the  nest.  When  the  stone  beneath  which  the  bird 
was  domiciled  was  gained  at  last,  redoubled  care  had  to  be  exercised.  By 
stooping  down,  and  listening  very  attentively,  her  position  could  be  accurately 
ascertained.  Then  the  lantern  was  suddenly  turned  upon  her  before  she  had  time  to 
creep  out  of  sight,  and  her  egg  could  be  secured  with  the  hand,  or  with  a  spoon  tied 
on  to  a  stick." 

Among  the   Procellariina?   several   groups  may  also  be  distinguished:  first,   the 
small    stormy    petrels,    'Mother    Carey's     chickens,'    as    they   are    usually   called. 


90 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


Another  group  is  represented  by  the  genus  Prion,  very  remarkable  for  its  very 
peculiar  and  broad  bill,  which  is  provided  with  a  fringe  of  lamella,  somewhat  similar 
to  those  of  the  ducks. 

The  well-known  '  Cape  pigeon '  (Daption  capense)  also  shows  rudiments  of 
lamella,  but  is  rather  referable  to  the  next  group,  including  the  fulmars.  The  bird 
represented  in  the  cut  is  the  Fulmarus  glacialis,  already  mentioned  in  the  Introduc- 
tion for  its  remarkable  dichromatism.  To  this  group  also  belong  the  giant  fulmar 
( Ossifraga  giganteci),  from  the  southern  seas,  nearly  as  large  as  the  smaller  albatrosses, 
and  dichromatic,  like  its  northern  relative.  The  last  group  comprises  several  genera 


FlG.  38.  —  Fulmai-us  glacialis,  arctic  fulmar. 

of  shearwaters  (which  are  characterized  by  a  four-notched  sternum),  including  the  very 
remarkable  genus  Bulweria,  which  has  a  wedge-shaped  tail,  and  the  highly  specialized 
muscular  formula  AX. 

The  third  and  last  family  of  the  Tubinares  are  the  PELECANOIDID^E.  In  their 
external  appearance  they  present  a  striking  resemblance  to  several  of  the  smaller  auks, 
being  adapted  to  the  same  mode  of  life,  and  this  adaptation  has  not  only  affected 
their  external  characters,  the  length  of  win^s,  etc.,  but  also  some  of  their  anatomical 

7  O  O       '  ' 

features ;  for  instance,  the  compressed  form  of  the  wing  bones,  the  elongated  sternum, 
and  the  very  long  and  obliquely  placed  ribs,  have  been  modified  in  the  same  direction, 
so  as  to  resemble  the  corresponding  parts  of  auks  and  guillemots,  though  these  analo- 
gies do  not  indicate  any  nearer  relationship;  of  course,  the  opposite  view  being  only 
founded  upon  a  complete  misconception  of  their  whole  structure.  Compared  with 
other  Tubinares,  we  note  that  the  end  of  the  nasal  tubes,  on  top  of  the  bill,  is  cut  off 


DIVING  PETRELS.  91 

obliquely,  so  that  the  nostrils  open  upwards,  a  feature  evidently  produced  by  the  div- 
ing habit,  in  order  to  prevent  water  from  being  forced  into  the  '  nose,'  as  this  tube, 
with  great  propriety,  may  be  called.  The  total  absence  even  of  a  rudiment  of  a  hind 
toe  is  notable,  and  so  is  the  absence  of  an  ambiens  muscle,  and  of  the  accessory  femora- 
caudal,  and  accessory  semitendinosus.  It  is,  in  short,  a  group  quite  generalized,  as  is 
evident  from  many  of  its  anatomical  features,  though  highly  specialized  in  all  that  is 
affected  by  its  diving  habits.  The  group  is  very  restricted  in  forms,  and  its  geograph- 
ical distribution  is  tropical  and  antarctic.  Rev.  A.  E.  Eaton,  from  whom  we  have 
quoted  above  in  another  connection,  writes  of  Pelecanoides  winatrix,  the  common 
diving  petrel,  which  he  observed  at  Kerguelen  Island,  as  follows :  "  This  bird,  as 
Professor  Wyville  Thomson  well  observes,  has  a  close  general  likeness  to  Alle  alle. 
Both  of  them  have  a  hurried  flight ;  both  of  them,  while  flying,  dive  into  the  sea  with- 
out any  interruption  in  the  action  of  their  wings,  and  also  emerge  from  beneath  the 
surface  flying,  and  they  both  of  them  swim  with  the  tail  rather  deep  in  the  water. 
But  this  resemblance  does  not  extend  to  other  particulars  of  their  habits.  The  rotche, 
when  breeding,  usually  flies  and  fishes  in  small  flocks  of  six  or  a  dozen  birds,  and  builds 
in  communities  of  considerable  size,  which  are  excessively  noisy.  Diving  petrels,  on 
the  other  hand,  are  more  domestic  in  their  mode  of  living,  fishing  and  flying  for  the 
most  part  in  pairs  or  alone,  and  building  sporadically.  —  They  had  begun  to  pair 
when  we  reached  Kerguelen  Island.  The  first  egg  was  found  on  the  31st  of  October. 
Their  burrows  are  about  as  small  in  diameter  as  the  holes  of  bank  martins  (  Clivicola 
riparia)  or  kingfishers  (Alcedo  ispida).  They  are  made  in  dry  banks  and  slopes, 
where  the  ground  is  easily  penetrable,  and  terminate  in  an  enlarged  chamber  on  whose 
floor  the  egg  is  deposited.  Some  of  the  burrows  are  branched,  but  the  branches  are 
without  terminal  enlargements,  and  do  not  appear  to  be  put  to  any  use  by  the  birds. 
Before  the  egg  is  laid,  both  of  the  parents  may  be  found  in  the  nest-chamber,  and  may 
often  be  heard  moaning  in  the  daytime :  but  when  the  females  begin  to  sit,  their  call 
is  seldom  heard,  excepting  at  night,  when  the  male  in  his  flight  to  and  from  the  hole, 
and  his  mate  on  her  nest,  make  a  considerable  noise.  There  seems  to  be  a  difference 
of  a  semi-tone  between  the  moans  of  the  two  sexes.  The  call  resembles  the  syllable 
*  oo '  pronounced  with  the  mouth  closed,  while  a  slurred  chromatic  ascent  is  being 
made  from  E  to  C  in  the  tenor." 


ORDER  VII.  —  ORALLY. 

The  order  Grallae,  as  here  defined,  is  still  a  rather  heterogeneous  assemblage, 
though  formerly  in  a  much  worse  condition,  for  the  Grallae  of  olden  times  comprised, 
besides  those  here  admitted,  the  whole  order  Herodii,  and  the  super-families,  Anhim- 
oideae  and  Phcenicoptroideae.  It  would,  perhaps,  be  an  improvement  to  remove  the 
first  two  super-families  of  the  present  order,  viz.,  Chionoideae  and  Scolopacoideae,  to 
the  foregoing  order,  retaining  the  name  Grallaa  for  the  remaining  forms  only,  and  we 
may  expect  to  see  the  step  taken  some  day. 

As  it  is,  the  members  of  the  present  order  may,  in  general,  be  distinguished  from 
those  of  the  foregoing  one  by  the  absence  of  full  webs  between  the  anterior  toes. 
True,  we  have  a  few  *  waders,'  with  entirely  palmate  feet,  viz.,  the  avocets,  but  the 
enormous  length  of  their  legs,  and  the  long  and  thin  bill,  make  them  separable  from 
any  and  all  of  the  Cecomorphse  at  first  sight.  They  are  all  schizognathous,  most  of 


92 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


them  with  the  vomer  pointed  in  front,  have  two  carotids  and  aftershaf t ;  they  all  pos- 
sess the  ambiens  muscle,  as  also  the  semitendinosus^  and  the  accessory  slip  of  the 
latter. 

Generally,  the  '  waders '  may  be  said  to  be  littoral  in  their  habits,  only  few  of  them 
being  exclusively  terrestrial,  avoiding  the  water  as  carefully  as  most  of  them  do  the 
open  ocean ;  the  shores  of  the  sea  and  the  lakes,  the  banks  of  the  rivers,  and  the 
swamps  and  marshes  are  inhabited  by  some  form  of  this  polymorphic  group,  the  mem- 
bers of  which  are  distributed  all  over  the  globe,  from  the  icy  neighborhood  of  the 
poles  to  the  hottest  regions  under  the  equatorial  sun. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  of  all  the  many  interesting  and  puzzling  forms  of  this 
order  are  the  birds  which  compose  the  super-family  CHIONOIDE^.  The  early 
systematists  realized  the  isolated  position  of  the  sheath-bills,  and  gave  the  group 
set  aside  for  them  various  names,  as  Vaginati,  Coleoramphi,  etc.,  the  curiously  con- 
structed bill  being  the  most  obvious  character.  But  in  regard  to  the  relative  taxo- 
nomic  rank  of  the  group,  opinions  have  differed  widely,  as  it  has  been  referred  to 
every  possible  grade  from  a  mere  genus  to  an  order.  Equally  variable  have  been  the 
opinions  of  ornithologists  as  to  their  relationship,  since  some  have  referred  them  to 
the  Gallinaceous  birds,  others  to  the  Longipennes  near  the  gulls,  others  again  to  the 
GrallaB.  The  former  based  their  conclusions  chiefly  upon  the  most  external  characters 
and  the  alleged  gallinaceous  habits  of  the  birds,  the  latter  took  chiefly  the  internal 
anatomy  into  consideration.  And,  indeed,  it  seems  as  if  both  those  advocating  their 
place  near  the  gulls,  and  those  urging  their  affinity  to  the  plovers  and  oyster-catchers, 
are  right,  for  the  sheath-bills  are  so  intermediate  between  them  that  it  is  difficult  to 
say  where  they  should  rather  go,  though  the  present  writer  is  inclined  to  place  them 
with  the  latter.  In  fact  they  are  hardly  well  placed  before  both  Laroideae  and  Chara- 
drioideae  are  united  with  the  Chionoideas  in  the  same  order. 

Notwithstanding  the  external  difference  between  the  members 
of  the  two  families  composing  this  super-family,  their  mutual  rela- 
tionship has  been  understood  for  a  considerable  length  of  time, 
chiefly,  we  think,  on  the  authority  of  Bonaparte,  who  as  early  as 
1832  united  them  in  one  family.  Of  characters  which  both 
Chionidse  and  ThinocoridaB  have  in  common,  it  may  be  mentioned 
that  they  are  schizorhinal,  that  they  lack  occipital  foramina  and 
basipterygoid  processes,  but  have  supra-orbital  impressions,  that  the 
ambiens  muscle,  as  well  as  the  femoro-caudal,  with  the  acces- 
sory, and  the  semitendinosus,  with  its  accessory  slip  are  present 
(ABXY-f ),  that  they  have  two  carotids,  etc.  The  most  remark- 
able internal  feature  is,  perhaps,  the  shape  of  the  vomer,  which 
is  broad  and  rounded  in  front,  while  in  other  allied  forms,  Ceco- 
morphous  and  Charadriomorphous,  that  bone  is  pointed  or  bifid 
anteriorly.  The  palate,  indeed,  in  this  and  some  other  respects, 
shows  some  resemblance  to  that  of  the  Passerine  birds,  this  being 
especially  the  case  with  the  Thinocorine  palate,  in  which  the  vomer 
is  connected  with  the  nasal  cartilages  in  a  manner  recalling  that 
of  the  ^Egithognathae. 

Like  many,  not  to  say  most,  of  those  perplexing  forms  which  represent  the  earlier 
offshoots,  or  remain  as  the  last  survivors  of  groups  once  numerous  but  long  since 
decimated,  the  CHIONIDSE,  only  two  species,  inhabit  islands  in  the  vast  oceans  of  the 


FIG.  39.  —  Lower  sur- 
face of  skull  of  At- 
tayis  grayi. 


SHEATH-BILLS.  93 

southern  hemisphere,  they  being  chiefly  found  on  the  islands  adjacent  to  the  southern 
extremity  of  South  America,  —  Kerguelen's  Island  and  the  Crozets. 

The  most  remarkable  and  quite  unique  structure  of  these  birds  is  the  saddle-shaped 
horny  sheath,  overlying  the  base  of  the  culmen  and  partly  concealing  the  nostrils,  — 
hence  the  name  sheath-bill.  This  sheath  is  continued  backward  into  a  kind  of  hood 
covering  the  face,  being  naked  and  carunculated  on  the  lores  and  ocular  region,  but 
densely  feathered  on  the  forehead,  as  represented  in  the  accompanying  cut.  The  bill 
and  the  naked  skin  are  yellowish  in  Chionis  alba,  black  in  Ch.  minor,  the  latter  also  dif- 
fering considerably  in  the  shape  of  the  sheath.  On  the  carpus  is  a  knob-shaped  promi- 
nence which  supports  a  wing  spur.  The  plumage  of  both  species  is  dazzlingly  white  all 
over.  The  feet  are  covered  with  a  reticulate  skin,  both  in  front  and  behind ;  four 
toes  are  present,  having  the  normal 
number  of  phalanges,  which  diminish  in 
size  from  the  basal  to  the  terminal  one, 
only  very  small  webs  connecting  the  an- 
terior toes  at  the  base. 

The  habits  of  Ch.  minor,  which  in- 
habits Kerguelen's  Island  and  the  Cro- 
zets,—  unless  the  bird  of  the  latter,  which 
seems  to  have  darker  legs,  is  a  separable 
form,  —  have  been  only  very  recently  in- 

vestigated,  and  specimens  are  still  very  FlG  40>  _  Head  of  Chionis  al^  white  sheath.bill. 
rare  in  collections.  The  recent  Ameri- 
can, English,  and  German  Transit-of-Venus  expeditions  to  that  desolate  shore  have 
furnished  us  with  excellent  descriptions  of  the  manners  and  peculiarities  of  that 
species.  All  observers  agree  as  to  their  resemblance  in  appearance,  manner  of 
caressing  one  another,  gait  and  flight,  to  pigeons  or  ptarmigans.  Dr.  Kidder  saw 
them  eat  only  soft,  green  seaweed  when  in  the  wild  state,  but  Mr.  Eaton,  of  the 
English  party,  asserts  that  they  also  feed  on  mussels  and  isopod  Crustacea,  and  that 
they  greedily  devour  shags'  and  penguins'  eggs.  The  former  observer  enlarges  upon 
their  great  tameness  and  curiosity.  They  nest  in  holes  between  or  behind  rocks,  laying 
one  to  three  eggs,  which  somewhat  resemble  those  of  the  oyster-catcher,  toward  the 
end  of  December  and  the  beginning  of  January.  The  chicks  are  covered  with  a  uni- 
form slate-gray  down.  Males  and  females  are  alike,  but  the  loral  caruncle  is  smaller 
in  the  latter,  which  also  has  the  carpal  spine  smaller  and  flesh-colored,  and  not  black 
as  has  the  male.  The  young  birds  are  like  the  adults,  but  have  pink  tips  to  their 
wings. 

The  THINOCORID^E,  a  family  consisting  of  two  genera,  Thinocorus  and  Attagis,  with 
together  a  little  more  than  half  a  dozen  species,  inhabit  South  America  down  to 
Magelhaen's  Strait  and  the  Falkland  Islands ;  in  the  tropical  portions  they  occur,  how- 
ever, only  in  the  elevated  regions.  Externally  they  resemble,  in  size  and  color,  quails 
or  partridges,  the  analogy  being  carried  so  far  as  to  also  embrace  the  shortness  of  the 
legs,  but  the  long  and  pointed  wings,  with  the  long  secondaries,  at  once  suggest  their 
affinity  with  the  Scolopacoid  birds.  At  first  they  were  regarded  as  Gallinaceous  birds, 
while  some  authors  referred  them  to  the  pigeons  or  sand-grouse ;  but  the  Limicoline 
pterylosis  and  the  many  obvious  structural  characters  soon  secured  place  for  them 
among  the  Grallae.  Finally,  Professor  Garrod,  in  1874,  settled  the  question  beyond 
dispute,  by  giving  an  account  of  all  their  anatomical  characteristics.  From  his  inves- 


94  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

tigations  it  is  clear  that  they  have  strong  affinities  to  Glareola  and  other  Charadroid 
Grallse.  In  fact,  they  incline  toward  the  latter  as  does  Chionis  toward  the  gulls. 
The  most  noteworthy  peculiarity  of  their  structure  is  the  formation  of  the  palate, 
which  is  of  a  "  spuriously  segithognathous  nature,"  on  account  of  the  broad,  anteriorly 
rounded  vomer,  and  the  manner  in  which  the  nasal  cartilages  are  there  connected,  as 
originally  shown  by  Professor  Parker. 

The  habits  of  the  Thinocoridae  are  very  little  known,  and  what  we  know  consists 
chiefly  of  what  Darwin  and — nearly  forty  years  after  —  Mr.  Durnford  have  ascer- 
tained and  published  concerning  the  '  gachita,'  as  Thinocorus  mimicivorus  is  called  in 
Buenos  Ayres,  according  to  Mr.  Hudson.  The  former  says:  "This  very  singular 
bird,  which  in  its  habits  and  appearance  partakes  of  the  character  both  of  a  wader 
and  one  of  the  Gallinaceous  order,  is  found  wherever  there  are  sterile  plains,  or  open, 
dry  pasture  land,  in  southern  South  America.  Upon  being  approached  they  lie  close, 
and  then  are  very  difficult  to  be  distinguished  from  the  ground.  When  feeding  they 
walk  rather  slowly,  with  their  legs  wide  apart.  They  dust  themselves  in  roads  and 
sandy  places."  He  goes  on,  showing  that  in  all  these  respects  of  habit  and  external 
appearance  the  bird  resembles  a  quail.  "But,"  he  continues,  "directly  the  bird  is 
seen  flying,  one's  opinion  is  changed ;  the  long,  pointed  wings,  so  different  from  those 
in  the  gallinaceous  order,  the  high,  irregular  flight,  and  plaintive  cry  uttered  at  the 
moment  of  rising,  recall  the  idea  of  a  snipe.  The  sportsmen  of  the  '  Beagle '  unani- 
mously called  it  the  '  short-billed  snipe.' "  Mr.  Durnford  ascertained  that  they  breed 
in  Patagonia  and  visit  Buenos  Ayres  in  winter  [May  to  September],  sometimes  in 
large  flocks.  He  lays  especial  stress  upon  this  similarity  in  habits  to  the  quails  and 
sand-pipers.  "When  disturbed,"  he  says,  "they  fly  round,  uttering  a  low  whistle, 
and  invariably  alight  head  to  wind.  They  remind  me  of  flocks  of  Calidris  arenaria 
(the  sanderling)  as  they  stand  motionless  on  the  ground."  During  his  journey  in 
central  Patagonia  (1877-78),  he  was  able  to  discover  its  breeding  habits,  of  which  he 
gives  the  following  account :  "  I  took  eggs  at  the  end  of  October ;  and  the  young 
were  running  in  the  middle  of  November :  but  this  species  probably  has  two  or  more 
broods  in  the  season ;  for  I  found  chicks  in  March.  The  nest  is  a  slight  depression 
in  the  ground,  sometimes  lined  with  a  few  blades  of  grass;  and  before  leaving  it 
the  old  bird  covers  up  the  eggs  with  little  pieces  of  stick.  The  eggs  are  pale  stone 
ground-color,  very  thickly  speckled  with  light  and  dark  chocolate  markings.  The 
chick  is  finely  mottled  all  over  with  light  and  dark  brown." 

As  far  as  species  and  individuals  are  concerned,  the  super-family  now  following,  the 
SCOLOPACOIDE^E,  makes  up  the  bulk  of  the  present  order.  The  group  is  a  rather 
well  circumscribed  one,  though  a  few  forms  are  still  in  dispute,  since  some  authors, 
following  Huxley  and  Forbes,  are  inclined  to  exclude  the  bustards  and  thick-knees  as 
being  holorhinal.  The  question  is  one  of  the  many  in  systematic  ornithology  which 
cannot  be  settled  at  present,  and  the  most  judicious  course  is,  probably,  to  establish  a 
separate  super-family  for  the  bustards,  equivalent  to  those  of  the  snipes  and  the  cranes. 
As  the  arrangement  now  is,  the  characters  defining  the  groups  are  hardly  absolutely 
trenchant,  but  may  be  said  in  general  to  be  the  presence  of  narrow  and  prominent  basi- 
pterygoid  processes  and  the  slender  and  abruptly  recurved  process  of  the  angle  of  the 
mandible  in  the  Scolopacoideae.  They  are  all  schizorhinal,  except  the  Otididaa  and 
CEdicnemidae.  The  myological  formula  of  the  schizorhinal  forms  is  ABXY  or  AXY ; 
that  of  the  holorhinal  members,  ABXY  or  BXY.  The  bill  is  elongated  and  compara- 
tively slender.  The  ratio  of  the  phalanges  of  the  toes  is  normal,  that  is,  they  diminish 


PRATINCOLES. 


95 


in  length  from  the  basal  phalange  to  the  penultimate  one.  The  pterylosis  has  no 
characteristic  features.  This  super-family  is  equivalent  to  the  '  order '  LimicolaB,  as 
usually  adopted,  and  the  'group'  Charadriomorphae  of  Huxley. 

The  first  family  to  meet  us  is  that  of  the  pratincoles  or  GLAKEOLID^E,  a  small 
group  of  Old  World  birds  of  very  peculiar  appearance.  They  have  long  pointed 
wings  and  a  rather  long,  deeply  forked  tail,  a  feature  quite  unique  among  Limicoline 
birds.  To  this  is  added  a  rather  compressed  bill  and  deeply  split  mouth,  besides  com- 
paratively short  feet.  On  the  whole  they  have  a  very  great  resemblance  to  some  of 
the  smaller  terns  both  in  flight  and  habits.  Nothing  is  more  certain,  however,  than 


FIG.  41.  —  Glareola  pratincola,  common  pratincole. 

that  these  birds  are  closely  allied  to  the  plovers,  as  also  to  members  of  the  foregoing 
super-family,  especially  the  Chionis,  with  which  they  agree  in  lacking  occipital 
foramina  and  basipterygoid  processes.  That  Linnaeus  placed  the  common  pratin- 
cole ( Glareola  pratincola)  in  his  genus  Hirundo,  on  account  of  its  forked  tail  and 
deeply  split  mouth,  is  perhaps  not  so  strange.  But  that  Sundevall,  as  late  as  1874, 
denied  the  Charadriine  affinities  entirely,  giving  it  place  in  the  '  family '  Caprimul- 
gina3  as  an  aberrant  group  of  goat-suckers,  referring,  as  he  did,  to  the  large  size  of  the 
eyes,  the  form  of  the  bill,  the  pectination  of  the  long  middle  claw,  and  the  somewhat 
sideways  position  of  the  hind  toe,  shows  how  unsafe  it  is  to  rely  upon  external  char- 
acters alone  in  cases  of  intricate  relationship.  The  species  represented  in  the  accom- 


96  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

panying  cut,  Fig.  41,  is  the  common  pratincole,  which  is  a  regular  summer  visitor  to  the 
Mediterranean  sub-region  and  the  valley  of  the  lower  Danube,  sometimes  straggling 
northwards  as  far  as  Denmark  and  the  British  Islands.  The  color  above  is  a  fine 
mouse-gray,  the  breast  is  similarly  only  somewhat  lighter  colored,  shading  backward 
into  buff  and  white ;  chin  and  throat  of  a  rusty  yellowish  buff  circumscribed  by  a 
narrow  velvety  black  band,  which  is  set  off  by  a  white  border ;  the  under  wing-coverts 


FIG.  42.  —  Eudramias  morinellus,  dotterel,  and  Charadrius  apricarius,  golden-plover. 

and  axillaries  are  beautiful  chestnut;  the  bill  is  black,  brilliant  vermilion  at  base; 
feet  reddish  black.  Size  that  of  a  small  tern.  The  pratincole,  says  Mr.  Seebohm, 
who  made  the  acquaintance  of  this  bird  in  the  valley  of  Danube,  in  Greece,  and  Asia 
Minor,  is  an  inhabitant  of  sandy  plains,  large  marshes,  and  bare  elevated  country, 
spending  a  considerable  portion  of  its  time  in  the  air,  hawking  for  insects  like  a 
gigantic  swallow,  skimming  along  with  graceful  motion,  wheeling  and  darting  about, 
chasing  its  prey  in  all  directions.  Upon  the  ground  it  is  equally  at  its  ease,  and  runs 


GRALL^E. 


97 


to  and  fro  with  surprising  swiftness,  in  spite  of  its  short  legs.  The  flight  is  described 
as  swallow-like,  or  rather  like  that  of  the  terns.  The  note,  according  to  Seebohm,  is 
a  peculiar  rattle,  impossible  to  express  on  paper,  though  the  principal  sound  may  be 
represented  by  Jcr  rapidly  repeated.  Naumann  mentions  a  peculiar  movement  of 
this  bird,  which  he  says  is  exactly  like  the  dipping  of  the  body  and  jerking  of  the 
tail  of  the  wheat-ear  (Saxicola  cenanthe).  The  food  of  the  pratincole  consists  exclu- 
sively of  insects,  and  an  allied  species  (G.  melanoptera),  differing  in  having  black 
under  wing-coverts,  which  occurs  from  southeastern  Russia  southwards  as  far  as  the 
Cape  Colony,  is  highly  estimated  as  a  valuable  destroyer  of  the  grasshoppers,  accord- 
ing to  the  interesting  account  given  by  the  Austrian  traveler,  Mr.  Holub. 


FIG.  43.  —  Arenarla  interpres,  turnstone. 


A  small  family,  DROMADID^E,  with  a  single  living  representative  (Dromas  ardeola\ 
may  find  a  proper  resting  place  here  after  having  been  knocked  around  between  the 
herons  and  the  terns.  The  aspect  is  that  of  a  plover,  or  rather  a  thick-knee  with  a 
somewhat  large  and  peculiar  bill,  and  Temminck  guessed  pretty  near  the  truth  when 
he  referred  it  to  the  neighborhood  of  the  latter,  for  the  Dutch  zoologist,  J.  van  der 
Hoeven,  has  shown  that  the  skeleton  is  very  much  like  that  of  the  oyster-catcher,  next 
to  which  we  place  it  with  the  remark  that  it  differs  from  the  true  Charadriidae  in  hav- 
ing no  occipital  foramina  and  no  basipterygoid  processes,  in  these  respects  agreeing 
with  the  foregoing  families.  The  '  crab-plover '  inhabits  shores  from  India,  westward 
VOL.  iv.  —  7 


98 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


to  Africa,  and  southward  to  the  Seychelles  and  Madagascar.      Its  habits  remind  us 
both  of  the  plover  and  the  terns,  and  so  do  the  unusually  large  eggs. 

The  family  CHARADBIID^E,  comprising  the  Plovers,  forms  a  central  and  important 
group  of  the  present  order,  pretty  well  circumscribed  and  homogeneous,  though  a 
number  of  outlying  genera  present  rather  trenchant  characters,  thereby  tempting 
the  systematist  to  establish  groups  of  family  rank  for  their  reception.  I  refer  to  the 
coursers,  the  turnstones  and  the  oyster-catchers,  of  which  only  the  latter  group  has 
caused  me  some  doubt.  The  turnstones  (Arenaria)  are  somewhat  peculiar,  having  a 
bill  of  a  type  different  from  the  common  plover  bill,  and  present  in  the  muscular 
formula  of  the  leg,  an  unusual  specialization,  it  being  AXY  against  ABXY  in  the 


FIG.  44.  —  Hcematopus  ostralegus,  oyster-catcher. 

rest.  But  the  disappearance  of  the  accessory  femoro-caudal  muscle  cannot  set  off  the 
fact  that  the  genus  Aphriza,  the  affinities  of  which  in  both  directions  are  manifest, 
links  the  turnstones  close  to  the  plovers  proper.  The  oyster-catchers  (Hcematopus) 
are  more  isolated,  having  a  peculiarly  wedge-shaped  bill  and  large  supra-orbital  de- 
pressions for  the  glands,  but  can  hardly  claim  family  rank,  related  as  they  are  to  the 
turnstones.  The  latter  form  a  genus  consisting  of  only  two  species,  the  blackheaded 
one  (Arenaria  melanocephalus),  blackish  and  white,  and  exclusively  Pacific,  besides  the 
common  species  (A.  interpres),  which  is  nearly  cosmopolitan  in  its  distribution,  and  dis- 
tinguished from  the  former  by  having  rusty-brown  margins  to  the  feathers  of  the  back 
and  wings ;  the  feet  are  a  beautiful  vermilion  red,  and  the  bird  is  well  represented  in 


ORALLY. 


99 


the  accompanying  cut.  Together  with  Plumanellus  sociaUlis,  from  Magelhaen  s 
Strait,  and  the  surf-bird  (Aphriza  virgatd),  found  on  our  western  coast  up  to  Alaska, 
they  constitute  the  sub-family  Arenariina3.  The  Ha3matopodina3  consists  of  a  single 
genus  the  different  forms  of  which  are  distributed  over  nearly  all  the  shores  of  the 
globe,  except  the  very  Arctic  regions.  There  are  two  styles  of  them,  — one  black 
and  white,  like  the  European  oyster-catcher  on  the  foregoing  page,  and  another 
wholly  black,  both  with  intensely  red  beaks  and  reddish  flesh-colored  feet.  They  are 


FIG.  45.  —  Vanellus  vanellus,  peewit,  lapwing. 

very  noisy  and  shy,  and  make  themselves  disagreeably  conspicuous  to  the  shore-hunter, 
warning  all  other  birds  with  their  penetrating  cry. 

The  Charadriinae  proper  are  cosmopolitan  in  their  distribution,  embracing  the  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  plovers,  being  the  most  numerous  group  of  the  family,  and  are  partic- 
ularly characterized  by  the  form  of  the  bill,  which  is  somewhat  like  that  of  a  pigeon, 
convex  anteriorly  and  restricted  at  base.  Being  well-known  birds  we  shall  save  space 
for  more  unusual  forms  by  only  referring  to  the  drawings  (Fig.  42),  and  by  quoting 
the  following,  from  Seebohm,  concerning  the  peewit  or  lapwing  (  Vanellus  vanellus, 
Fig.  45),  which  is  a  strictly  Palaearctic  bird,  sometimes  straggling  to  Greenland  and 
Alaska.  "  The  flight  of  this  bird  is  very  erratic  and  peculiar.  Its  wings  are  very 


100 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


long  and  broad,  and  it  flaps  them  in  a  regular,  sedate  manner.  Now  it  soars  upwards 
for  a  few  yards,  seemingly  without  effort,  then  flapping  its  broad  and  rounded  wings 
it  wheels  round  and  round ;  then  it  darts  rapidly  down  as  if  hurling  itself  to  the 
ground,  and  then,  mounting  the  air  again,  with  easy  grace  flies  in  everchanging  course, 
darting,  wheeling,  trembling,  and  reeling,  as  though  beating  time  with  its  pinions  to 
its  wailing  and  expressive  cries.  The  lapwing  becomes  particularly  clamorous  at 
night,  and  obtains  much  of  its  food  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening.  At  all  hours  its  wild 
expressive  call  may  be  heard,  as  it  floats  on  ever-moving  pinions  above  its  favorite 
haunts.  Its  common  note  resembles  the  syllables  pee-weet,  or  weet-a-weet,  pee-weet-weet, 
from  which  is  derived  one  of  its  best  known  names.  The  eggs  of  the  lapwing  are 
highly  prized  as  articles  of  food,  and  a  regular  and  extensive  trade  is  done  in  them. 
Thousands  find  their  way  to  the  London  markets  in  the  season,  and  fetch  from  four  to 


r 


FIG.  46.  —  Hoplopterus  spinosus,  spur-winged  plover. 

ten  shillings  a  dozen."  This  bird  is  one  of  the  few  waders  that  show  metallic  colors 
in  their  plumage,  the  general  color  of  the  upper  parts  being  a  greenish  to  coppery 
bronze. 

Remarkable  for  the  strong  and  sharp  spur  at  the  bend  of  the  wing  is  the  so-called 
spur-winged  plover  (Hoplopterus  spinosus},  hairbrown,  black  and  white,  a  native  of 
Africa,  where  it  is  one  of  the  commonest  birds  of  the  Nile  valley,  but  it  occurs  also 
in  southeastern  Europe  and  the  intermediate  countries  of  western  Asia.  It  claims 
the  distinction  of  being  the  « leech-eater '  or  'trochilos'  of  Herodotus,  whose  de- 
scription, which  is  as  follows,  may  rather  belong  to  the  black-headed  plover,  or,  as  it 
is  frequently  called,  'the  crocodile  bird'  (Plumanus  wgyptius),  also  a  native  c 
Egypt.  "As  the  crocodile  lives  chiefly  on  the  river,  it  has  the  inside  of  its  mouth 
constantly  covered  with  leeches ;  hence  it  happens  that,  while  all  other  birds  and 


CROOK-BILL  PLOVER.  101 

beasts  avoid  it,  with  the  trochilos  it  lives  at  peace,  since  it  owes  much  to  that  bird,  for 
the  crocodile,  when  he  leaves  the  water,  and  comes  out  upon  the  land,  is  in  the  habit  of 
lying  with  his  mouth  wide  open,  facing  the  western  breeze;  and  such  times  the  trochi- 
los goes  into  his  mouth  and  devours  the  leeches.  This  benefits  the  crocodile,  who  is 
pleased,  and  takes  care  not  to  hurt  the  trochilos"  There  is,  however,  some  truth  in 
the  old  fable,  for  Alfred  E.  Brehm,  who,  during  his  travels  in  northeastern  Africa, 
studied  the  habits  of  these  birds,  asserts  that  he  several  times  saw  this  plover  without 
hesitation  running  up  and  down  the  back  of  the  crocodile,  as  if  it  were  a  green  lawn, 
in  search  of  bugs  and  leeches,  even  dai'ing  to  pick  the  teeth  of  its  tremendous  friend, 
that  is,  literally  to  snatch  away  food  particles  which  stuck  between  the  teeth,  or  para- 
sitic animals  which  had  attached  themselves  to  the  mandibles  and  the  gums. 

Related  to  the  last-mentioned  bird,  but  on  longer  legs  with  shorter  toes,  a  bill 
somewhat  resembling  that  of  the  pratincole,  and  of  an  isabel  color  corresponding  to 
the  sand  of  the  desert  it  inhabits,  is  the  cream-colored  courser  (Cursorius  cursor), 
found  throughout  the  southern  portion  of  the  Mediterranean  province,  but  known  as 
a  not  uncommon  straggler  to  the  British  Islands  during  the  autumnal  season.  It 
lives  on  the  arid  sand-plains  or  on  the  bare  elevated  plateaus,  where  scarcely  a  tuft  of 
scanty  herbage  or  a  bush  is  to  be  found.  It  loves  to  frequent  the  bases  of  sand-hills, 
and  is  sometimes  seen  in  the  miserable  desert  pastures  or  amongst  the 
sand-dunes  on  the  outskirts  of  the  oasis.  In  these  dismal  uninteresting 
regions  the  courser  trips  about  in  pairs,  or  less  frequently  in  little  parties." 

Completely  unique  in  the  shape  of  the  bill,  and  probably  forming  a 
small  group  of  its  own,  is  the  so-called  wry-billed,  or  crook-billed  plover 
(Anarhynchus  frontalis),  since  the  end  of  the  bill  is  not  bent  down,  nor 
recurved,  but  turned  horizontally  to  the  right,  as  shown  in  the  accom- 
panying cut.  It  was  discovered  in  New  Zealand  by  the  French  natura- 
lists, Quoy  and  Gaimard,  who,  in  1833,  published  the  first  description  of 
this  curious  bird.  The  type  in  the  Paris  museum  remained  unique  until  yIG  47  _  Bill 
1869,  and  the  Anarhynchus  became  so  apocryphal  and  dubious  that  G.  bniedViove^ 
R.  Gray  finally  declared  the  alleged  crook-bill  to  be  an  individual  de-  *r°t™raf  j^6' 
formity,  an  opinion  shared  by  many  ornithologists  of  that  day.  Never- 
theless, the  strange  crookedness  proved  to  be  the  normal  shape  of  the  bill,  the  deflex- 
ion being  obvious  even  in  the  chick  in  the  egg.  The  singular  beak  is  thus  described 
by  Mr.  Potts  from  a  fresh  specimen  :  — 

"  Bill  longer  than  the  head,  pointed,  curved  to  the  right  or  off  side,  curled  slightly 
on  itself  in  a  leaf-like  manner,  a  long  groove  on  each  side  of  the  upper  mandible  ;  the 
nostrils  long,  pierced  not  far  from  the  base  of  the  bill,  fitted  with  a  membranous  pro- 
cess, which,  apparently  furnished  with  a  system  of  nerves,  extends  some  distance 
along  the  mandible ;  interior  of  both  upper  and  lower  mandibles  concave  or  sulcate, 
which  form  is  maintained  to  the  point ;  thus  the  inside  of  the  bill,  when  the  man- 
dibles are  closed,  becomes  a  curved  pipe,  with  a  very  slight  twist.  The  tongue,  when 
at  rest,  lies  well  within  the  lower  mandible ;  it  is  partly  sulcate  in  form,  tapers  to  a 
fine  point,  is  much  shorter  than  the  beak,  leaving  a  vacant  space  of  six  lines  from  its 
extremity  to  the  end  of  the  lower  mandible ;  the  base  is  furnished  on  either  side  with 
a  few  spines  (three  or  four),  planted  in  the  same  direction  as  those  in  the  roof  of 
the  upper  mandible ;  the  thick  portion  of  the  tongue  is  indented  with  four  or  five  very 
slight  longitudinal  furrows,  terminating  in  the  channel  into  which  the  tongue  now 
resolves  itself,  till  it  ends  at  the  very  acute  point ;  this  sulcate  form  is  attained  by  the 


102  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

edges  being  raised.  From  this  peculiar  form  of  tongue  it  may  be  observed  that  no 
hindrance  is  presented  by  that  organ  to  the  sucking  up  of  water ;  the  spines  would 
prevent  the  escape  of  the  most  slippery  or  minute  prey,  which  could  be  crushed  by 
the  closing  of  the  beak  and  the  pressure  of  the  tongue  against  the  upper  mandible, 
the  water  finding  ready  egress." 

The  same  gentleman,  after  having  remarked  that  this  bird  is  of  frequent  occur- 
rence near  the  streams  or  back  waters  of  almost  any  of  the  rivers,  which  in  their 
course  disclose  sandy  spots  and  wide  areas  of  shingle,  continues  thus :  "  A  conside- 
ration of  the  natural  features  of  its  favorite  haunts  permits  us  to  indulge  in  surmises 
as  to  the  convenience  and  adaptation  of  its  remarkable  form  of  beak  for  obtaining  its 
food.  Where  we  have  seen  this  bird  it  has  never  been  far  from  water ;  and  if,  as  I 
presume,  the  species  is  peculiar  to  this  country  (New  Zealand),  I  can  point  to  our 
larger  river-beds  as  affording  it  desirable  feeding  grounds.  These  rapid  shallow 
streams  are  perpetually  wandering  and  shifting  in  their  course,  cutting  new  channels 
after  every  freshet,  whether  occasioned  by  heavy  rainfalls  or  by  the  melting  of  snow 
from  the  alpine  crests  of  the  '  back  country.'  Any  one  acquainted  with  our  *  plains  ' 
must  have  observed,  here  and  there,  how  certain  parts  (termed  by  the  geologists 
*  fans ')  are  thickly  covered  with  stones,  as,  for  instance,  some  miles  below  the  gorges 
of  the  Rakaia  and  Rangitata.  However  unpromising  or  useless  they  may  appear  to 
the  inexperienced,  the  practical  grazier  is  aware  that  these  stones  assist  in  keeping  the 
ground  cool,  and  in  retaining  beneath  them  a  certain  amount  of  moisture,  which  dur- 
ing the  drier  portion  of  the  year  (when  the  parching  northwest  winds  prevail)  thus 
invigorates  the  thirsty  rootlets  of  many  valuable  grasses,  and  the  result  is  the  main- 
tenance of  a  fair  number  of  sheep  on  this  rather  barren-looking  stretch  of  country. 
When  any  of  these  stones  are  disturbed  from  their  bed,  who  can  have  failed  to  notice 
the  commotion  produced  amongst  the  insect  community  thus  suddenly  disclosed  to 
view  ?  What  scuttling  ensues  to  gain  fresh  concealment  from  the  garish  light  of  day ! 
In  a  somewhat  similar  manner,  after  a  stream  has  deserted  its  temporary  bed,  numer- 
ous forms  of  aquatic  insect  life,  attracted,  in  all  probability,  by  the  moisture,  are  to  be 
found  in  the  sand  in  which  the  shingle  lies  half  embedded.  The  horny  point  of  the 
bill  of  this  bird,  from  its  peculiar  form,  is  sufficiently  strong  to  be  used  for  thrusting 
between  and  under  stones  and  pebbles.  The  flexibility  of  the  upper  mandible,  derived 
from  the  long  grooves  and  flattened  form  (extending  to  nearly  half  its  length),  tends 
materially  to  assist  the  bird  in  fitting  its  curved  bill  close  to  a  stone,  and  thus  aids  in 
searching  or  fossicking  around  or  beneath  the  shingle  for  its  food,  while  at  the  same 
time  the  closed  mandibles  would  form  a  tube  through  which  water  and  insects  could 
be  drawn  up,  as  water  is  sucked  up  by  a  syringe.  As  the  flexure  of  the  bill  is  lateral, 
the  bird  is  enabled  to  follow  up  retreating  insects,  by  making  the  circuit  of  a  water- 
worn  stone,  with  far  greater  ease  than  if  it  had  been  furnished  with  the  straight  beak 
of  the  plover,  or  the  long  flexible  scoop  of  the  avocet.  The  inspection  of  these  spe- 
cimens must  clear  away  any  little  cloud  of  doubt  that  might  remain  on  the  minds  of 
persons  unfamiliar  with  the  bird,  and  convince  them  that  this  singular  form  of  bill,  so 
far  from  being  an  accidental  deformity,  is  a  beautiful  provision  of  nature,  which  con- 
fers on  a  plover-like  bird  the  advantage  of  being  able  to  secure  a  share  of  its  food 
from  sources  whence  it  would  be  otherwise  unattainable."  Concomitant  with  the 
laterally  deflected  beak,  is  a  curious  asymmetry  in  the  coloration  of  the  plumage,  which 
has  been  pointed  out  by  Dr.  Buller  in  the  following  interesting  account :  — "  As 
already  explained,  the  curvature  in  the  bill  is  congenital,  being  equally  present  in  the 


JA^ANAS.  103 

embryo  chick,  although  not  so  fully  developed,  and  this  fact  furnishes  a  beautiful  illus- 
tration of  the  law  of  adaptation  and  design  that  prevails  throughout  the  whole  ani- 
mal kingdom.  A  bird  endowed  with  a  straight  bill,  or  with  an  upcurved  or  decurved 
one,  would  be  less  fitted  for  the  peculiar  mode  of  hunting  by  which  the  Anarhynchus 
obtains  its  living,  as  must  be  at  once  apparent  to  any  one  who  has  watched  this  bird 
running  rapidly  round  the  boulders  that  lie  on  the  surface  of  the  ground,  and  insert- 
ing its  scoop  sidewise  at  every  step,  in  order  to  collect  the  insects  and  their  larvae  that 
find  concealment  there.  But  there  is  another  feature  in  the  natural  history  of  this 
species  that  is  deserving  of  special  notice.  As  already  described,  the  fully  adult  bird 
is  adorned  with  a  black  pectoral  band,  which,  in  the  male,  measures  .75  of  an  inch 
in  its  widest  part.  Now  it  is  a  very  curious  circumstance  that  this  band  is  far  more 
conspicuous  on  the  right-hand  side,  where,  owing  to  the  bird's  peculiar  habit  of  feed- 
ing, there  is  less  necessity  for  concealment  by  means  of  protective  coloring.  This 
character  is  constant  in  all  the  specimens  that  I  have  examined,  although  in  a  vari- 
able degree ;  the  black  band  being  generally  about  one  third  narrower,  and  of  a  less 
•decided  color  on  the  left  side  of  the  breast,  from  which  we  may,  1  think,  reasonably 
infer  that  the  law  of  natural  selection  has  operated  to  lessen  the  coloring  on  the  side 
of  the  bird  more  exposed  to  hawks  and  other  enemies  whilst  the  Anarhynchus  is 
hunting  for  its  daily  food.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  a  protective  advantage  of 
this  sort,  however  slight  in  itself,  would  have  an  appreciable  effect  on  the  survival  of 
the  fittest,  and  that,  allowing  sufficient  time  for  this  modification  of  character  to 
develop  itself,  the  species  would  at  length,  under  certain  conditions  of  existence,  lose 
the  black  band  altogether  on  the  left-hand  side." 

It  is  now  generally  conceded  that  E.  Blyth  was  right  when  asserting  that  the 
JACANID^E  are  closely  allied  to  the  plovers,  and  that  they  consequently  do  not  belong 
to  the  Rallidas,  or  rails,  as  has  been  nearly  universally  thought  until  recently.  In  their 
general  aspect,  the  long  toes,  and  the  nearly  incumbent  hind  toe,  the  jayanas  present 
great  analogy  to  the  rails,  but  the  internal  anatomy,  the  knowledge  of  which  is  mainly 
due  to  Garrod  and  Forbes,  conclusively  proves  that  they  belong  to  the  present  super- 
family.  Forbes  remarks  that,  perhaps,  no  very  definite  conclusion  as  to  their  affinities 
could  be  drawn  from  a  consideration  of  the  pterylographic,  visceral,  and  myological 
features  only,  but  that  their  osteological  characters  leave  no  doubt  as  to  their  real 
position.  All  the  skulls  of  Jacanidaa  examined  by  him  are  strongly  schizorhinal, 
therein  differing  completely  from  those  of  the  rails,  and  resembling  the  plovers  and 
their  allies.  There  are  well-developed  basipterygoid  processes,  which  are  always 
absent  in  the  rails,  though  occurring  in  all  the  CharadriidaB  and  Scolopacidae  which 
he  examined.  The  vomer  is  emarginate  apically,  while  in  the  Rallidae  it  is  sharp  at 
the  point.  From  the  Scolopacidaa  and  Charadriidaa  the. skull  differs  chiefly  in  lacking 
occipital  foramina  and  supra-orbital  impressions.  The  sternum  is  quite  unlike  that  of 
the  Rallida?.  In  the  latter  group  the  sternum  is  always  peculiar,  in  that  the  xiphoid 
processes  exceed  in  length  the  body  of  the  sternum,  which  tapers  to  a  point  posteri- 
orly, and  from  which  they  are  separated  by  very  long  and  well-marked  triangular 
notches.  The  keel  is  also  less  well-developed,  and  the  clavicles  are  weaker  and 
straighter,  being  less  convex  forward,  than  in  the  Jacanidae.  The  pelvis  of  the  latter 
is  also  essentially  plover-like,  the  ilia  being  wider  and  more  expanded  anteriorly,  the 
postacetabular  ridge  having  hardly  any  median  projection,  and  the  pelvis  being  widest 
dorsally,  just  behind  the  antetrochanters ;  in  these  and  other  points  differing  from  the 
jails.  The  toes  are  enormously  elongated  and  so  are  the  claws.  Another  external 


104  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

character  distinguishing  the  jayanas  from  the  plovers  and  snipes  is  the  number  of 
rectrices,  said  to  be  ten  in  the  former,  against  twelve  or  more  in  the  latter. 

All  the  forms  belonging  to  this  very  distinct  family  have  a  metacarpal  'spur,' 
which  in  the  genera  Jacana  and  Hydrophasianus  is  large  and  sharp,  while  in  the 
others  it  is  small  and  blunt.  Of  this  spur  Professor  Forbes  remarks,  that  it  has  no 
relation  whatever  to  the  claw  or  nail  of  the  pollex,  which  is  also  present,  though 
small.  The  spur  in  Jacana  spinosa  at  least  "consists  of  an  external,  translucent, 
yellow  epidermic  layer,  which  invests  a  central  core  of  compact  fibrous  tissue,  this  in 
turn  being  supported  by  a  bony  projection  developed  at  the  radial  side  of  the  first 
metacarpal."  This  spur  is  a  formidable  weapon,  but  it  seems  that  the  forms  in  which 
it  is  small  and  blunt  have  received  a  compensation  for  the  absence  of  a  real  spur  in 
an  extraordinary  development  of  the  radius.  In  birds,  as  a  rule,  this  bone  is  slenderer 
than  the  ulna,  but  in  the  members  of  the  genus  Metopidius,  and  probably  also  in 
Hydralector  cristatus,  the  radius  is  dilated  and  flattened  into  a  sub-triangular  lamellar- 
like  expansion  for  its  distal  half,  as  shown  in  the  accompanying  cut.  The  margin  of 
the  bone,  where  it  is  superficial,  is  slightly  roughened;  and  no  doubt,  as  Forbes 

remarks,  the  peculiar  form  of  radius  is  asso- 
ciated with  the  quarrelsome  habits  of  these 
birds,  this  dilated  and  somewhat  scimetar- 
shaped  bone  being  probably  capable  of  inflict- 
ing a  very  severe  downward  blow. 
FIG.  48.-Cubitus  of  Metopidius;  h,  humerus;  r,  The  iacanas  form  a  small  family  of  tropi- 

rachus  ;  u,  ulna.  J    •*  J 

cal  birds,  one  genus,  Jacana  (or  Parra,  as 

it  erroneously  has  been  called  by  most  ornithologists),  of  about  four  species,  being 
tropical  American,  with  one  representative,  J.  gymnostoma,  a  native  of  Central 
America  and  Mexico,  just  entering  the  United  States  on  the  border  of  Texas ;  while 
the  one  figured  is  the  commonest  South  American  species ;  another  genus,  Metopidius^ 
is  Indo-African  in  its  distribution,  and  Hydralector  is  Malayan,  while  Hydrophasianus 
chirurgus,  hails  from  India  and  the  countries  to  the  east,  including  the  Philippine 
Islands  and  Formosa.  The  latter,  which  is  the  pheasant-tailed  jayana  of  writers,  is  a 
remarkably  striking  bird.  It  is  devoid  of  the  naked  lobes  on  the  head,  so  character- 
istic of  the  true  jayanas,  but  is  especially  noticeable  for  the  four  enormously  elongated 
tail-feathers,  which  are  gracefully  arched  like  those  of  a  pheasant.  The  length  of  the 
bird  is  about  eighteen  inches,  the  tail  alone  measuring  ten  inches.  On  the  authority 
of  Blyth  we  introduce  the  following  notice  of  their  habits :  "  These  birds  breed  during 
the  rains,  in  flooded  spots,  where  the  lotus  is  plentiful,  the  pair  forming  a  rude,  flat 
nest  of  grass  and  weeds,  interwoven  beneath  with  the  long  shoots  of  some  growing, 
aquatic  plant,  which  retain  it  buoyant  on  the  surface.  Herein  are  laid  six  or  seven 
olive-brown,  pear-shaped  eggs,  of  an  inch  and  a  quarter  in  length.  Their  slender 
bodies  and  widely  extending  toes  enable  jayanas  to  run  with  facility,  apparently 
on  the  water,  but  in  reality,  wherever  any  floating  leaves  or  green  herbage  meets  their 
light  tread.  The  food  consists  of  the  green,  tender  paddy,  or  other  vegetable  growth, 
dependent  on  inundation  for  its  production,  and  the  numerous  species  of  insects  that 
abound  in  such  spots.  The  cry  is  like  that  of  a  kitten  in  distress,  whence  their  native 
name  of  meewah.  In  flight,  the  legs  are  trailed  behind  like  those  of  the  herons.  The 
flesh  is  excellent."  Blyth  adds  that  he  has  sometimes  seen  it  to  all  appearance  walk- 
ing on  the  water,  the  supports  on  which  its  long  toes  really  rested  being  slight  and 
little  visible.  Legge  says  that  in  Ceylon  it  is  wonderfully  numerous  on  the  northern 


SNIPES. 


105 


tanks  in  the  "  Wanny "  district,  their  musical  notes  resounding  all  day  and  all  night 
long  through  the  picturesque  forests  on  their  borders.  These  sounds  are  essentially 
typical  of  the  wild  regions  in  the  northern  forests  of  this  island,  and  must  always 
associate  themselves  in  the  mind  of  the  naturalist  with  his  wanderings  in  Ceylon. 

The  snipes,  sandpipers,  curlews,  etc.,  form  another  and  still  larger  family  than  the 
plovers,  being  known  as  the  SCOLOPACID^E,  a  group  of  considerable  homogeneity,  and 
chiefly  characterized  by  the  long,  thin,  and  flexible  bill,  which  is  covered  by  a  soft 
skin,  at  the  end  richly  provided  with  nerves  that  make  the  bill  a  very  sensitive  probe 


FIG.  49.  —  Jacana  spitwsa, 


fit  to  detect  in  the  soft  mud  and  extricate  the  worms  and  animalcules  upon  which 
they  feed.  Otherwise  they  agree  pretty  much  with  the  Charadriidse,  having  a  similar 
pterylosis,  and  similar  muscular  and  intestinal  arrangements.  Like  those  they  also 
possess  occipital  foramina,  basipterygoid  processes  and  supra-orbital  impressions. 

Distributed  all  over  the  world,  from  the  icy  regions  of  the  north  pole  to  the  equa- 
tor, the  snipe  tribe  populates  the  sea-shores,  the  river-banks,  the  swamps  and  marshes, 
while  a  few  only  —  as,  for  instance,  the  woodcock  —  prefer  the  drier  woodlands  to 
moister  localities  near  the  water. 


106 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


We  mentioned  above  that  the  present  family  resembles  the  Charadriidae  as  to  the 
muscular  arrangement,  but  we  should  have  qualified  the  statement  in  regard  to  the 
muscles  of  the  legs  by  saying  that  the  myological  formula  is  reversed  in  the  two  fami- 
lies, that  is  to  say,  that  while  in  the  plovers  ABXY  is  the  rule,  and  AXY  the  excep- 
tion, so  is  among  the  snipes  the  latter  combination  the  usual  one,  while  only  few  have 
all  four  muscles.  Noticeable  among  the  snipes  having  this  more  generalized  muscular 
arrangement  are  the  curlews,  a  small  group,  the  external  characters  of  which  are 
alone  sufficient  to  warrant  us  in  assigning  them  a  somewhat  separate  position;  for  the 
Nurneniinae  are  characterized  by  a  very  long  and  strongly  decurved  bill,  and  by 
having  the  tarsus  entirely  reticulate,  or  scutellate  only  for  the  lower  half  of  the  front. 


FIG.  50.  —  Numenius  arquatus,  curlew. 

As  an  additional  character  may  be  quoted  their  comparatively  short  tongue.  The 
tarsus  is  totally  reticulate  in  the  Asiatic  genus,  Ibidorhyncha,  in  which,  besides,  the 
hind  toe  is  absent,  thus  to  a  certain  degree  justifying  the  saying  that  it  is  a  snipe  with 
the  bill  of  an  ibis  and  the  feet  of  a  plover.  Of  this  very  remarkable  form  only 
one  species,  the  red-billed  curlew  (I.  struthersii),  is  known.  It  was  originally  obtained 
in  the  Himmalehs,  but  recent  explorations  in  central  Asia  have  shown  that  it  inhabits 
sandy  river  banks  from  Pekin  in  the  east  to  Turkestan,  or  perhaps  the  Kirghis  steppes 
in  the  west.  Its  coloration  is  entirely  different  from  that  of  the  curlews  of  the  genus 
Niimenius,  which  are  of  a  more  or  less  rusty  gray  with  dusky  spots  all  over,  while  in 
Ibidorhyncha  the  back  is  olive  colored,  the  under  side  pure  white,  with  the  top  of 


Feet  webbed 


SANDPIPERS.  107 

head,  face,  and  throat  black,  as  is  also  a  band  aci-oss  the  breast  ;  bill  and  feet  vivid 
red.  The  arctogaean  genus  (Numenms),  consists  of  four-toed  curlews,  the  migratory 
habits,  extreme  shyness,  and  culinary  excellency  of  which  are  well  known  to  the 
sportsman.  They  range  in  size  from  that  of  the  domestic  fowl  to  that  of  the  wood- 
cock. Five  species  are  enumerated  as  belonging  to  North  America,  among  these  the 
curious  JV.  tahitensiS)  in  which  the  shafts  of  the  thigh-feathers  are  prolonged  into  thin 
and  long,  glossy  bristles.  It  inhabits  especially  the  Pacific  islands,  and  has  been  taken 
twice  in  Alaska  as  an  accidental  straggler. 

In  the  following  sub-family,  the  Recurvirostrina3,  the  length  of  bill  and  feet,  espe- 
cially that  of  the  latter,  is  carried  to  an  extreme,  but,  unlike  the  curlews,  the  bill  is 
either  straight  or  bent  upwai'ds,  and  in  both  cases  very  much  pointed.  Those  with 
straight  bills  are  called  stilts  ;  those  with  the  beak  recurved,  avocets.  The  tarsus  is 
covered  in  front  by  reticulate  scales.  They  are  tropical  or  subtropical  in  their  distri- 
bution. The  species  are  not  numerous  and  are  referable  to  three  genera,  the  distin- 
guishing characters  of  which  Mr.  Seebohm  has  tabulated  in  the  following  ingenuous 
and  laconic  way  : 

..      {  *S£*£*£, 

Himantopus,        >      ....     Hind  toe  absent. 

He  might  as  well  have  said  "  Bill  not  recurved  "  instead  of  "  Hind  toe  absent,"  how- 
ever. 

This  table  confronts  us  with  one  of  the  peculiarities  of  some  of  the  forms,  their 
fully  palmate  feet  being  unique  among  limicoline  birds.  Cladorhynchus  is  confined 
to  Australia,  the  two  other  genera  occur  both  in  the  Old  and  the  New  World,  and  in 
the  latter  both  in  North  and  in  South  America. 

A  still  smaller  sub-family  comprises  the  three  species  of  Phalaropes,  small,  rather 
short-billed,  and  short-legged  birds,  with  the  tip  of  the  bill  pointed  and  the  toes  fui- 
nished  with  a  lateral  membrane,  which  is  more  or  less  lobate.  The  Phalaropodinre 
are  more  oceanic  during  their  migrations  than  most  birds  of  this  sub-family,  and  swim 
with  grace  and  ease.  They  are  arctic  and  circumpolar  in  their  distribution,  wander- 
ing far  southward  in  winter. 

The  central  group  of  the  Scolopacida3  is  formed  by  an  assemblage  of  birds,  of 
mostly  plain  grayish  or  brownish  plumage,  spotted  with  dusky,  and  more  or  less  white 
underneath,  among  which  are  the  sanderlings,  the  godwits,  tattlers,  sandpipers,  the 
knot,  the  dotterel,  and  many  other  familiar  birds.  We  call  this  assemblage  Tringinae, 
assigning  to  them  as  characters  the  absence  of  those  features  which  have  been 
pointed  out  as  peculiar  to  the  foregoing  groups,  adding  that  they  differ  from  the  fol- 
lowing sub-family  —  the  true  snipes  —  in  having  the  eyes  placed  normally.  On  the 
whole,  the  structure  of  the  members  is  very  normal,  excessive  developments  and  spe- 
cializations in  any  direction  being  unusual.  In  this  respect  the  curious  spoon-billed 
sandpiper  (Eiirynorhyncfms  pygmceus}  is  a  noteworthy  exception.  The  end  of  its  bill 
is  greatly  depressed  and  flattened  out,  so  as  to  form  a  broad  spade  much  more  dispro- 
portionate than  the  similar  formation  of  the  spoon-bill  or  the  shoveller.  This  bird, 
which  is  about  the  size  of  the  dunlin,  and  normally  sandpiper-colored,  is  very  limited 
in  its  distribution*  and  correspondingly  rare  in  collections.  It  seems  to  breed  some- 
where in  the  neighborhood  of  Bering  Strait,  whence  most  of  the  specimens  have  been 
obtained,  traveling  south  in  fall,  and  wintering  on  the  shores  of  the  Indian  Ocean. 
The  habits  of  the  sandpipers  are,  on  the  whole,  not  greatly  diversified,  although,  of 


108  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

course,  each  species  has  peculiarities  of  its  own.  They  need,  however,  not  detain  us 
here,  with  the  exception  of  one  feature  which  does  not  seem  to  be  generally  known, 
viz.,  that  some  of  the  species  during  the  breeding  season  are  capable  of  producing  a 
real  song,  which  is  considerably  superior  to  that  of  many  a  "  song-bird  "  proper.  Says 
Mr.  Seebohm,  for  instance,  of  Actodromas  temminckii :  "  I  first  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  Temminck's  stint  at  Tromsce,  on  the  west  coast  of  Finmark,  where  it  was  very 
common.  These  charming  little  birds  were  in  full  song  in  the  middle  of  June.  It 
was  a  most  interesting  sight  to  watch  them  flying  up  into  the  air,  wheeling  round  and 
round,  singing  almost  as  vigorously  and  nearly  as  melodiously  as  a  sky-lark.  Some- 
times they  were  to  be  seen  perched  on  a  rail  or  a  post,  or  even  on  the  slender  branch 
of  a  willow,  vibrating  their  little  wings  like  a  wood-wren,  and  trilling  with  all  their 
might ;  and  often  the  song  was  uttered  on  the  ground  as  they  ran  along  the  short 
grass  with  wings  elevated  over  the  back.  The  song  of  this  bird  is  not  unlike  that  of 
the  grasshopper  warbler,  but  is  louder  and  shriller."  Of  Totanus  glareola,  the  wood- 
sandpiper  of  the  Old  World,  the  same  author  says :  "  The  note  which  the  male  utters 
during  the  pairing  season  is  much  more  of  a  song  than  that  of  the  grasshopper  war- 
bler, which  it  somewhat  resembles ;  it  is  a  monotomous  til-H-il,  begun  somewhat  low 
and  slow,  as  the  bird  is  descending  in  the  air  with  fluttering  upraised  wings,  becom- 
ing louder  and  more  rapid,  and  reaching  its  climax  as  the  bird  alights  on  the  ground 
or  on  a  rail,  or  sometimes  on  the  bare  branch  of  a  willow,  the  points  of  its  trembling 
wings  almost  meeting  over  its  head  when  its  feet  find  support.  This  song  is  a  by  no 
means  unmusical  trill,  and  has  an  almost  metallic  ring  about  it." 

Concerning  another  species,  the  pectoral  sandpiper  (Actodromus  maculatus),  Mr. 
E.  W.  Nelson  made  some  very  interesting  notes  during  his  explorations  in  Alaska,  to 
the  effect  that  the  male,  during  the  breeding  season,  can  fill  its  oesophagus  with  air  to 
such  an  extent  that  the  breast  and  throat  are  inflated  to  twice  or  more  the  natural 
size,  the  great  air-sac  thus  formed  giving  a  peculiar  resonant  quality  to  the  note  which 
he  describes  as  deep  and  hollow,  but  at  the  same  time  liquid  and  musical.  The  skin 
of  the  throat  and  breast  becomes  very  flabby  and  loose,  so  as  to  hang  down  "  in  a  pen- 
dulous flap  or  fold,  exactly  like  a  dewlap,  about  an  inch  and  a  half  wide,"  even  when 
not  inflated.  "  The  male  may  frequently  be  seen  running  along  the  ground  close  to 
the  female,  its  enormous  sac  inflated,  and  its  head  drawn  back,  and  the  bill  pointing 
directly  forwards ;  or,  filled  with  spring-time  vigor,  the  bird  flits  with  slow  but  ener- 
getic wing-strokes  close  along  the  ground,  its  head  raised  high  over  the  shoulders,  and 
the  tail  hanging  almost  directly  down.  As  it  thus  flies,  it  utters  a  succession  of  the 
booming  notes  adverted  to  above,  which  have  a  strange  ventriloquial  quality.  At  times 
the  male  rises  twenty  or  thirty  yards  in  the  air,  and,  inflating  its  throat,  glides  down 
to  the  ground  with  its  sac  hanging  below ;  again  he  crosses  back  and  forth  in  front  of 
the  female,  puffing  out  his  breast,  and  bowing  from  side  to  side,  running  here  and  there 
as  if  intoxicated  with  passion.  Whenever  he  pursues  his  love-making,  his  rather  low 
but  far-reaching  note  swells  and  dies  in  musical  cadence,  and  forms  a  striking  part  of 
the  great  bird  chorus  at  that  season  in  the  north." 

When  speaking  above  of  the  uniformity  in  structure  and  habits  of  the  birds  com- 
posing this  sub-family,  a  mental  reservation  was  made  in  regard  to  the  ruff  (Pavon- 
cella  pugnaf).  The  male,  during  the  bi-eeding  season,  has  the  face  covei-ed  with  naked 
yellowish  tubercles,  and  an  enormous  ruff  of  erectile  feathers  appears  simultaneously 
on  the  neck.  The  colors  of  this  ruff  especially,  as  well  as  of  the  body,  are  so  diver- 
sified that  hardly  two  individuals  can  be  found  precisely  alike,  though  it  is  said  that 


RUFF. 


109 


these  infinite  variations  may  be  reduced  to  thirty-three  typical  ones,  the  remainder 
being  to  all  appearance  intermediate  forms  or  crosses.  The  accompanying  cut  gives 
only  an  inadequate  idea  of  its  peculiar  aspect  at  this  season,  but  will  serve  as  an  illus- 
tration for  the  following  account,  the  excellency  of  which  may  be  an  excuse  for  again 
introducing  Mr.  Seebohm:  "There  are  two  points  of  special  interest  attaching  to 
the  history  of  the  ruff,  which  are  probably  intimately  connected  with  each  other. 
One  of  them  is  the  extraordinary  variety  of  the  plumage  of  the  males  in  the  breeding 
season,  and  the  other  is  the  fact  that  the  ruff  is  polygamous.  It  is  said  that  the 
females  largely  outnumber  the  males.  Naumann  estimates  the  proportion  as  three  to 
one,  and  this  discrepancy  is  confirmed  by  African  collectors.  The  males  contend  in 


Fin.  51.  —  Pavoncella  pugnax,  ruff. 

single  combat  for  the  right  of  being  '  cock  of  the  walk,'  and  for  this  purpose  battle-, 
fields  are  chosen,  like  the  '  laking-places '  of  the  capercaillie  and  the  blackcock. 
These  are  sometimes  on  a  slight  elevation,  but  usually  are  nothing  more  than  a  spot 
of  open  ground  in  the  marsh,  where  a  patch  of  level  short  grass  is  to  be  found,  four 
or  five  feet  across,  and  so  situated  that  it  may  be  exposed  to  the  view  of  the  admiring 
females.  The  same  piece  of  ground  is  chosen  year  after  year,  and  Naumann  mentions 
an  instance  of  one  which  had  been  thus  used  for  half  a  century.  Frequently  two  or 
three  duels  are  going  on  at  once  on  the  ground,  but  they  seldom  last  long.  After 
what  looks  like  furious  sparring,  the  weaker  cock  retires  from  the  '  hill,'  seldom  any 
worse  for  the  fray,  and  the  conqueror  awaits  another  foe.  These  cock-fights  are  not 
commenced  until  the  ruff  or  collar  is  fully  grown,  which  is  seldom  before  the  middle 


110  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

of  May,  and  are  discontinued  as  soon  as  the  feathers  on  the  neck  begin  to  fall  out, 
which  happens  about  six  weeks  later.  Soon  after  sunrise  is  the  best  time  to  observe 
them,  but  I  have  watched  them  in  Russia  and  in  Holland  as  late  as  eleven  in  the  fore- 
noon. The  excitement  of  the  birds  is  intense ;  they  stoop  with  their  heads  low,  and 
their  ruffs  expanded,  and  fly  at  each  other  like  game-cocks,  but,  unlike  those  birds, 
they  tight  with  the  bill  and  not  with  the  foot.  The  warts  on  the  side  of  the  face  of 
the  ruff  only  remain  during  the  spring,  and,  doubtless,  serve  as  a  protection  against 
the  sword-thrusts  of  their  adversaries." 

The  Scolopacinae  are  birds  of  the  twilight,  and,  like  all  birds  of  similar  habits,  are 
structurally  adapted  to  their  peculiar  manners  of  life.  Thus,  the  plumage  is  soft,  and 
the  coloration  has  that  curiously  mottled  character  which  we  will  find  in  the  owls  and 
goat-suckers.  The  eyes  are  large  and  full,  but  in  order  to  give  them  place  in  the  little 
snipe-head  without  diminishing  the  ears,  which  also  are  of  great  importance  to  noc- 
turnal birds,  the  eyes  have  been  pushed  so  far  behind  in  the  skull  as  to  be  situated 
just  above  the  ear-openings.  The  bill  is  very  long,  flexible,  and  covered  with  a  soft 
skin,  richly  supplied  with  nerves.  The-  tarsus,  like  that  of  the  Tringinse,  is  scutellate 
both  in  front  and  behind.  The  snipes  proper,  including  the  so-called  woodcocks,  are 
cosmopolitan  in  their  distribution,  and  of  migratory  habits  in  cold  climates,  the  many 
different  species  being  of  a  bewildering  similarity.  A  curious  feature  of  these  birds 
is,  that  a  number  of  species  present  strangely  modified  tail-feathers,  the  number  of 
which  is  often  enormously  increased  over  the  normal,  for  instance,  Gallinago  stenura^ 
from  eastern  Asia.  This  abnormality  of  the  tail-feathers  in  many  forms  has  been  taken 
as  an  argument  in  favor  of  the  theory  that  the  bleating  sound  of  the  common  snipe 
(Gallinago  gallinago),  is  produced  by  aid  of  the  rectrices.  Others  have  contended 
that  the  wing-feathers  are  the  instrument  by  which  it  imitates  so  closely  the  goat, 
and  bitter  discussions  have  been  carried  on  between  eminent  ornithologists  for  more 
than  twenty  years.  Together  with  several  distinguished  observers,  I  hold  that  the 
sound  usually  emanates  from  the  throat,  but  that  its  bleating  quality  is  produced  by 
the  vibration  of  the  wings  when  the  bird  descends  from  its  height.  We  quote  the 
following  from  our  own  experience :  — 

"  Very  often  the  snipe  would  rise  so  high  in  the  air  as  to  become  almost  invisible  to 
the  unaided  eye,  but  still  the  strange  sound  rang  vigorously  down  to  the  observer. 
Not  only  this  power  of  the  sound,  but  even  more  so  the  nature  of  the  tune  itself,  con- 
vinced me  that  it  originates  from  the  throat,  and  not  in  any  way  either  from  the  tail 
or  the  wing  feathers,  as  suggested  by  many  European  writers.  It  is  true  that  the 
wings  are  in  a  state  of  very  rapid  vibration  during  the  oblique  descent  when  the  note  is 
uttered,  but  this  circumstance  does  not  testify  only  in  favor  of  the  theory  of  the  sound 
being  produced  by  the  wing,  as  the  vibration  most  conclusively  accounts  for  the  quiv- 
ering throat-sound.  Anybody  stretching  his  arms  out  as  if  flying,  and  moving  them 
rapidly  up  and  down,  and  simultaneously  uttering  any  sound,  is  bound  to  '  bleat.' " 

This  group  includes  a  small,  strongly-defined  genus  Avhich  we  designate  by  its  oldest 
name  as  Rostratula,  more  commonly  known  as  Rhynclma.  The  geographical  distri- 
bution is  somewhat  remarkable,  a  representative  species  being  found  in  each  of  the 
following  provinces :  Africa  and  Madagascar,  India  and  south-eastern  Asia,  Australia 
and  southern  South  America.  It  will  be  observed  that  this  peculiar  distribution  is 
similar  to  that  of  many  isolated  forms;  for  instance,  the  Jacanidae,  HeliornithidaB, 
Trogonidae,  Dendrocygna,  flatus,  etc.,  affording  a  valuable  hint  as  to  the  origin  and 
past  distribution  of  these  more  or  less  '  aberrant '  forms.  Rostratula,  has  other  peculi- 


PA  INTED-SNIPE. 


Ill 


arities,  however,  not  the  least  interesting  being  the  fact  that  the  secondary  sexual  char- 
acters are  completely  reversed,  the  female  being  considerably  larger  and  moi*e  brilliantly 
colored  than  the  male.  In  addition  to  this  the  females  "deputize  the  duty  of  incuba- 
tion to  the  other  sex,  and  reserve  the  business  of  courting  to  themselves."  Still  more 
remarkable  is  that,  in  the  female  of  H.  bengalensis,  the  windpipe  is  more  or  less  tortu- 
ous, forming  a  distinct  loop  lying  between  the  integument  and  the  inter-clavicular 
membrane  on  the  left  side,"  while  in  the  male  it  is  straight  and  simple ;  for,  as  Darwin 
says,  whenever  "  the  trachea  differs  in  structure  in  the  two  sexes  it  is  more  developed 
and  complex  in  the  male  than  in  the  female."  The  arrangement  is  even  more  extra- 
ordinary in  the  female  of  the  Australian  species  (H.  australis),  in  which,  according  to 


FIG.  52.  —  Rostratula  capensis,  painted-snipe. 

Gould,  the  trachea  passes  down  between  the  skin  and  the  muscles  of  the  breast  for  the 
whole  length  of  the  body,  making  four  distinct  convolutions  before  entering  the  lungs. 
The  painted-snipe,  as  the  species  is  called,  is  well  represented  in  the  accompanying 
cut.  The  predominating  color  is  olivaceous,  with  buff  and  black  markings,  underneath 
olivaceous,  brown,  and  white.  Blyth  states  that  the  Asiatic  species,  when  sui-prised, 
has  the  habit  of  spreading  out  its  wings  and  tail,  and  so  forming  a  sort  of  radiated 
disk  which  shows  off  its  spotted  markings,  menacing  the  while  with  a  hissing  sound 
and  contracted  neck,  and  then  suddenly  darting  off. 

While  all  the  foregoing  families  of  the  Charadroid  types  are  schizorhinal,  the  two 
following  ones  are  distinguished  as  being  holorhinal.  On  account  of  this  arrangement 
of  the  nostrils  they  have  by  some  systematists  been  removed  from  this  superfamily 


112 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


and  placed  near  the  rails,  but  the  total  sum  of  characters  seems  to  demand  that  the 
bustards  and  thick-knees  be  left  with  the  Limicola3,  as  a  kind  of  connecting  link 
between  these  and  the  rails  and  cranes. 

The  (EmcNEMiD^E  —  in  English  called  thick-knees,  stone-curlews,  or,  better,  stone- 
plovers —  have  the  general  aspect  of  large  plovers,  with  a  rather  long  bill,  the  gonydeal 
angle  of  which  is  strongly  pronounced.  The  wings  are  pointed,  the  tarsi  are  reticu- 
lated, and  the  hind  toe  absent.  The  number  of  forms  composing  this  family  is  small. 
Their  distribution  is  inter-tropical  on  both  hemispheres,  and  no  species  belongs  to  the 
fauna  of  North  America,  while  a  single  species,  (Edicnemus  oedicnemus,  extends  its 
range  into  southern  and  central  Europe,  including  England.  Like  its  congeners  it 


FIG.  53.  —  (Edicnemus  cedicnemus,  stone-plover,  thick-knee. 

frequents  the  lowland  heaths  and  bare  lands  where  it  has  an  unobstructed  view  all 
round.  Its  habits  are  to  a  great  extent  nocturnal,  and  it  is  particularly  at  nightfall 
and  on  moonlight  nights  that  its  clamorous  voice  is  heard  when  out  in  search  for  food, 
which  consists  of  insects,  snails,  etc. 

Mr.  C.  C.  Nutting,  who  collected  in  Nicaragua,  gives  the  following  account  of  the 
Central  American  species,  CE.  bistriatus :  "  This  curious  bird  is  gregarious,  and  lives 
in  the  pastures  surrounding  the  hacienda,  where  it  makes  itself  useful  by  eating  the 
various  insects  that  annoy  and  injure  the  cattle.  On  this  account  it  is  protected  by 
the  inhabitants  of  the  country,  and  it  was  only  as  a  particular  favor  that  I  could  per- 
suade 'Don  Alejandro'  to  allow  me  to  shoot  a  couple  of  specimens.  The  bird  is 
exactly  like  a  gigantic  plover  in  appearance  and  motions,  and  is  frequently  seen  in  a 


GRALLJE.  113 

state  of  domestication  in  the  little  flower-gardens  which  occupy  the  inner  courts  of  the 
houses  of  the  aristocracy,  and  here  it  works  for  its  living  by  keeping  the  garden  clear 
of  insects,  worms,  reptiles,  etc." 

The  Indian  and  Australian  genus,  JSsacus,  is  characterized  by  its  much  larger  bill. 
Its  coloring  is  gray  above,  whitish  beneath,  with  no  spots.  In  size  it  is  considerably 
larger  than  the  stone-plovers,  and  equal  to  that  of  the  smaller  bustards. 

The  OTIDID^E,  or  bustards,  compose  the  second  holorhinal  family,  forming  a  well- 
circumscribed  group,  externally  characterized  by  the  short,  somewhat  vaulted  bill 
without  prominent  chin  angle,  the  long  and  stout  legs  finely  reticulated  anteriorly 
and  behind.  The  toes  are  very  short  and  stout,  their  number  only  three,  and  Forbes 
failed  in  discovering  even  a  trace  of  the  hind  toe  underneath  the  skin.  In  their  gen- 
eral aspect  these  birds  closely  resemble  the  gallinaceous  type,  which  in  their  habits 
they  also  recall  to  a  certain  extent.  Some  of  the  species  are  very  large,  the  size 
ranging  from  that  of  a  turkey  to  that  of  a  willow-ptarmigan,  being  generally  very 
stoutly  built.  Notwithstanding  this  apparent  clumsiness  the  bustards  fly  well,  and 
run  with  amazing  swiftness,  which  once  caused  them  to  be  included  with  the  Ostriches 
in  an  "  order "  called  Cursores.  They  are,  consequently,  especially  adapted  to  the 
open  country,  and  are,  in  fact,  "the  birds  of  the  steppes  par  excellence."  Their  food 
is  chiefly  vegetable,  thus  differing  widely  from  most  of  the  members  of  the  present 
order.  It  is  strange  that,  notwithstanding  the  fact  of  some  of  the  species  occuring 
and  breeding  in  central  Europe,  the  question  whether  these  birds  are  polygamous,  as 
has  been  asserted,  or  not,  cannot  be  said  to  be  finally  settled  yet,  though  the  nega- 
tive evidence  seems  to  be  the  stronger.  The  family  belongs  exclusively  to  the  Old 
World,  no  form  being  found  in  America.  The  centre  of  distribution  of  its  about 
thirty-five  species  may  be,  said  to  be  Africa,  but  many  species  occur  in  central  and 
southern  Asia,  and  two  are  regular  inhabitants  of  the  temperate  lowlands  of  Eui'ope. 
Also  Australia  has  its  representation,  but  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  bustards  are 
absent  in  Madagascar  and  the  Malay  Islands.  Of  structural  peculiarities  in  this  group 
may  be  mentioned  that  several  species  have  a  gular  pouch  with  an  opening  under- 
neath the  tongue.  This  pouch  is  capable  of  being  inflated.  It  is  especially  well 
developed  in  the  great  bustard  of  Europe  ( Otis  tardd),  and  much  speculation  as  to 
its  use  has  been  indulged  in.  Some  thought  it  a  water-reservoir,  while  others,  from 
the  fact  that  sometimes  a  few  seeds  or  some  trifling  quantity  of  grass  have  been  found 
in  it,  believed  that  it  was  used  as  a  receptacle  for  food.  There  is  no  doubt  any  longer, 
however,  that  the  presence  of  this  sac  during  the  breeding  season  is  simply  a  secondary 
Asexual  character,  and  that  it  is  only  a  temporary  air-chamber,  to  be  inflated  and  dis- 
tended during  the  "  showing  off."  Not  less  interesting  is  the  fact  that  the  pouch  is 
absent  in  many  species,  and  that  a  simple  distension  of  the  oesophagus  in  some  results 
in  the  neck  swelling  and  depending  in  a  similar  manner.  Another  anatomical  peculi- 
arity is  that  members  of  the  genus  Eupodotis  have  only  one  carotid  artery,  —  the 
right  one,  —  while  in  other  birds  with  only  one  carotid  it  is  the  left  that  is  present. 

Many  of  the  species  are  adoraed  with  strutting  bristles,  ruffs,  or  feather-tufts.  One 
of  the  smallest  species  is  the  one  figured,  the  little  bustard  (0.  tetras),  of  common 
occurrence  in  southern  Europe,  and  not  larger  than  a  grouse.  Another  species  which 
also  occurs  in  Europe,  though  only  as  an  accidental  straggler,  is  the  western  Asiatic 
houbara  (JToubara  macqueenii).  How  this  bird,  which  is  Intel-mediate  in  size 
between  the  great  and  the  little  bustards,  is  chased  by  the  aid  of  the  camel,  may  be 
of  interest  to  the  sportsman,  and  the  following  is  therefore  borrowed  from  Hume's 
VOL.  iv.  —  8 


114 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


"  Game  Birds  of  India."  "  It  is  weary  work  trudging  on  foot,  under  an  Indian  sun, 
after  birds  that  run  as  these  can  and  will,  and  in  the  districts  where  they  are  plentiful, 
people  always  either  hawk  them  or  shoot  them  from  camels.  Taking  the  camel  at 
a  long,  easy,  six  miles  an  hour  trot  across  one  of  those  vast  wildernesses  they  affect, 
you  will  not  be  long  before  —  raised  high  up  as  you  are  on  camel-back  —  you  catch  sight 
of  one  or  more  houbara  feeding  amongst  the  bushes.  To  them  camels  have  no  evil 
import;  everybody  uses  them;  none  but  the  veriest  pauper  walks,  every  one  rides, 


FIG.  54.  —  Otis  tetrax,  little  bustard. 

and  rides  camels.  When,  therefore,  the  houbara  see  you  coming  along  on  a  camel, 
they  only  move  a  little  aside,  so  as  to  be  out  of  your  line  of  march,  and  you  at  once 
begin  to  describe  a  large  spiral  round  them,  so  that,  while  appearing  always  to  be 
passing  away  from  them,  you  are  really  always  closing  in  on  them.  Sometimes,  if  the 
time  be  early  or  late,  or  if  the  day  be  cold  or  cloudy,  long  before  you  are  within  shot, 
they  start  off  running,  and,  if  you  press  them  further,  ultimately  take  wing,  flying 
heavily,  and  soon  re-alighting  and  running  on,  never,  so  far  as  I  have  seen,  taking  the 


SUN-BITTERNS.  115 

long  flights  that  the  great  bustard  does,  and  never  fluttering  and  skylarking  in  the  air 
as  do  the  little  ones.  Generally,  however,  if  the  time  be  between  ten  and  four, 
and  the  day  bright  and  warm,  as  your  spiral  diminishes,  the  birds  disappear  suddenly. 
They  have  squatted.  Still  you  go  on  round  and  round,  closing  in,  in  each  lap,  and 
straining  your  eyes,  usually  in  vain,  to  discover  their  whereabouts ;  suddenly,  perhaps 
from  under  the  very  feet  of  the  camel,  up  flutters  one  of  the  birds,  and,  after  a  few 
strides,  rises,  to  fall  dead  a  few  yards  further  on,  as  they  are  easy  to  hit  and  easy  to 
kill.  At  the  first  shot  all  the  houbara  that  are  at  all  close  usually  rise;  but  after 
shooting  a  brace  right  and  left,  and  having  them  picked  up  and  slung,  I  have  known  a 
third  to  blunder  up  from  within  a  few  yards.  The  way  they  will  squat  at  times  on  an 
absolutely  bare  patch  of  sand  is  astonishing ;  their  plumage  harmonizes  perfectly  with 
the  soil,  and  you  will  have  a  bird  rise  suddenly,  apparently  out  of  the  earth,  within 
five  yards  of  you,  from  a  spot  where  there  is  not  a  blade  of  cover,  and  on  which  your 
eyes  have  perhaps  been  fixed  for  some  seconds.  This  is  especially  the  case  about 
mid-day,  when  the  sun  is  nearly  vertical,  and  no  shadow  is  thrown  by  the  squatting 
bird.  Sometimes  they  try  another  plan:  they  get  behind  a  single  bush,  and  as  you 
-circle  round  they  do  the  same,  always  keeping  the  bush  between  themselves  and 
the  sportsman.  Here,  unless  the  sun  be  quite  vertical,  their  shadow  projected  on  the 
ground,  apart  from  that  of  the  bush,  is  sure,  at  certain  positions  in  the  circle,  to  betray 
them,  and  a  shot  through  the  bush  brings  them  to  bag." 

Like  most  of  the  erratic  and  isolated  types  of  birds,  the  members  constituting  the 
^super-family  EURYPYGOIDE^E  have  been  hunted  round  the  ornithological  system 
from  order  to  order,  until,  of  late,  anatomical  researches  have  proved  their  mutual 
relationship  and  their  remoteness  from  the  forms  with  which  they  were  more  or  less 
commonly  associated.  As  long  as  external  characters  alone  were  relied  upon,  the  sun- 
bitterns  were  considered  rails  by  some,  herons  by  others;  while  the  curious  Mesites 
was  in  turn  one  of  the  Passeres  and  a  Gallinaceous  bird.  When  the  anatomists  finally 
decided  their  relationship  and  united  with  them  the  kagu,  placing  them  all  near  the 
Scolopacoid  birds,  more  nearly  related  inter  se  than  to  any  other  group,  the  verdict 
had  to  be,  and  to  a  great  extent  has  been,  accepted  by  ornithologists  at  large. 

In  the  first  place  these  birds  are  schizorhinal,  and  furthermore  they  lack  occipital 
foramina,  basipterygoid  processes,  and  supraorbital  impressions.  To  these  important 
characters  of  the  skull,  besides  important  ones  from  other  parts  of  the  body,  —  for 
instance,  the  comparatively  low  insertion  of  the  hind  toe,  —  may  be  added  the  presence 
of  powder-down  patches  among  the  feathers,  a  feature  elsewhere  only  met  with  in  the 
herons,  some  parrots,  goatsuckers,  hawks,  and  a  few  others. 

Three  families  compose  the  super-family,  each  of  which  are  represented  by  a  single 
genus  only,  the  genera  again  being  nearly  monotypical.  The  sun-bitterns  are  South 
American,  Ehynochetos  is  from  the  island  of  New  Caledonia  in  the  Polynesian  Archi- 
pelago, and  Mesites  is  peculiar  to  Madagascar.  This  distribution  is  considerably 
disconnected,  and  seems  at  first  glance  to  oppose  the  view  of  the  relationship  of  these 
birds,  but  we  need  only  refer  to  what  has  been  said  on  a  previous  page,  under 
Mostratula,  in  order  to  show  that  the  peculiar  geographical  distribution  of  these  forms, 
the  antiquity  of  which  cannot  be  doubted,  is  rather  in  favor  of  the  present  arrano-e- 
ment,  and  they  can  only  be  regarded  as  the  last  survivors  of  a  group  which,  simulta- 
neously with  others  of  similarly  old-fashioned  aspect,  once  populated  continents  now 
sunk,  or  inhabited  by  forms  of  a  more  modern  type.  Just  how  the  ancestors  of  the 
recent  Limicolae,  on  one  hand,  and  the  cranes  and  rails,  on  the  other,  branched  off 


116 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


from  that  common  stock  of  which  we  here  see  the  more  or  less  direct  descendants, 
will  not  be  ascertained  before  the  embryology  of  all  these  forms  shall  be  known,  and 
perhaps  not  even  then.  Nor  may  we  expect  much  from  future  palasontological 
discoveries ;  here  and  there  a  find  may  throw  some  light  upon  affinities  and  the  history 
of  development,  but  "the  gaps  are  great  and  many.  We  will  therefore,  for  the  present 
at  least,  have  to  content  ourselves  with  such  reasonable  probabilities  as  can  be  derived 
from  the  comparative  anatomy  and  the  geographical  distribution. 

The  sun-bitterns,  family  EURYPYGID^E,  genus  Eurypyga,  as  already  indicated,  are 
South  American  birds  of  a  rather  peculiar  appearance,  something  between  a  rail  and 


FIG.  55.  —  Eurypyga  helias,  sun-bird,  sun-bittern. 

a  heron,  though  the  long  tail,  the  ample,  broad  wings,  and  the  peculiar  coloration  at 
first  glance  distinguishes  them  from  both.  Referring  to  the  cut  for  further  details 
of  external  structure  and  for  the  general  aspect,  we  need  only  mention  in  regard  to  col- 
oration that  the  sun-bird,  as  it  is  also  called,  is  beautifully  variegated  with  white,  brown, 
and  black  bands  and  mottlings,  the  head  being  black  with  white  marks.  The  eye  is 
red,  bill  and  feet  yellow.  The  feathers  are  soft,  and  the  shafts  of  those  on  the  back 
and  rump  are  extremely  fine  and  delicate  in  the  centre,  which  causes  the  tips  of  each 
feather  to  turn  the  reverse  way  directly  the  bird  is  dead.  Another  remarkable  fea- 
ture is  the  extremely  thin  neck.  The  sun-bitterns  inhabit  the  banks  of  the  great 


KAGU.  117 

rivers  and  are  said  to  be  very  shy.  Nevertheless,  they  are  easily  tamed,  and  travelers 
assert  that  they  are  often  kept  in  captivity  by  the  natives  inhabiting  the  valleys  of  the 
Amazon  and  Orinoco.  They  are  therefore  often  found  in  the  zoological  gardens, 
where  they  thrive  very  well.  They  bred  first  in  the  London  Zoological  Garden,  and 
from  the  account  by  the  superintendent,  Mr.  A.  D.  Bartlett,  we  select  the  following 
concerning  this  event:  "Early  in  the  month  of  May,  1865,  they  began  to  show  signs 
of  breeding,  by  carrying  bits  of  sticks,  roots  of  grass,  and  other  materials  about ;  they 
were  constantly  walking  round  the  pond,  evidently  in  search  of  materials  to  compose 
a  nest,  and  appeared  to  try  and  mix  wet  dirt  with  bits  of  moss,  etc.  This  suggested 
the  idea  of  supplying  them  with  wet  clay  and  mud,  which  they  at  once  commenced  to 
use.  After  a  short  time  they  settled  to  make  a  nest  on  the  top  of  a  pole  or  tree  about 
ten  feet  from  the  ground,  on  which  was  fixed  an  old  straw  nest.  One  egg  was  laid, 
but  broken,  but  early  in  June  another  was  found,  resembling  that  of  a  woodcock  rather 
than  any  other  bird.  The  two  birds  were  very  attentive,  and  took  turns  at  incubation, 
and  in  twenty-seven  days  the  young  bird  was  hatched.  It  is  certainly  one  of  the 
prettiest  young  birds  I  ever  saw.  It  is  thickly  covered  with  fine  short  tufts  of  down, 
and  much  resembles  the  young  of  the  plovers  and  the  snipes,  with  the  addition  that 
the  head  and  body  was  thickly  covered  with  rather  longer  hairs  than  are  to  be  seen  in 
the  former-mentioned  birds.  The  young  bird  remained  in  the  nest  and  was  fed  regu- 
larly by  both  parents,  the  food  consisting  principally  of  small  live  fish,  a  few  insects, 
'etc.  The  mode  of  taking  its  food  was  somewhat  peculiar:  it  did  not  gape  and  call  or 
utter  any  cry  like  most  nestlings  ;  bnt  as  soon  as  the  old  birds  flew  upon  the  nest  with 
the  food  in  their  bills,  the  young  one  snapped  or  pecked  it  from  them  and  swallowed 
it  at  once.  The  young  bird  remained  in  the  nest  twenty-one  days,  by  which  time  its 
wings  were  sufficiently  grown  to  enable  it  to  fly  to  the  ground.  It  was  then  fed  as 
before,  and -never  .afterward  returned  to  the  nest;  it  grew  quickly,  and  at  the  end  of 
two  months  was  indistinguishable  from  the  old  birds.  Early  in  August  the  old  birds 
began  to  repair  the  nest,  and  added  a  fresh  lining  of  mud  and  clay,  and  at  the  end  of 
August  laid  another  egg.  In  remarking  upon  these  interesting  facts,  I  may  observe 
that  the  egg  differs  considerably  from  the  eggs  of  any  true  Ardeine  bird  with  which 
I  am  acquainted,  in  its  spotted  and  blotched  markings,  and  jn  this  character  bears  a 
strong  resemblance  to  those  of  the  plovers  and  snipes ;  nor  are  these  the  only  resem- 
blances, its  downy  covering,  color,  and  markings  leading  one  to  regard  it  as  allied  to 
these  forms." 

Kagu  is  the  native  name  of  a  remarkable  bird,  which  is  only  known  from  the 
island  of  New  Caledonia,  forming  a  separate  genus,  Rhynochetos,  the  type  of  an  en- 
tire '  family,'  RHYNOCHETID^E.  Bartlett  had  already,  from  external  characters,  insisted 
upon  the  relationship  of  this  form  with  the  sun-bittern,  when  Professor  Parker,  from 
an  osteological  point  of  view,  asserted  that  R.  jubatus  and  the  sun-bittern  are  very 
closely  allied,  and  that  these  are  allied  again  to  the  cranes,  rails,  herons,  and  plovers, 
though  more  generalized  than  any  of  these,  regarding  them,  in  fact,  with  Psophia,  of 
which  more  later  on  under  the  cranes,  as  indicating  the  way  by  which  these*  different 
types  have  developed.  We  shall  not  go  into  details  here  concerning  the  anatomical 
features  of  the  kagu,  referring  as  we  do  to  the  accompanying  cut  representing  the 
skeleton,  but  we  wish  to  call  attention  to  the  weakness  of  the  sternal  girdle,  the  breast- 
bone corresponding  nearly  to  the  embryonic  stage  of  that  bone  in  the  crane,  and  to 
the  great  height  and  steepness  of  the  iliac  crests  of  the  pelvis,  and  the  peculiar  bend 
downwards  at  the  hinder  part  of  the  sacrum.  A  noteworthy  difference  between  the 


118 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


intestinal  arrangement  of  the  kagu  and  that  of  the  sun-bitterns  is  that  in  the  latter  the 
caeca  are  nearly  rudimentary,  while  well  developed  in  the  former.  As  to  external 
characters  it  will  suffice  to  mention  the  long  pending  nape  crest,  and  the  peculiar 
scroll-like  membrane  overhanging  the  openings  of  the  nostrils,  the  use  of  which,  ac- 
cording to  Dr.  Murie,  .seems  to  be  to  close  the  openings  when  the  bird,  as  is  its  habit, 
digs  into  the  soft  soil  for  its  food,  thus  preventing  foreign  matters  from  entering  the 

nostrils.  The  manner  of  clos- 
ing these  lids  he  describes  as 
follows  :  "  As  the  nostril  ap- 
proaches the  ground  and  is 
touched,  its  anterior  part, 
having  a  plough-share  for- 
mation or  scroll-like  contour, 
sends  the  earth  upwards  over 
it.  The  springy,  semi-elastic 
lid,  from  in  front  to  behind, 
is  pressed  down  and  inwards, 
finally  completely  closing  the 
aperture  as  the  beak  is  thrust 
deep  into  the  earth  in  search 
of  its  living  prey."  I  may 
acid  that  the  nostrils  of  Eu- 
rypyga  are  simple,  without 
any  closing  membrane. 

During  their  stay  on  New 
Caledonia,  Messrs.  Layards, 
father  and  son,  made  inter- 
esting studies  into  the  his- 
tory of  this  singular  bird,  the 
color  of  which  is  gray,  lighter 
beneath,  and  with  cross  marks 
of  brown,  black,  and  gray  on 
the  wing-  and  tail-feathers, 
recalling  a  similar  style  of  col- 
oration in  Eurypyga,  while  the  iris  is  orange,  and  feet  and  bill  orange-scarlet.  From 
their  account  we  make  the  following  extract :  — 

"  In  former  times  it  seems  to  have  been  generally  distributed  all  over  the  island, 
but  it  has  now  nearly  disappeared  from  the  neighborhood  of  the  more  settled  and 
inhabited  parts.  It  is  usually  caught  by  the  natives  with  dogs,  among  rocks  and 
stones  in  precipitous  ravines  in  the  mountains.  In  habit  it  is  strictly  nocturnal,  lying 
concealed  and  asleep  during  the  day  in  its  rocky  retreats ;  but  as  soon  as  night  comes, 
and  especially  in  wet  weather  or  during  heavy  dews,  the  '  kagou,'  as  it  is  called  by  the 
natives,  sallies  forth  in  search  of  worms,  slugs,  snails,  and  such  like,  on  which  it  feeds. 
It  runs  with  great  rapidity,  but  has  the  habit  of  remaining  during  the  day  in  one 
position  for  a  considerable  length  of  time,  like  the  herons.  Swainson  would  have 
undoubtedly  made  this  bird  a  link  between  them  and  the  rails. 

"  All  our  endeavors  to  procure  the  eggs  of  this  bird  or  reliable  information  on  its 
nidification  have  proved  futile  or  contradictory.  The  majority  of  the  natives  have 


FIG.  56.  —  Skeleton  of  Rhynochetos  jubatus. 


SERIEMA.  119 

never  even  seen  an  egg,  which  some  say  is  blue,  others  brown  and  speckled ;  and  none 
can  answer  the  question  as  to  whether  the  young  birds  are,  or  are  not,  able  to  run 
from  the  moment  of  their  being  excluded.  We  have  kept  these  birds  for  some  time 
in  confinement,  feeding  them  on  the  large  Bulimi  (which  can  be  purchased  in  the 
market,  whither  they  are  brought  as  an  article  of  diet  for  our  French  colons),  raw 
meat,  etc.  They  are  noisy  at  night,  tittering  a  guttural  rattling  note,  and  their  antics 
of  an  evening  have  sometimes  reminded  us  of  the  African  Scopus  umbretta" 

The  kagu  has  been  kept  in  captivity.  The  superintendent  of  the  London  Zoologi- 
cal Garden  thus  describes  some  of  its  peculiarities :  "  With  its  crest  erect  and  wings 
spread  out,  the  kagu  runs  or  skips  about,  sometimes  pursuing  and  driving  before  him 
all  the  birds  that  are  confined  with  him  in  the  same  aviary,  and  evidently  enjoying  the 
fun  of  seeing  them  frightened.  At  other  times  he  will  seize  the  end  of  his  wing  or 
tail,  and  run  round,  holding  it  in  his  bill.  From  a  piece  of  paper  or  dry  leaf  he  de- 
rives much  amusement,  by  tossing  it  about  and  running  after  it.  During  his  frolic  he 
will  thrust  his  bill  into  the  ground  and  spread  out  his  wings,  kick  his  legs  into  the  air, 
and  then  tumble  about  as  if  in  a  fit." 

From  Madagascar,  the  wonder-land  where  once  the  Epiornis  roamed  about,  hails 
the  third  member  of  this  puzzling  group,  not  the  least  puzzle  of  the  three  types  com- 
posing it.  In  addition  to  its  strange  structure,  the  rarity  of  the  alleged  two  species 
in  the  museums,  the  types  being  unique  for  many  years,  made  it  the  more  difficult  for 
ornithologists  to  find  out  the  truth  about  it.  Mesites,  the  only  constituent  of  the 
family  MESITID.E,  was  therefore  by  some  referred  to  the  Gallinaceous  birds,  by  others 
to  the  pigeons,  and  still  in  1872  Sundevall  insisted  upon  the  bird  being  oscinine,  only 
with  the  larger  wing-coverts  abnormal,  and  the  tibiae  naked  at  the  lower  end,  "  like 
the  waders."  The  anatomical  investigations  of  A.  Milne-Edwards  finally  enabled  the 
systematists  to  settle  the  question  as  to  its  relationships.  He  himself  referred  it  to 
the  rails,  but  Garrod  and  Forbes  have  pointed  out  the  schizorhinal  character  of  Mesites 
as  compared  with  the  holorhinal  rails,  and  the  position  with  Eurypyga  and  Mhynoche- 
tos  was  confirmed  when  Mr.  E.  Bartlett,  son  of  the  gentleman  mentioned  above,  dis- 
covered that  it  has  powder-down  patches.  He  first  found  two  very  distinct  patches  on 
the  back  of  the  neck.  This  naturally  led  him  to  search  for  others,  which  he  also 
found,  viz.,  one  on  each  side  of  -the  lower  part  of  the  rump,  close  to  the  tail,  one  on 
each  side  of  the  upper  part  of  the  pectoral  muscles,  a  third  pair,  one  on  each  side, 
running  across  the  ribs,  on  to  the  pectoral  muscle,  and  a  fourth  pair,  one  on  each  side 
of  the  abdominal  region,  running  parallel  with  the  vent,  making  in  all  five  pairs.  He 
also  found  that  the  feathers  of  the  back  and  wings  show  the  same  peculiarity  as  those 
of  Eurypyga  described  above.  To  complete  the  characterization  of  Mesites,  we  may 
add  that  the  bill  is  long  and  slender,  like  that  of  the  sun-bittern,  the  nostrils  are  long 
and  linear,  overhung  by  an  elongated  cutaneous  operculum.  The  tibia3  are  naked 
below,  and  the  tarsus  scutellated  in  front  and  behind,  like  the  corresponding  parts  in 
the  other  two  families.  A  noteworthy  character  is  also  the  blue  naked  space  round 
the  eye.  The  general  coloration  is  cinnamon  brown,  head  and  under  side  more  or 
less  marked  with  black  in  M.  variegata.  The  whole  external  aspect  is  admitted  by 
Bartlett  to  be  "  very  thrush-like." 

The  super-family  CARIAMOIDEJS  we  shall  introduce  with  a  remark  of  Profes- 
sor Newton,  to  the  effect  that  he  "  is  inclined  to  think  that  those  who  have  urged  its 
affinity  to  the  Accipitres,  and  among  them  taxonomers  starting  from  bases  so  oppo- 
site as  Sundevall  and  Professor  Parker  have  more  nearly  hit  the  mark,  and  accord- 


120 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


ingly  would  now  relegate  it  to  that  order.  It  is  doubtless  an  extremely  generalized 
form,  the  survival  of  a  very  ancient  type,  whence  several  groups  may  have  sprung ; 
and  whenever  the  secret  it  has  to  tell  shall  be  revealed,  a  considerable  step  in  the  phy- 
logeny  of  birds  can  scarcely  fail  to  follow."  Nevertheless,  the  seriema  is  also  evU 
dently  allied  to  the  cranes,  and  until  the  question  concerning  its  relationship  to  the 
African  secretary-bird  be  finally  settled,  we  may  provisionally  keep  it  where  it  has 
been  placed  by  most  authors ;  though  we  confess  the  belief  that  it  has  passed  the 
dividing  line,  and  should  properly  be  placed  with  its  African  cousin  among  the  '  birds 


FIG.  57.  —  Cariama  cristata,  seriema. 

of  prey,'  both  forming  distinct  families  of  a  super-family  named  as  above.  The  vis- 
ceral anatomy  is  shown  by  Martin  and  Gadow  to  be  essentially  crane-like,  correspond- 
ing closely  with  the  arrangement  found  in  Psophia,  the  gizzard  having  one  radiating 
tendinous  patch  on  each  side,  and  the  intestines  give  off  two  long  caeca,  characters 
not  shared  by  the  Raptorial  birds.  The  pterylosis,  according  to  Nitzsch,  has  much 
that  is  peculiar  about  it,  but  it  most  closely  approaches  that  of  Psophia  and  Grus. 
The  oil  gland  is  entirely  naked,  even  on  the  mamilla.  But  the  osteology,  on  the  other 
hand,  tends  toward  the  Raptores.  Not  only  the  sternal  apparatus  shows  an  approach 
in  that  direction,  but  especially  the  palate,  which  even  Huxley  himself  admits  is  not 


CRANES.  121 

schizorhinal,  although  not  quite  typically  desmognathous  either.  He  says  that  in  Cari- 
ama  the  internasal  septum  is  ossified  to  a  very  slight  extent,  and  the  maxillo-palatine 
processes  may  meet  in  the  middle  line,  in  both  of  which  respects  it  approaches  the 
birds  of  prey ;  but  the  ossified  part  of  the  nasal  septum  does  not  unite  below  with 
the  maxillo-palatines,  in  this  respect  being  unlike  the  Raptorial  birds. 

Two  genera,  each  consisting  of  one  species,  are  known,  viz.,  Chunga  burmeisteri, 
from  the  Argentine  Republic,  and  Cariama  cristata,  the  species  figured,  from  Brazil. 
An  interesting  difference  between  the  two  closely  allied  genera  is  the  variation 
in  the  myological  formula  of  the  legs,  the  latter  being  expressed  by  BXY,  while  B 
is  absent  in  Chunga.  We  may  add  that  BXY  is  the  normal  formula  of  the 
cranes  and  bustards.  Both  have  a  curious  crest  of  frontal  plumes,  that  of  the 
figured  species  being  the  longest.  The  coloration  of  this  species  is  of  a  sandy  brown 
above,  sandy  buff  beneath,  finely  vermiculated.  with  fulvous  and  blackish,  and  with 
a  white  terminal  band  on  the  tail.  The  orbits  are  bare  and  blue,  eye  yellow,  bill 
cinnabar-red. 

The  seriema  is  a  large  bird,  about  the  size  of  the  great  blue  heron,  and  of  a  very 
striking  appearance,  not  the  least  so  on  account  of  the  curious  frontal  crest.  In  some 
of  the  Brazilian  campos  it  is  common,  and  its  penetrating,  though  not  unpleasant 
voice,  may  be  heard  close  to  the  inhabited  places  several  hours  even  before  sunrise. 
It  is  protected  by  the  law,  and  a  fine  is  imposed  upon  anybody  killing  the  bird,  which 
is  thought  to  destroy  a  good  many  snakes.  Prof.  Reinhardt,  however,  denies  this, 
and  says  that  he  only  found  insects  and  seeds  in  the  stomach.  The  chunga,  as  the 
other  species  is  called  by  the  Spanish  inhabitants  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  is 
smaller  and  more  ash-colored,  with  black  bill,  and  the  lores  are  densely  feathered. 
Dr.  Hartlaub,  when  describing  it,  gave  the  following  accounts  of  its  habits,  from  the 
notes  furnished  by  its  discoverer,  Prof.  Burmeister,  after  whom  it  was  named :  — 

"  It  is  found  in  the  wooded  districts  of  the  province  of  Tucuman  and  Catamarca ; 
it  nests  on  the  ground.  Its  eggs  are  white,  slightly  spotted  with  rufous.  It  feeds 
upon  insects,  and  more  especially  upon  locusts.  The  young  have  a  rufous  dress, 
thickly  undulated  with  black ;  they  very  soon  begin  to  take  care  of  themselves. 
The  chunga  is  easily  domesticated,  and  seems,  even  after  a  few  days  of  captivity,  at- 
tached to  its  master.  In  its  wild  state  it  is  very  difficult  to  kill,  therefore  it  is  pref- 
erable to  search  for  the  nest,  and  bring  up  the  young  birds  by  hand.  The  cry  of  the 
bird  is  heard  very  frequently  in  the  district  where  it  is  found,  and  sounds  like  the 
bark  of  a  young  dog,  but  not  quite  so  loud." 

The  apparent  broad  gap  between  the  cranes  and  rails,  which  had  led  many  to  re- 
gard them  as  separate  *  sub-orders,'  broke  down  when  it  was  shown  that  Aramus,  the 
limpkin,  according  to  its  anatomical  characters,  belongs  to  the  cranes  and  not  to  the 
rails,  where  it  before  had  been  universally  placed.  We  therefore  do  not  hesitate  to 
unite  them  in  the  super-family  GRUIOIDE^E,  notwithstanding  the  holorhinal  char- 
acter of  the  rails.  In  this  case  the  latter  character  does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  of  a 
fundamental  nature,  since  if  the  Ocydromina?,  which  unquestionably  are  rails,  really 
are  holorhinal,  as  Garrod  asserts,  they  come  as  near  being  schizorhinal  as  any  holo- 
rhinal bird  can,  judging  from  photographs  of  the  skeleton,  of  which  a  reproduction 
may  be  found  further  on  (Fig.  60,  p.  128).  This  super-family  corresponds  with  the 
usually  so-called  '  order '  Alectorides,  a  most  unfortunate  name,  however,  since  its 
original  inventor  made  it  to  include  the  pratincole,  the  cereopsis,  the  seriema,  the 
screamers,  and  the  trumpeter,  the  last  being  the  only  genus  belonging  to  it  as  it  is  now 


122 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


usually  defined,  while  the  typical  forms  were  scattered  about  among  "Herodii,  Macro- 
dactyli,  and  Lobipedes."  A  better  name  for  the  group  if  regarded  as  an  order  is 
therefore  Paludicolae.  It  also  corresponds  pretty  nearly  to  Huxley's  '  family '  Gerano- 
morphae,  which  he  characterized  as  having  a  relatively  strong  bill,  the  angle  of  the 
mandible  truncated,  and  not  produced  into  a  slender  and  abruptly  recurved  process ; 
as  lacking  basipterygoid  processes,  with  only  one  known  exception,  and  as  having  a 
comparatively  narrow  sternum.  To  this  we  may  add  that  the  breast-bone  is  either 
truncated  behind  without  notches,  or  it  has  one  pair  of  notches  and  the  lateral  pro- 


FIG.  58.  —  1'tiopkia  crtpitans,  trumpeter. 

cesses  reaching  beyond  the  body  of  the  sternum ;  the  area  of  the  origin  of  the  obtu- 
rator internus  muscle  is  triangular,  and  not  oval ;  two  well-developed  caeca  are  always 
present.  The  pterylosis  is  not  characteristic,  and  powder-downs  are  never  present. 
Although  some  of  the  members  of  the  super-family  extend  their  breeding  range  even 
within  the  Arctic  region,  still  the  great  majority  are  strictly  tropical. 

Evidently  related  to  the  kagu  and  the  seriema,  and  likewise  in  their  structure 
exhibiting  characters  to  a  certain  degree  uniting  rails  and  cranes,  the  South  American 
trumpeter  birds,  PSOPHIID^E,  form  the  first  family.  The  legs  are  rather  high,  and  the 
toes  short,  the  hind  one  small  and  elevated.  The  bill  is  short  and  vaulted,  almost 


CRANES.  123 

Gallinaceous  in  shape,  giving  the  whole  head  quite  a  pheasant-like  appearance.  The 
plumage  of  the  head  and  neck  is  short  and  velvet-like,  this  peculiar  texture  being 
caused  by  an  upward  curvature  of  the  shaft  with  which  is  combined  a  very  soft  and 
almost  downy  structure  of  the  barbs  and  barbules.  .  The  general  arrangement  of  the 
pterylosis,  however,  agrees  perfectly  with  that  of  the  cranes  proper,  and,  like  the 
latter,  the  trumpeters  have  the  oil-gland  furnished  with  a  circlet  of  feathers  at  the  tip. 
One  of  the  most  remarkable  osteological  features  is,  according  to  Parker,  that  the 
hu-rymal  (preorbital)  bone  is  followed  by  a  chain  of  five  to  seven  free  suborbitals,  like 
those  of  the  tinamus.  "  This  cropping-up  again  of  what  the  tinamus  has  adopted 
from  the  reptile  is  very  interesting,  and  is  not  the  only  character  by  which  these  two 
birds  may  be  connected."  The  sternum  is  unnotched,  and  truncated  behind. 

Only  one  genus,  Psophia,  consisting  of  half  a  dozen  species,  is  known,  among 
which  is  P.  crepitans,  the  trumpeter.  The  name  trumpeter  refers  to  the  loud  and  very 
curious  ventriloquous  sound  which  these  birds  produce  by  closed  mouth.  Agami  or 
yakamik  is  the  name  by  which  they  are  known  to  the  Indians.  The  species  mentioned 
is  confined  to  the  countries  north  of  the  Amazon,  where  it  was  met  with  by  Richard 
Schomburgh,  who  gives  the  following  account  of  its  habits :  "  It  is  found  in  the  forests 
all  over  British  Guiana,  and  may  often  be  seen  in  flocks  of  a  hundred  to  two  hundred 
individuals.  They  do  not  seem  to  leave  the  forests  at  all.  Being  unusually  easy  to 
tame,  they  are  also  found  in  the  settlements  of  the  Indians,  ruling  with  undisputed 
sovereignty  the  other  poultry  as  also  the  tame  quadrupeds ;  even  the  big  hoccos  have 
to  submit  to  their  sway.  Their  power  of  flight  is  so  weak  that,  when  the  flocks  fly 
across  a  river  of  any  consequence,  several  of  the  birds  usually  fall  into  the  stream 
before  reaching  the  opposite  bank,  in  which  case  they  save  themselves  by  swimming. 
They  seem  to  prefer  the  moist  forests  near  the  coast  to  those  of  the  interior.  Their 
meat  is  palatable.  They  nest  on  the  ground." 

The  cranes,  GEUID^E,  have  a  longer,  more  compressed  bill,  and  a  harder  plumage, 
with  the  tertials  usually  elongated  and  drooping,  or  very  broad  with  open  and  decom- 
posed vanes,  in  the  latter  case  capable  of  being  raised  at  will  to  form  a  very  striking 
ornament.  Several  cranes  have  a  smaller  or  greater  part  of  the  head  bare  and  cov- 
ered with  papillae.  As  already  remarked,  they  are  schizorhinal,  and  the  hind  border 
of  the  breast-bone  is  truncated.  The  formula  of  the  thigh  muscles  is  ABXY,  BXY, 
or  XY.  Some  —  or  rather  most  —  of  the  cranes  have  a  very  loud  and  resounding, 
trumpeting  or  whooping  voice,  the  depth  and  resonance  of  which  is  produced  by  the 
peculiar  convolutions  of  the  windpipe  within  the  hollow  keel  of  the  breast-bone.  The 
twistings  of  the  trachea,  which  enters  the  keel  below,  at  the  junction  of  the  merry- 
thought, passes  along  the  edge,  then  turns  forwards,  and  comes  to  the  front  underneath 
the  body  of  the  breast-bone,  then  turns  back  again,  being  differently  bent  and  curved 
in  the  different  species  before  it  finally  leaves  the  hollow  and  proceeds  into  the  inte- 
rior of  the  thorax,  act  in  a  similar  way  as  the  convolutions  of  the  French  hunting-horn. 
The  most  extreme  development  is  found  in  the  whooping-crane  (Grus  americana)  of 
this  continent,  which  "  has  a  windpipe  between  four  and  five  feet  long,  of  which  no 
less  than  twenty-eight  inches  are  coiled  up  in  the  keel  of  the  breast-bone."  The  length 
and  development  of  the  convolutions  increase  with  the  age,  and  in  the  young  they 
are  altogether  absent.  With  regard  to  these  we  quote  the  following  from  Mr.  T.  I. 
Roberts :  "  In  the  embryo  crane  just  about  to  break  the  shell,  the  trachea  does  not 
enter  the  sternum  at  all,  and  is  perfectly  simple.  But  the  anterior  part  of  the  keel, 
which  is  entirely  cartilaginous  and  diminutive,  is  much  more  thickened,  and  a  cross 


124 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


section  of  it  shows  it  to  consist  of  two  thin  walls,  separated  by  a  marrow-like  substance. 
In  this  feature  of  the  sternum  we  see  the  only  indication  in  the  embryo  of  the  singular 
structure  to  be  developed  later  in  life.  The  degree  of  complexity  of  the  trachea  is 
thus  shown  to  be  dependent  upon  age,  and  the  variations  are  no  doubt  fully  accounted 

for  by  this  fact." 

The  cranes  are  gregarious,  and  those  inhabiting  the  northern  hemisphere  are  emi- 
nently migratory.  During  their  migrations  the  flocks  travel  in  V-like  array,  like  those 
of  wild  geese.  They  are  mainly  vegetable-feeders,  and  some  species  are  even  exceed- 
ingly destructive  to  the  grain  crop. 

The  group  is  one  of  considerable  antiquity,  and  was  formerly  richer  in  forms  than 
nowadays,  like  the  next  foregoing  and  following  families.  A  gigantic  species,  Grus 


FIG.  59.  —  Breast-bone  and  lower  part  of  windpipe  of  the  whooping  crane,  Grus  americana.    The  entire  left  side  of 
the  keel  has  been  cut  away  to  show  the  interior.    About  one-half  natural  size. 


primigenia,  inhabited  France  during  the  '  reindeer  period,'  and  remains  of  cranes  have 
been  traced  back  to  the  miocene  of  Europe  and  the  pliocene  of  North  America.  At 
present  the  species  are  few,  and  their  geographical  distribution  somewhat  peculiar. 
They  occur  now,  during  one  or  another  season  of  the  year,  everywhere  except  in 
South  America  and  the  Malayan  and  Polynesian  archipelagoes.  One  species  is 
peculiar  to  Australia,  two  are  North  American,  four  are  exclusively  African,  while 
the  rest  are  chiefly  Asiatic ;  the  headquarters  of  the  restricted  genus  Grus  being  the 
temperate  parts  of  eastern  Asia. 

Altogether  there  are  only  about  seventeen  well-defined  species,  referable  to  three 
or  four  genera.  On  the  full-page  plate  the  three  chief  forms  are  represented.  In  the 
background  are  seen  a  flock  of  the  common  European  crane  (Grus  grus),  yelling  at 


CRANES.  125 

the  approach  of  the  V-shaped  flight  above.  The  four  birds  in  the  foreground,  having 
the  peculiar  crest  or  crown  on  top  of  the  head,  much  like  that  of  a  peacock,  are  the 
northwest  African  crowned-crane  (JBalearica  pavonina)  ;  the  southern  species,  B. 
chrysopelargus,  having  a  large,  pendulous,  naked  throat-lappet.  In  this  genus  the 
windpipe  is  simple  and  does  not  enter  the  keel.  The  light-colored  bird  to  the  left,  in 
front  of  the  others,  is  a  '  demoiselle '  or  '  Numidian '  crane  ( Tetrapterix,  or  Antro- 
poides  virgo),  of  which  a  better  representation  will  be  found  on  the  full-page  cut  of 
the  Bcdceniceps  rex,  in  the  upper  right-hand  corner  (facing  p.  172).  Like  the  other 
cranes,  the  demoiselle,  which  occurs  from  Mongolia  in  the  east  to  northern  Africa  in 
the  west,  is  fond  of  dancing,  as  described  in  the  following  graphic  account  of  the 
Russian  naturalist,  Prof,  von  Nordmann :  "  They  arrive  in  the  south  of  Russia  about 
the  beginning  of  March,  in  flocks  of  between  two  and  three  hundred  individuals. 
Arrived  at  the  end  of  their  journey,  the  flocks  keep  together  for  some  time,  and  even 
when  they  have  dispersed  in  couples,  they  re-assemble  every  morning  and  evening, 
preferring  in  calm  weather  to  exercise  themselves  together,  and  amuse  themselves  by 
dancing.  For  this  purpose  they  choose  a  convenient  place,  generally  the  flat  shore  of 
a  stream.  There  they  place  themselves  in  a  line,  or  in  many  rows,  and  begin  their 
games  and  extraordinary  dances,  which  are  not  a  little  surprising  to  the  spectator,  and 
of  which  the  account  would  be  considered  fabulous  were  it  not  attested  by  men  worthy 
of  belief.  They  dance  and  jump  around  each  other,  bowing  in  a  burlesque  manner, 
advancing  their  necks,  raising  the  feathers  of  the  neck-tufts,  and  half  unfolding  the 
wings.  In  the  meantime  another  set  are  disputing,  in  a  race,  the  prize  for  swiftness. 
Arrived  at  the  winning-post  they  turn  back,  and  walk  slowly  and  with  gravity ;  all  the 
rest  of  the  company  saluting  them  with  reiterated  cries,  inclinations  of  the  head,  and 
other  demonstrations,  which  are  reciprocated.  After  having  done  this  for  some  time, 
they  all  rise  in  the  air,  where,  slowly  sailing,  they  describe  circles,  like  the  swan  and 
other  cranes.  After  some  weeks  these  assemblies  cease,  and  from  that  tune  they  are 
seen  constantly  walking  in  loving  pairs  together." 

It  would  not  do  to  leave  the  cranes  without  having  given  the  readers  a  taste  of  J. 
Wolley's  account  of  the  breeding  of  the  crane  in  Lapland,  which  Professor  Newton 
has  styled  "  one  of  the  most  pleasing  contributions  to  natural  history  ever  written," 
and  I  only  regret  that  want  of  space  prohibits  the  reproduction  of  it  unabridged. 
"VVolley,  in  1853,  went  to  Swedish  Lapland  in  order  to  find  out,  among  other  things, 
whether  the  young  crane,  on  first  leaving  the  egg,  is  helpless  like  a  young  heron,  or 
able  to  run  about  like  the  young  of  most  waders  and  Gallinaceous  birds,  and  to  observe 
the  breeding  habits  for  himself.  He  came  after  the  birds  were  hatched,  but  he  satis- 
fied himself  that  the  young  cranes,  after  leaving  the  eggs,  could  run  about.  He  had  to 
wait  a  year  to  get  the  eggs.  Here  are  his  words :  "  The  following  year,  1854,  on  the 
20th  of  May,  I  went  with  only  Ludwig  —  my  servant-lad  —  to  look  for  the  crane's 
nest  in  '  Iso  noma '  [the  great  swamp].  We  saw  no  birds,  and  the  spot  where  the 
nest  had  been  the  preceding  year  was  not  easy  to  find  in  so  extensive  a  marsh.  So 
we  quartered  our  ground,  walking  carefully  up  one  strip  of  harder  bog  and  down  the 
next.  After  some  hours  of  heavy  walking,  I  saw  the  eggs  —  joyful  sight  —  on  an  ad- 
jacent slip,  in  a  perfectly  open  place.  The  two  eggs  lay  with  their  long  diameters 
parallel  to  one  another,  and  there  was  just  room  for  a  third  egg  to  be  placed  between 
them.  The"  nest,  about  two  feet  across,  was  nearly  flat,  and  chiefly  of  light-colored 
grass  or  hay  loosely  matted  together,  scarcely  more  than  two  inches  in  depth,  and 
raised  only  two  or  three  inches  from  the  general  level  of  the  swamp.  There  were 


126  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

higher  sites  close  by,  and  many  of  them  would  have  seemed  more  eligible.     It  was 
just  at  the  lowest  edge  of  the  strip,  but  so  much  exposed  that  I  thought  I  should  be 
able  to  see  even  the  eggs  themselves  from  a  spot  at  a  considerable  distance,  to  which 
I  proposed  to  go.     There  was  a  common  story  amongst   the  people  of  the  country, 
that  the  crane,  if  its  nest  were  disturbed,  would  carry  off  its  eggs  under  its  wings  to 
another  place,  so  I  purposely  handled  one  of  the  eggs,  and  hung  up  a  bit  of  birch- 
bark  on  a  birch-tree  beyond  the  nest,  as  a  mark  by  which  to  direct  my  telescope. 
Then  I  went  with  Ludwig  to  a  clump  of  spruce  growing  on  some  dry  sandy  land, 
which   rose   out  of  the   midst  of  the  marsh.      Here  I  made  a  good  ambuscade  of 
spruce  boughs,  crept  into  it,  got  Ludwig  to  cover  me  so  that  even  the  crane's   eye 
could  not  distinguish  me,  and  sent  him  to  make  a  fire  to  sleep  by  on  the  far  side  of 
the  wood,  with  strict  orders  on  no  account  to  c<3me  near  my  hiding-place.     I  kept  my 
glass  in  the  direction  of  the  nest,  but  it  was  long  before  I  saw  anything  stir.     In  the 
meantime  the  marsh  was  by  no  means  quiet ;  ruffs  were  holding  something  between  a 
European  ball  and  an  East  Indian  nautch.     Several  times  '  peet  root,  peet  root,'  to 
use  the  words  by  which  the  Finns  express  the  sound,  told  where  the  snipes  were.     A 
cock  pintail  dashed  into  a  bit  of  water,  calling  loud  for  its  mate.     The  full,  melan- 
choly wailing  of  the  black-throated  diver  came  from  the  river ;  watch-dogs  were  bark- 
ing in  the  distance  ;  I  heard  the  subdued  hacking  of  wood  and  the  crackling  of  Lud- 
wig's  fire.     It  was  already  about  midnight ;  fieldfares  were  chasing  each  other  through 
the  wood ;  one  came  pecking  about  my  feet,  and  another,  settling  on  the  branches 
that  covered  my  back,  almost  made  my  ears  ache  with  the  loudness  of  its  cries.     I 
often  heard  the  waft  of  known  wings,  but  three  times  there  sounded  overhead  the 
sweeping  wave  of  great  wings,  to  which  my  ears  were  unaccustomed.     I  could  scarcely 
doubt  it  was  the  cranes,  but  I  dare  not  turn  up  my  eye ;  I  even  once  or  twice  heard  a 
slight  chuckle  that  must  have  been  from  them.     At  length,  as  I  had  rny  glass  in  the 
direction  of  the  nest,  which  was  three  or  four  hundred  yards  off,  I  saw  a  tall  gray 
figure  emerging  from  amongst  the  birch-trees,  just  beyond  where  I  knew  the  nest 
must  be,  and  there  stood  the  crane  in  all  the  beauty  of  nature,  in  the  full  side  light  of 
an  Arctic  summer  night.     She  came  on  with  her  graceful  walk,  her  head  up,  and  she 
raised  it  a  little  higher,  and  turned  her  beak  sideways  and  upwards  as  she  passed 
round  the  tree  on  whose  trunk  I  had  hung  the  little  roll  of  bark.     I  had  not  antici- 
pated that  she  would  observe  so  ordinary  an  object.     She  probably  saw  that  her  eggs 
were  safe,  and  then  she  took  a  beat  of  twenty  or  thirty  yards  in  the  swamp,  pecking, 
and  apparently  feeding.     At  the  end  of  this  beat  she  stood  still  for  a  quarter  of  an 
hour,  sometimes  pecking  and  sometimes  motionless,  but  showing  no  symptoms  of  sus- 
picion  of   my  whereabouts,  and  indeed  no   manifest   sign   of  fear.     At  length  she 
turned  back  and  passed  her  nest  a  few  paces  in  the  opposite  direction,  but  soon  came 
in  to  it ;  she  arranged  with  her  beak  the  materials  of  the  nest,  or  the  eggs,  or  both  ; 
she  dropped  her  breast  gently  forward,  and,  as  soon  as  it  touched,  she  let  the  rest  of 
her  body  sink  gradually  down.     And  so  she  sits,  with  her  neck  up  and  her  body  full  in 
my  sight,  sometimes  preening  her  feathers,  especially  of  the  neck,  sometimes  lazily 
pecking  about,  and  for  a  long  time  she  sits  with  her  neck  curved  like  a  swan's,  though 
principally  at  its  upper  part.     Now  she  turns  her  head  backwards,  puts  her  beak  under 
the  wing,  apparently  just  in  the  middle  of  the  ridge  of  the  back,  and  so  she  seems 
fairly  to  go  to  sleep.     I  was  now  sure  the  crane  would  not  carry  off  her  eggs.    After 
enjoying  for  a  short  time  longer  this  sight  —  and  no  epithet  is  yet  in  use  which  ex- 
presses the  nature  of  the  feelings  created  by  such  scenes  in  the  minds  of  those  who 


RAILS.  127 

fully  enjoy  them  —  I  found  that  the  air  was  freezing.  I  quickly  got  up,  and  on  reach- 
ing the  fire  made  myself  comfortable." 

Aramus  was  still  in  1870,  by  Gray.,  -associated  with  the  typical  rails  within  the 
same  genus.  Here,  as  in  so  many  other  cases,  Garrod's  investigations  of  the  anatomy 
exploded  an  arrangement  solely  based  upon  external  characters.  He,  in  1876,  demon- 
strated that  the  limpkin  is  schizorhinal,  that  it  has  supra-occipital  foramina,  that  the 
palate,  the  sternum,  and,  in  fact,  the  whole  skeleton,  is  completely  Gruine.  He  pointed 
out  that  the  pterylosis  exactly  agrees  with  that  of  Psophia  and  Grits,  according  to 
Nitzsch,  who  says  that  it  wrould  have  to  be  placed  with  these  "  if  in  its  bill  and  its 
long  toes  it  did  not  so  distinctly  resemble  Rallus.  The  form  of  the  wings  and  the 
texture  of  the  plumage  are,  however,  exactly  as  in  Rallus.  The  myological  formula 
is  BXY.  The  cseca  are  well  developed,  and  peculiar  in  being  situated  laterally  and 
close  together,  instead  of  opposite  one  another.  Altogether  the  AEAMID^E  are  com- 
pletely intermediate  between  cranes  and  rails,  making  their  separation  into  different 
sub-orders  indefensible. 

The  family  of  the  limpkin s  or  courlans  is  a  very  small  one,  consisting  only  of  one 
genus  of  two  species,  and  is  strictly  Neogaean,  or  rather  tropico-American,  in  its  dis- 
tribution. Dne  species,  A.  pictus,  is  restricted  to  Central  America,  the  West  Indies, 
and  southern  Florida.  The  other,  A.  scolopaceus,  inhabits  eastern  South  America. 
Mr.  E.  Gibson  has  recently  contributed  the  following  notes  concerning  the  habits  of 
the  latter,  or  the  '  vidua  loca,'  as  the  Spaniards  call  it :  — 

"  The  Spanish  name  —  the  literal  translation  of  which  is  '  mad  widow '  —  is  given  to 
this  bird  by  the  natives  from  its  sombre  plumage,  solitary  habits,  and  peculiar  cry.  It 
is  generally  distributed  through  the  swamps,  frequenting  the  deeper  ones  by  prefer- 
ence, and,  though  usually  found  singly,  may  be  met  with  in  fours  and  fives,  or  even  as 
many  as  twenty.  Mr.  Durnford  correctly  describes  its  'heavy,  laborious  flight,  per- 
formed by  slow  beats  of  the  wings,  which  it  sometimes  raises  so  high  as  nearly  to 
meet  over  its  back,'  but  might  also  have  added  that  the  legs  hang  down  at  an  angle 
of  forty-five  degrees,  giving  the  bird  a  particularly  ungainly  appearance,  and  that  its 
flight  is  never  prolonged.  The  cry,  more  indulged  in  at  night  than  through  the  day, 
is  a  loud,  long,  melancholy  wail,  and,  heard  towards  the  small  hours,  produces  an 
uncomfortable  eerie  feeling  on  the  hearer.  It  might  be  some  lost  spirit  of  the  swamps, 
or  Nickar  the  soulless  himself,  shrieking  and  crying." 

Since  the  last  family,  the  RALLID.E,  or  rails,  have  already  been  characterized  by 
comparison  with  groups  previously  treated  of,  it  is  therefore  sufficient  to  mention 
that  they  are  holorhinal,  have  no  basipterygoid  processes,  nor  supra-occipital  foramina, 
they  have  all  the  five  classificatory  thigh-muscles,  long  ca3ca,  and  tufted  oil-glands. 
The  bill  is  rather  short  and  hard,  the  toes  very  long.  The  affinities  of  the  family 
have  also  been  mentioned,  though  it  should  be  added  that  prominent  anatomists  have 
recognized  relations  towards  the  Gallinaceous  birds.  The  characters  pointing  in  that 
direction  indicate,  perhaps,  the  generalized  nature  of  the  rail  type  and  its  antiquity 
rather  than  direct  affinity.  • 

The  rails  are  particularly  interesting,  not  only  for  their  structure  and  habits,  but 
also  for  the  fact  that  the  family  contains  numerous  forms  which  by  disuse  of  their 
wings  have  been  deprived  of  the  power  of  flight,  and  in  which,  therefore,  the  structure 
of  the  parts  constituting  and  supporting  the  organs  of  flight  have  become  greatly  modi- 
fied. The  fact  that  several  of  these  forms  have  become  extinct  during  historical  times 
directly  or  indirectly  by  the  action  of  man  adds  considerably  to  the  interest. 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


"We  divide  the  family  into  several  groups  of  lower  rank,  as  true  rails,  wood-hens, 
purple  gallinules.  true  gallinules,  and  coots,  the  latter  being  distinguished  by  their 
lobated  toes,  like  grebes,  the  gallinules  by  the  horny  shield  which  covers  the  fore- 
L  •  " . 

The  true  rails  are  distributed  all  over  the  world,  being,  however,  chiefly  tropical 

and  especially  numerous  in  America.  They 
are  usually  more  or  less  sombre-colored  birds 
of  very  retired,  partly  crepuscular  habits, 
populating  swamps  and  marshes,  and  very 
little  known  —  except  by  their  often  loud 
and  harsh  voice  —  to  others  than  those  who 
as  sportsmen  or  naturalists  make  them  a 
specialty.  The  Virginia  rail  (JRattu*  virgin- 
iamuf)  and  the  Bora  rail  (Porzana  Caro- 
lina) are  familiar  examples  from  this  conti- 
nent, while  the  common  European  corn- 
crake {Crex  crex)  is  only  a  casual  visitor  to 
our  eastern  coast. 

Closely  related  to  the  rails  proper,  but 
singularly  specialized  in  many  respects,  are 
the  wood-hens,  as  they  are  called  by  the 
English  colonists  in  the  South  Sea.  Several 
species  of  the  genus  Ocydramu*  are  inhabit- 
ants of  Xew  Zealand,  and  have,  like  many 
other  bird  types  of  the  region,  lost  their 
power  of  flight  by  disuse.  They  are  rather 
large  birds,  about  the  size  of  the  domestic 
fowl,  with  stout  feet,  small  and  weak  wings, 
and  correspondingly  feeble  development  of 
the  shoulder  girdle  and  the  breast-bone,  the 
keel  being  very  low,  as  shown  in  the  ac- 
companying cut  of  the  skeleton.  The  anal- 
ogy of  the  retrograde  development  of  the 
fore  limbs  and  the  parts  supporting  them 
in  these  birds,  with  the  state  of  the  struc- 
ture in  the  struthious  birds  inhabiting  the 
same  region,  is  very  instructive  as  indicat- 
ing the  probable  origin  of  the  latter  by  a 
similar  process  of  reduction  caused  by  disuse. 
In  this  connection  there  is  a  point  of  con- 
siderable importance,  viz^  that  in  Ocydro- 
mu»  the  angle  between  the  scapula  and  the  coracoids  is  less  acute  than  in  flying  Can- 
nates,  thus  approaching  the  arrangement  in  the  Strntbionine  bird,  and  in  the  equally 
flightless  extinct  Heqperondt.  A  further  hint  in  the  same  direction  is  the  fact  that  the 
angle  mentioned  is  equally  obtuse  in  the  skeleton  of  the  dodo.  Some  anatomists  go 
so  far  as  to  suggest  a  comparatively  close  relationship  between  Ocydromu*  and  the 
kiwis,  as,  for  instance,  Prof.  Garrod,  who  say*  "  so  many  features  have  they  in  common, 
that  it  would  be  difficult  to  bring  convincing  argument  against  the  statement  that  Ocy- 


Fta. «. — Skeletotf  of  Oc&nmut  f*»cm». 


RAILS.  129 

dromus  is  one  of  the  nearest  allies  of  the  Apteryx.  This  similarity  may  be  the  simple 
result  of  similar  influences  acting  on  different  natures,  the  diminished  necessity  for 
the  use  of  the  anterior  limbs  allowing  them  to  dwindle  in  both.  But,  with  the  facts 
of  geographical  distribution  to  back  it,  the  opinion  may  be  fairly  maintained  that 
Apteryx  and  Ocydromus  had  the  same  ancestor  not  far  back  in  time.  It  may  be  aid 
that  the  pelvis  is  very  different ;  but  the  same  remark  partly  applies  to  Tfruzmuc,  an 
undoubted  ally,  and  a  bird  also  most  probably  of  the  same  stock,  though  residing  so 
far  off."  With  regard  to  the  geographical  distribution,  we  once  more  refer  to  our 
remark  under  Itostratula  (p.  110),  with  the  addition  that  Ocydromine  birds  can  also 
be  traced  to  the  islands  of  the  Mascarene  fauna.  When  the  earliest  explorers  came 
to  these  islands,  they  found  the  dodo  and  other  large  and  strange  birds  which  were 
deprived  of  the  power  of  flight.  These  helpless  creatures  very  soon  became  extinct, 
by  the  direct  action  of  man  or  by  the  mammals  which  the  first  navigators  turned 
loose,  or  the  first  settlers  brought  with  them.  Only  some  old  pictures,  scanty  descrip- 
tions, and  a  heap  of  bones  collected  by  Prof.  Xewton,  are  the  remains  from  which  we 
have  to  construct  our  knowledge  of  these  remarkable  forms.  A  few  of  them  were 
brought  alive  to  Europe,  where  they  were  figured.  Among  these  are  some  paintings 
on  vellum  of  a  curious-looking  bird,  with  a  long,  snipe-like  beak  and  no  wings, 
altogether  very  much  like  a  kiwi.  It  is  evidently  the  uponle  rouge  an  bee  de  Became,7* 
from  Mauritius,  which  is  said  by  a  Dutch  preacher,  J.  C.  Hoffmann,  who  lived  there 
in  1673-1675,  to  have  been  caught  in  the  following  manner:  — 

••  .V  rod  is  taken  in  the  right  hand,  and  the  left  is  wrapped  in  a  piece  of  red  stuff, 
which  is  thus  shown  to  the  birds,  commonly  assembled  in  numerous  flocks.  Whether 
the  red  color  terrifies  these  stupid  birds,  or  whether  it  attracts  them,  thev  approach 
the  fowler  almost  without  fear ;  and  he,  when  they  are  at  a  convenient  distance, 
strikes  and  seizes  one.  The  cries  which  the  captive  utters  attract  its  companions, 
who  seek  to  deliver  it,  and  thus  all  become  the  prey  of  the  fowler.**  With  this 
*  poule  rouge,'  Alphonse  Milne-Edwards  has  identified  a  number  of  bones  collected 
in  Mauritius  by  Edward  Xewton,  the  examination  of  which  resulted  in  the  following 
conclusion  concerning  the  affinities  of  Aphanaptfryx  broedrii^  as  this  bird  has  been 
styled :  "  It  evidently  was  one  of  the  family  Rallida?,  and  there  is  much  less  differ- 
ence between  it  and  Ocydromus  than  between  this  last  and  the  [true]  rails.7* 
Another  bird  of  the  same  family  is  the  white  *geant,'  figured  and  described  by 
the  French  colonist,  Leguat,  who  lived  on  Rodriguez  during  the  last  decade  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  Lttfuatia  gigantea,  which  measured  six  feet  in  height, 
with  a  body  as  large  as  a  goose,  may  possibly  be  a  water-hen  or  gaUinule,  with  frontal 
shield. 

The  common  wood-hen  (O.  at/£fra/t*«),  or  the  weka,  as  it  is  called  by  the  Maoris,  is 
.re  one  day  to  become  extinct  as  was  Leguat's  *geant-?  We  read  in  Buller's 
History  of  the  Birds  of  Xe\v  Zealand  that  "the  weka  is  too  often  killed  only  for  mere 
wantonness,  or  the  pleasure  of  taking  life.  The  Maoris  of  Arowhenua  make  expedi- 
tions in  the  winter  for  obtaining  a  supply  of  these  birds,  which  they  preserve  in  their 
own  fat.  On  one  run,  near  Burke's  Pass,  1  have  been  told  that  over  two  thousand 
wekas  were  secured  by  a  party  of  natives  at  one  of  these  hunts.  Numbers  are  also 
killed  by  the  settlors  for  their  oil,  which  is  much  esteemed  for  dressing  saddle-straps 
and  for  a  variety  of  purposes.** 

Of  an  allied  species,  O.  syleestris,  which  inhabits  Lord  Howe's  Island,  between 
Zealand  and  Australia,  we  have  the  following  account  by  Mr.  R.  D.  Fitigerald: 

VOL.  IV. — 9 


130 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


"  When  ascending  the  mountain,  the  guide  stopped  suddenly,  as  a  note  like  the  rasps 
of  a  saw  was  heard  at  some  distance  among  the  loose  stones  and  ferns,  and  exclaimed, 
'  That  is  a  wood-hen.'  He  then  imitated  the  note  of  the  bird,  and  the  wood-hen 
replied.  He  again  tried  the  imitation,  but  the  bird  was  silent.  Another  guide  accom- 
panying us  then  struck  the  back  of  the  tomahawk  against  a  tree;  again  the  bird 
answered ;  further  strokes  of  the  tomahawk  were  useless,  no  reply  could  be  obtained. 
Then  a  dog  was  made  to  bark,  and  with  effect ;  the  call  of  the  bird  was  again  heard, 


FIG.  61.  —  Pwphyrio porphyrio,  purple-gallinule. 

and  again  and  again  as  often  as  the  sounds  were  made  and  varied.  At  each  time  it 
Avas  apparent  that  the  bird  was  approaching  nearer  and  nearer  to  our  position,  until 
the  bird  ran  out,  apparently  quite  confused  and  bewildered,  close  to  our  feet.  The 
dog  seized  the  bird  and  killed  it,  otherwise  it  might  have  been  captured  alive.  It 
appears  that  the  noise  made  to  attract  the  bird  must  be  constantly  varied,  one  con- 
tinuous sound  having  no  effect.  No  wonder  that  they  are  becoming  scarce,  and  will, 
no  doubt,  be  soon  extinct." 


RAILS.  131 

The  purple-gallinules,  as  typified  by  the  European  species  (Porphyrio  porphyrio) 
and  the  American  lonornis  martinica,  are  stoutly  built  birds  with  a  high  and 
strong  bill,  frontal  shield,  long  toes  without  lateral  membrane,  and  a  beautiful  plu- 
mage mostly  of  a  brilliant  blue  color.  The  long  toes  enable  them  to  walk  readily 
over  the  water  plants,  and  "  the  large  foot  is  frequently  employed  to  hold  the  food, 
very  much  in  the  manner  of  a  parrot,  while  the  bird  is  eating." 

Precisely  the  same  relation  as  have  the  wekas  to  the  true  rails  is  held  by  Nbtornis 
and  Aptornis,  the  latter  entirely  extinct,  the  former  only  partially  so,  to  the  purple 
gallinules.  On  account  of  the  peculiarities  caused  by  the  reduction  of  the  wings  they 
might  be  regarded  as  rather  distinct,  but  recent  discoveries  and  examination  of  ample 
material  has  shown  them  to  be  quite  Ralline,  though  Aptornis,  in  its  sternal  modifi- 
cations (the  breadth  of  the  breast-bone  being  greatly  reduced  and  the  place  of  the 
keel  only  "indicated  by  a  mere  low  obtuse  ridge),  has  departed  further  from  the  exist- 
ing forms."  Notornis  is  entirely  extinct  on  the  northern  island  of  New  Zealand, 
but  on  the  southern  island  three  living  specimens  of  the  'mono,'  or  'pukeko,' 
(N.  mantelli)  have  been  taken  within  this  century  up  to  a  very  recent  date.  The  last 
survivors  of  this  doomed  bird  have  been  taken  in  localities  nearly  a  hundred  miles 
apart,  and  at  intervals  of  twenty-two,  and  twelve  years,  so  that  possibly  a  few  more 
may  still  be  alive  in  some  secluded  spot.  The  first  specimen  was  taken  by  seal-fishers 
in  1847,  the  third  one  by  a  rabbit-hunter  in  1881. 

A  gentle  transition  to  the  true  gallinules  is  formed  by  the  so-called  Habroptila 
wallacii  from  the  Moluccan  island  Gilolo,  a  form  with  a  remarkable  lax  plumage,  and 
so  short  and  weak  wings,  that  it  must  be  unable  to  fly,  meeting  in  this  respect  a  true 
gallinule  from  the  Samoan  Islands,  which  Hartlaub  and  Finsch  have  called  Pareudi- 
astes  pacificus.  The  large  eyes  indicate  nocturnal  habits,  and  Mr.  S.  J.  Whitmee 
tells  that  the  natives  positively  assured  him  that  the  '  punahe '  burrows  in  the  ground 
and  nests  in  the  burrow.  It  was  formerly  more  common,  and  is,  like  all  birds  deprived 
of  flight,  and  confined  to  a  restricted  locality,  doomed  to  an  early  extinction.  The 
gallinules  proper,  as  represented  by  our  so-called  Florida  gallinule  (Gallinula  gal- 
eata)  and  the  European  moor-hen  (  G.  chloropus)  form  a  small  group  scattered  all  over 
the  warmer  and  temperate  regions  of  the  globe.  A  near  relative  of  the  last-mentioned 
species,  which  lives  on  the  lonely  island  Tristan  d'Acunha  in  the  South  Atlantic,  and 
has  been  described  by  Dr.  Sclater  as  G.  nesiotis  is  worth  mentioning,  since  it  most 
conclusively  illustrates  the  effect  of  isolation  by  reducing  the  sternal  apparatus  and  the 
power  of  flight,  concomitant  with  increasing  the  size  and  the  strength  of  the  hind  ex- 
tremities. In  the  external  appearance  and  coloration  the  '  island-hen '  differs  only 
little  from  the  moor-hen,  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  parent  stock,  but  the  form  is 
shorter  and  thicker,  and  the  legs  stouter,  though  the  toes  are  not  longer.  The  wing, 
however,  is  shorter,  and  the  feathers  remarkably  soft  and  inferior  in  size.  Still  more 
striking  are  the  differences  in  the  skeleton,  for  in  G.  chloropus  the  proportion  between 
the  size  of  the  breast-bone  to  that  of  the  pelvis  is  as  4£  to  4,  while  in  G.  nesiotis  it  is  as 
3f  to  5 ;  in  other  words,  in  the  former  the  breast-bone  is  larger  than  the  pelvis,  in  the 
latter  the  pelvis  is  larger  than  the  breast-bone.  It  is  therefore  easy  to  understand 
that  the  specimen  which  was  brought  alive  to  London  could  only  "  flutter  a  little,  but 
obviously  uses  its  legs  and  not  its  wings  as  a  mode  of  escape  from  its  enemies." 

The  last  and  most  specialized  groups  of  the  Rallida3  consist  of  the  coots,  exempli- 
fied by  our  American  species,  Fulica  america,  to  which  is  closely  related  the  Euro- 
pean coot,  F.  atra.  The  character  which  at  once  distinguishes  them  from  the  other 


132  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

rails  is  the  broad  lobes  of  their  toes,  giving  their  feet  a  strong  resemblance  to  the 
corresponding  organ  of  the  grebes.  In  consequence  they  are  good  swimmers  and  pass 
the  greater  part  of  their  life  on  the  water,  breeding  near  lakes,  pools,  or  quiet  rivers, 
and  only  during  the  migrations  may  they  be  found  at  salt  water.  The  group  is  not 
more  numerous  than  that  of  the  gallinules,  and  the  different  members  deviate  very 
little  from  the  typical  species,  which  are  of  a  slaty  black,  usually  with  some  white 
marks  in  the  region  of  the  tail,  the  most  remarkable  species  being,  perhaps,  the  rare 
South  American  Licornis — with  some  curious  caruncles  on  the  forehead.  Like  the 
other  members  of  the  family,  coots  once  played  a  more  important  r61e  than  now.  Also 
among  the  coots  we  find  species,  probably  deprived  of  the  power  of  flight,  which  in- 
habited the  Mascarene  Islands,  and  became  extinct  through  the  action  of  the  early 
colonists.  Such  a  one  was  the  large  Fulica  newtonii. 

ORDER  VIII.  — CHENOMORPH^E. 

IT  has  been  necessary  to  adopt  this  outlandish  name  for  the  ducks  and  their  allies 
composing  the  present  order,  in  place  of  the  well-known  Anseres  or  Lamellirostres, 
since  we  make  it  to  include  two  forms  which  fall  outside  of  the  group  designated  by 
the  two  latter  names.  Following  the  view  of  Parker  and  Huxley  in  associating  the 
screamers  with  the  ducks,  the  propriety  of  which  shall  be  treated  of  further  on,  we 
also  adopt  the  name  which  Huxley  invented. 

This  order  opens  the  series  of  desmognathous  birds  which  are  characterized  by 
having  the  palatal  bones  united  aci-oss  the  middle  line,  either  directly  or  by  the  inter- 
mediation of  ossifications  in  the  nasal  septum.  "  The  desmognathous  skull,"  to  use 
Huxley's  own  words,  "  appears  under  its  simplest  form  in  Palamedea  \_Anhima~]  and 
the  Lamellirostres.  In  these  birds  each  maxillo-palatine  is  a  broad,  flat,  and  thin  bony 
plate,  which  unites  with  its  fellow  in  the  middle  line  of  the  palate.  The  septum  may 
be  more  or  less  ossified.  The  basipterygoid  processes  are  represented  by  oval  facets, 
sessile  upon  the  rostrum,  and  placed  so  far  forward  that  the  surfaces  which  articulate 
with  them  are  situated  close  to  the  anterior  extremities  of  the  pterygoid  bones."  In 
the  flamingoes  the  basiptei-ygoid  processes  are  rudimentary,  and  the  maxillo-palatines 
are  enlarged  and  spongy,  filling  the  base  of  the  beak.  All  the  members  of  this  order 
have  the  angle  of  the  mandible  strongly  produced  and  upcurved. 

The  ChenomorphaB,  as  here  defined,  are  divisible  into  three  sections,  suborders  or 
superfamilies,  as  we  may  choose  to  call  them,  each  well  defined  and  presenting 
characters  of  its  own.  At  the  present  time  the  gaps  between  them  are  rather  consid- 
erable, and  their  position  relative  to  other  orders  is  also  one  of  isolation,  but  the  dis- 
covery that  different  though  evidently  nearly  related  forms  of  the  ChenomorphaB  at 
present  most  isolated  have  been  numerous  during  earlier  geological  periods  indicates 
that  the  gaps  may  eventually  be  bridged. 

The  most  isolated,  and,  on  the  whole,  most  generalized  group  is  that  of  the  so- 
called  screamers,  the  superfamily  of  the  ANHIMOIDE^E.  The  most  different  views 
have  been  held  as  to  their  position  in  the  system,  though  usually  they  were  referred 
to  the  neighborhood  of  the  rails  or  the  '  Alectorides.'  Great  was,  therefore,  the 
amazement  when  Parker  and  Huxley  first  announced  the  view  that  the  screamers  come 
nearer  to  the  ducks,  basing  their  opinion  upon  the  anatomical  structure.  Garrod  and 
Forbes,  however,  not  less  prominent  as  ornithotomists,  held  that  Anhima  and  Chauna 
were  sufficiently  remote  from  all  other  orders  to  form  one  by  themselves  alone.  We 


DUCKS  AND   GEESE.  133 

have  here  accepted  the  former  view,  since  it  seems  to  us  that  the  osteology  points  strong- 
ly towards  the  Laraellirostres,  while  the  characters  in  which  they  disagree  are  mostly 
of  a  generalized  or  '  reptilian '  character.  The  extraordinary  interest  of  this  group  re- 
quires that  we  shall  go  a  little  into  details.  "  All  the  skull  and  face,  except  at  its  two 
ends,  conforms  to  the  lamellirostral  type,"  says  Prof.  Parker,  "  point  by  point,  process 
by  process,  lamina  for  lamina,  all  else  is  truly  and  distinctly  that  which  belongs  to  the 
sifter,  and  to  no  other  bird."  It  has  been  remonstrated  that  the  lacrymal  region  is 
not  long  in  the  screamers,  though  this  peculiarity  is  very  pronounced  in  the  Anseres 
and  flamingos,  but  the  Lamellirostral  Cereopsis  is  intermediate  in  this  respect.  In  the 
desmognathous  character  of  the  palate,  in  the  situation  of  the  articular  surfaces  for 
the  jugal  arches  considerably  behind  the  level  of  their  mandibular  articulations,  and  in 
the  configuration  of  the  latter,  besides  in  the  prolonged  and  upcurved  angle  of  the 
mandible,  the  screamers  are  distinctly  anserine.  As  to  the  breast-bone  we  again  quote 
Parker :  "The  sternum  of  this  bird  differs  from  that  of  the  goose  or  swan  by  just  so 
much  as  the  sternum  of  the  short-winged  rails,  especially  Brachypteryx  [=  Ocydromus~\, 
differs  from  that  of  the  ordinary  types.  It  is  narrower  behind,  and  the  episternum 
is  gone  from  the  front :  yet  it  is  thoroughly  anserine  in  character,  for  the  keel  does 
not  reach  the  end."  The  pelvis  of  the  spur-winged  goose  (Plectropterus},  the  same 
author  says,  is  "  exactly  intermediate  between  that  of  a  typical  goose  and  that  of  a 
Palamedea"  and  he  also  points  at  the  fact  that  the  Plectropterus  has  the  legs  longer, 
more  grallatorial,  and  better  under  them  than  the  typical  forms.  It  is  also  probably 
more  than  a  coincidence  that  the  screamers  have  spurs  on  their  wings — not  only 
claws  to  the  fingers — like  the  goose  mentioned.  The  toes  of  the  screamers  are  not 
palmate,  but  there  are  true  Anseres  in  which  the  toes  are  split  nearly  as  much.  Their 
most  extraordinary  osteological  feature,  however,  is  the  absence  of  uncinate  processes 
to  the  ribs,  unique  among  living  birds,  and  only  shared,  so  far  as  we  know,  by  the 
Archceopteryx.  The  respiratory  organs  are  truly  anserine.  Garrod  himself  admits 
that  "in  that  the  lower  end  of  the  trachea  is  of  a  smaller  diameter  than  is  the  tube  higher 
up,  in  that  in  the  same  part  the  constituent  rings  are  in  close  contact  without  scarcely 
any  intervening  membrane,  in  that  there  are  two  -pairs  of  tracheal  muscles  running  to 
the  thoracic  parietes,  and  in  that  the  intrinsic  lateral  tracheal  muscles  end  before 
they  reach  the  bifurcation  of  the  bronchi,  the  syrinx  of  the  screamers  approachesthat  of 
some  of  the  Anseres,"  but  adds,  "  in  that  there  is  no  special  modification  of  the  organ  in 
the  male  "  they  are  not  Anserine.  This  may  be  so  in  Channel,  but  Cuvier,  in  speaking 
of  Anhima  cornuta,  says  (according  to  Dr.  Crisp)  that  "  it  has  a  bony  box  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  trachea,  like  that  of  the  velvet  pochard  ( Oidemia  fusca)"  a  most  conclusive 
Anserine  character.  The  alimentary  canal  presents  features  of  great  interest.  In  the 
great  length  of  the  large  intestine,  already  pointed  out  by  Dr.  E.  Crisp,  it  agrees  only 
with  that  of  Struthio  and  Rhea,  and,  like  these  two  types  only,  the  ca?ca  are  situated  a 
considerable  distance  from  the  cloaca.  Moreover,  the  casca  agree  with  those  of  the 
Struthiones  mentioned  in  being  sacculated,  but  they  are  unique  in  having  a  well- 
developed  special  sphincter  muscle  guarding  the  opening  into  a  special  cavity  common 
to  both  caeca,  which  again  is  separated  off  from  the  colon  proper  by  a  very  constrict- 
ing sphincter.  As  to  the  primary  myological  features  it  may  be  remarked  that  the 
thigh-formula  is  ABXY-f,  while  in  none  of  the  Anseres  proper  is  the  Y  present.  The 
latter  muscle,  however,  is  of  little  account  to  short-legged  birds,  and  seems  to  be  very 
easily  lost,  by  swimmers  especially.  We  will  see,  further  on,  that  the  flamingo  has 
retained  the  Y,  but  lost  the  A.  The  pterylosis  of  the  screamers  is  peculiar,  since  the 


134  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

feathers  and  downs  are  evenly  dispersed  over  the  body,  with  only  an  apterium  in  each 
axillary  cavity.  This  is  an  extremely  generalized  character,  but  as  the  Anseres  prob- 
ably have  developed  out  of  an  ancestor  in  which  the  plumage  was  equally  uninter- 
rupted, it  bears  only  little  upon  the  relationships  of  the  group  in  question.  A  pecu- 
liarity of  the  screamers  is  the  extreme  pneumacity,  not  only  of  the  bones,  nearly  every 
one  of  which  is  permeated  by  air,  but  also  of  the  cutaneous  system.  As  this  feature 
merits  attention,  we  quote  Garrod's  description  nearly  in  full :  "  The  most  striking 
point  observed  in  the  plucked  bird  is  the  extreme  whiteness  of  the  surface,  which  de- 
pends on  the  fact  that  the  skin  is  almost  universally  emphysematous  to  the  depth  of 
nearly  a  quarter  of  an  inch.  On  pressing  with  the  finger,  the  characteristic  crackling 
of  a  tissue  filled  with  air  is  most  marked.  ...  In  the  gannet  and  the  pelican  the  skin 
is  likewise  emphysematous,  but  not  exactly  in  the  same  way.  In  them  the  superficial 
surface  of  the  cutis  forms  a  plane  surface,  and  the  deep  layer  another,  with  the  air-cells 
intervening  between  them,  and  the  feather-quills  traversing  them.  In  Chauna,  however, 
these  two  cutaneous  layers  are  not  definable,  the  whole  presenting  the  appearance  as 
if  a  non-emphysematous  skin  had  been  forcibly  blown  up,  so  as  to  cause  its  surface  to 
be  irregular  and  bubbled,  more  like  an  artificially  distended  mammalian  lung  than  any- 
thing else.  The  feathers  and  the  semi-plumes  do  not  perforate  the  air-cells,  but  cause 
the  skin  to  be  indented  where  they  are  situated.  The  disproportionately  massive 
appearance  of  the  legs  is  also  caused  by  the  presence  of  air  beneath  the  tessellated 
skin,  which  extends  almost  to  the  ungual  phalanges  of  the  toes." 

In  the  bill  the  ANHIMID^E  differ  considerably  from  the  ducks  and  flamingos. 
It  is  short  vaulted,  and,  on  the  whole,  somewhat  Gallinaceous  in  its  form,  being 
neither  lamelloso-dentate  nor  covered  with  a  soft  skin.  Other  external  characters  of 
importance  are  the  long  and  disproportionately  thick  legs,  the  long  toes,  the  low  hind 
toe,  and  the  long  and  straight  claws. 

The  habitat  of  these  birds  is  tropical  and  temperate  South  America.  The  family 
is  a  very  small  one,  consisting  of  only  three  species  belonging  to  two  genera.  Anhima 
cornuta  (or  Palamedea  cornuta),  the  species  figured,  is  a  most  curious  and  unique 
looking  bird,  being  a  true  avian  '  unicorn.'  From  the  forehead  rises  a  thin,  forward- 
curved  horn,  five  to  six  inches  long,  and,  as  in  the  species  of  the  genus  Chauna, 
which  have  no  horns,  but  naked  lores  and  a  long,  occipital  feather-crest,  each  wing  is 
armed  with  two  strong  spines,  the  larger  one  at  the  bend,  the  other  further  down  on 
the  hand.  The  horned-screamer  does  not  seem  to  deserve  its  name  as  much  as  the  other 
two  species,  for  the  sound  emitted  by  it  is  said  to  be  a  loud  and  sudden  hoot,  very 
different  from  the  scream  of  the  chahas.  They  are  all  said  to  be  tamed  and  employed 
by  the  natives  as  herders  and  protectors  to  the  poultry  which  they  defend  against  birds 
of  prey  and  other  enemies.  Mr.  E.  Gibson  has  recently  given  the  following  account  of 
the  habits  of  the  crested-screamer :  — 

"  C.  chavaria  is,  as  may  well  be  imagined,  a  most  striking  bird,  both  in  size  and 
appearance;  and  when  such  is  the  case  with  one  individual,  the  impression  produced 
by  seeing  a  hundred  pairs  together  is  not  likely  to  be  less.  There  is  a  large  island 
among  a  network  of  swamps  a  mile  from  here  [Cape  San  Antonio,  Buenos  Ayres],  on 
which,  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  I  have  frequently  seen  that  number,  not  collected 
into  a  flock,  but  in  pairs.  The  swamps  and  brackish  lagoons  constitute  its  haunts  and 
feeding-grounds.  On  one  or  two  occasions  I  have  seen  a  bird  alight  in  the  deeper 
water  and  swim  with  only  a  very  small  portion  of  its  body  immersed  ;  but  it  prefers  to 
wade  where  the  marsh  is  shallower.  But  what  most  excited  my  astonishment  was 


SCREAMERS. 


135 


to  see  a  chaha  perched  on  the  top  of  a  tree  twenty  feet  from  the  ground.  A  week 
after  this  occurrence  I  saw  three  birds  in  a  similar  position,  in  a  small  wood  on  the 
edge  of  one  of  our  larger  lagoons.  During  a  long  residence  here,  and  thorough 
acquaintance  with  this  species  (seeing  it  every  day,  in  fact),  I  have  never  witnessed 
more  than  these  two  cases  of  such  a  feat  on  the  part  of  C.  chavaria,  and  should  have 
been  utterly  sceptical  of  the  testimony  of  everybody  else  to  the  fact.  In  the 
summer-time  it  is  much  addicted  to  soaring,  and  scores  may  be  seen  at  a  time, 


FIG.  62.  —  Anhima  cornuta,  horned-screamer. 

rising  in  great  spiral  circles  till  they  become  mere  specks  in  the  sky,  and  actually 
disappear  at  last.  Even  at  this  elevation  the  cry  is  distinctly  audible,  and  has  often 
drawn  my  attention  to  the  bird  as  having  really  vanished  into  the  blue  ether.  The 
cry,  which  may  be  often  heard  at  night,  is  frequently  indulged  in,  and  consists  of  the 
syllables  cAo-Aa,  uttered  by  the  male,  while  the  female  invariably  responds  to  it,  or 
rather  follows  it  up  with  cha-ha-U,  placing  the  accent  on  the  last  syllable.  Preparatory 
to  producing  it,  if  on  the  ground,  the  bird  draws  back  its  head  and  neck  slightly ;  and 


136  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

at  that  moment,  if  one  is  sufficiently  near,  the  inhalation  of  air  into  the  chest  may  be 
faintly  heard.  The  note  is  of  great  strength  and  volume,  and  is  still  distinguishable  a 
couple  of  miles  away,  if  the  day  should  be  calm.  The  food,  as  far  as  I  have  been  able 
to  ascertain,  is  gathered  from  the  floating  duck-weed  and  other  vegetable  matter  of  the 
swamps.  One  has  to  be  on  one's  guard  against  the  formidable  wing-spurs  on  laying 
hold  of  a  wounded  chaha.  On  one  such  occasion,  a  stroke  aimed  at  my  face  as  I 
stooped  to  pick  the  bird  up  was  very  nearly  successful ;  the  spur  caught  in  my  coat- 
collar,  and  I  was  almost  pulled  out  of  the  saddle  by  the  bird's  weight.  I  have  seen  a 
young  bird,  as  yet  unable  to  fly,  beat  off  and  follow  up  a  dog,  striking  quickly  and 
heavily,  the  half-folded  wings  being  used  alternately.  Well  might  Mr.  Durnford 
express  surprise  at  the  breeding-habits  of  this  species.  At  the  end  of  June  (midwinter) 
he  took  nests  with  eggs.  But  September  and  October  constitute  the  real  breeding 
season,  when  the  bulk  of  the  birds  lay.  The  nest  is  a  shallow,  light  construction, 
built  of  dry  rushes,  with  a  hollow  on  the  top  for  the  eggs.  The  foundation  is  in  the 
water.  Four  is  the  largest  number  of  young  I  have  seen  in  one  brood ;  but  the  clutch 
of  eggs  reaches  as  many  as  six.  These  are  of  a  white  color,  occasionally  tinged  with 
light  buff,  oval-shaped  and  smooth-shelled.  The  young,  when  hatched,  is  covered 
with  an  abundance  of  beautiful,  soft  down,  of  a  yellow-brown  color.  In  a  very  few 
days  they  leave  the  nest  and  follow  the  parent  birds,  generally  remaining  in  the  swamps 
or  close  to  them." 

It  is  needless  here  to  enlarge  upon  the  characters  peculiar  to  the  ANATOIDE^E, 
the  '  duck  tribe,'  in  its  widest  sense,  since  few  groups  are  better  known  to  the  general 
reader.  It  is  one  of  the  best  circumscribed  super-families  of  recent  birds,  and  its  dis- 
tinguishing characters  so  well  marked  externally,  that  nobody  fails  to  recognize  any 
member  at  an  instant,  be  it  a  swan,  a  goose,  a  duck,  or  a  merganser,  and  most  of  the 
systematic  names  invented  for  the  group,  as  Lamellirostres,  Lamelloso-dentali,  Serrati, 
Dermorhynchi,  etc. — have  been  derived  from  the  soft-skinned  bill  with  the  curious 
lamellar  teeth.  Most  of  the  species  take  their  food  under  water,  and,  when  the  head 
is  raised,  the  water  runs  out  between  the  lamellae,  which  act  like  a  sieve  in  retaining 
the  food,  which  led  to  the  invention  of  the  English  word  'sifters,'  as  an  equivalent 
of  Lamellirostres.  In  some  forms  the  lamellas  are  shortened  and  thickened  so  as  to 
enable  them  to  act  as  teeth  in  nipping  off  grass,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  geese,  while  in 
the  mergansers  they  are  modified  into  retrorse  hooks,  which  serve  to  prevent  the  slimy 
fish  from  slipping  away.  Some  of  the  more  important  anatomical  characters  have 
been  mentioned  under  the  foregoing  super-family,  and  others  will  be  mentioned  when 
we  describe  the  peculiarities  of  the  flamingos. 

Ducks,  and  their  allies,  are  found  all  over  the  globe.  Man  has  found  them  where- 
ever  he  went,  and  he  has  seen  them  flying  northwards  at  the  northernmost  point  he 
has  reached. 

The  first  form  to  meet  us  of  the  '  duck  tribe,'  in  its  widest  sense,  is  one  of  those 
remarkable  extinct  birds  which  formerly  inhabited  the  islands  of  New  Zealand,  and 
which  lost  their  power  of  flight  through  disuse  of  that  faculty,  and  consequent  degen- 
eration of  the  parts.  Though  originally  described  in  connection  with  the  Moa  re- 
mains, and  found  together  with  them,  the  Cnemiornis,  as  it  was  called  by  Owen,  has 
nothing  to  do  with  Dinornis,  or  the  Struthious  birds  at  all ;  its  ilia  and  ischia  are  united 
behind,  the  sternum  has  trace  of  a  keel,  and  the  palate  is  desmognathous.  It  differs, 
however,  sufficiently  from  the  typical  Anseres  to  require  the  separate  position  of  a 
very  marked  family  which  we  will  call 


GEESE. 


137 


The  greater  part  of  a  well-preserved  skeleton,  from  which  Dr.  Hector  demon- 
strated the  affinities  of  Cnemiornis  to  the  Anatoideae,  was  found  in  the  same  cave 
which  furnished  the  very  interesting  specimen  of  a  moa's  neck  with  muscles,  skin,  and 
feathers,  referred  to  on  a  previous  page.  It  differs  in  several  important  respects  from 
that  described  by  Owen  as  C.  ccdcitrans,  the  principal  discrepancy  being  the  greater 
proportional  size  and  somewhat  different  structure  of  the  humerus,  and  may  be  speci- 
fically distinct.  The  skull  proves  the  relationship  to  the  Anatoidea3,  but  is  remark- 
ably robust  and  short,  the  palatines  are  firmly  united  posteriorly  with  the  vomer,  the 
upper  surface  of  which  has  a 
slight  groove  to  receive  the 
prasphenoid ;  the  basisphenoid 
has  large  oval  basipterygoid 
facets;  anterior  nostrils  large, 
holorhinal;  a  soft  cere  has 
probably  covered  the  basal  part 
of  the  mandibles,  while  only 
the  part  in  front  was  horny, 
as  in  Cereopsis ;  the  character 
of  the  tympanic  cavity  is  quite 
peculiar,  being  bridged  across 
by  a  bony  process  between  the 
mastoid  process  and  the  basi- 
occipital.  The  breast-bone  is 
large,  deep,  nearly  square,  and 
without  indentations  or  pro- 
cesses behind;  it  has  a  trace 
of  a  low  keel  in  the  anterior 
part,  which  rises  less  than  one 
fourth  of  an  inch  above  the 
convex  surface.  The  meta- 
carpal  elements  are  completely 
fused  at  both  extremities,  the 
length  being  about  two  fifths 
of  the  length  of  the  humerus. 
The  first  six  ribs  had  well- 
developed  uncinate  processes. 
The  pelvis  is  very  robust ;  the  ilium  and  ischium  unite  posteriorly,  closing  the  ilio- 
sciatic  foramen  behind.  In  the  hind  limbs  we  note  the  peculiarity  of  the  presence 
of  a  high  epicnemial  process,  as  in  Colymbus,  in  front  of  the  knee-joint,  and  hence 
the  name. 

Dr.  Hector  estimates  the  height  of  the  bird's  back  above  the  ground  to  have  ex- 
ceeded two  feet,  and  the  total  length  to  have  been  at  least  three  feet. 

That  the  nearest  living  relative  of  Cnemiornis  hails  from  Australia,  and  is  quite 
peculiar  internally  and  externally,  cannot  but  strike  us  as  natural  in  view  of  our  expe- 
rience with  other  groups.  A  glance  at  the  admirable  full-page  cut  representing 
Cereopsis  novce-hottandice,  the  only  species  of  the  family  CEREOPSID^E,  shows  us  at 
once  a  bird  in  general  aspect  resembling  a  goose,  but  provided  with  a  quite  unique 
bill,  a  heavy  and  short  frame,  very  stout  feet,  and  deeply  indented  palmation  of  the 


FIG.  63.  —  Skeleton  of  Cereopsis. 


138 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


FIG.  64.  —  Foot  of  Anseranas. 


toes.  The  bill  is  short,  very  thick  at  base,  its  upper  outline  strongly  convex ;  nearly 
the  whole  beak  to  a  little  behind  the  large  nail  is  covered  with  a  tumid  cere  of  a 
lightly  greenish  yellow  color,  in  the  anterior  part  of  which  the  roundish  nostrils  open. 
In  regard  to  the  peculiarities  of  the  skull  itself  we  only  speak  of  the  proportionately 
short  lachrymal  region,  a  part  which  in  typical  Anseres  is  very  much  elongated.  The 
keel  of  the  sternum  is  very  deep,  its  inferior  edge  very  curved,  and  the  anterior  angle 
pointing  comparatively  far  forwards. 

The  color  of  the  Cereopsis,  or  Cape  Barren  goose,  as  it  is  called  by  the  colonists,  is 
of  a  beautiful  brownish  ash,  lighter  on  the  top  of  the  head,  and  with  roundish  black 
spots  on  the  wing-coverts.  The  eye  is  vermilion  red,  the  tarsus  orange,  and  the  toes 
and  webs  blackish.  Anomalous  as  is  the  structure  of  this  bird,  its  habits  are  not  less 
so,  it  being  a  '  swimmer '  which  carefully  and  entirely  avoids  the  water.  It  inhabits  the 
interior  dry  plains,  its  diet  being,  of  course,  exclusively  vegetable.  It  is  a  '  swimmer ' 
and  '  sifter '  modified  into  a  '  grazer.'  Needless  to  say  that  its  dark  flesh  is  delicious 
eating,  and,  consequently,  these  shy  birds  have  been  persecuted  mercilessly  both  by 
the  natives  and  by  the  white  settlers,  the  result  being  that  the  Cereopsis  had  become 
so  scarce,  as  early  as  Gould's  travels  in  Australia,  that  '  the  old  bushman '  only  met  it 

twice  in  a  wild  state.  It  breeds,  how- 
ever, in  confinement,  and  is  easily  tamed, 
but  as  it  is  very  pugnacious  and  impe- 
rious it  is  not  a  desirable  addition  to  the 
poultry-yard,  and  the  rather  extensive 
domestication  of  this  bird,  which  sprang 
up  during  the  early  days  of  the  colony,  has  gradually  subsided. 

Australia  is  the  habitat  of  another  not  less  remarkable  goose-like 
bird,  the  peculiarities  of  which  seem  to  us  too  great  to  allow  it  to  be 
kept  in  the  other  families,  and  hence  we  would  make  it  the  type  of 
the  A^SEEANATID^E.  It  has  usually  been  referred  to  the  following 
group,  to  which  it,  perhaps,  may  also  be  nearest  allied,  but  who 
would  recognize  the  foot  represented  in  the  cut  as  that  of  a  goose? 
The  long  front  toes,  only  united  at  base  by  a  small  membrane,  and  armed 
with  long  and  sharp  claws,  and  especially  the  remarkably  lengthened  and 
strong  hind  toe,  which  is  inserted  nearly  at  the  same  level  as  the  others, 
are  characters  so  unique  among  Anseres  that  a  separate  position  can  hardly 
be  denied  the  owner,  and  the  feet,  indeed,  strongly  suggest  those  of  the  screamers. 
The  bill  is  also  very  peculiar,  a  warty  skin  covering  the  beak  from  the  nail  and  the 
face  to  behind  the  eyes.  The  convolutions  and  position  of  the  windpipe  are  most 
extraordinary  and  deserve  to  be  mentioned.  Yarrell,  who  made  this  part  of  the  bird's 
anatomy  a  special  study,  describes  the  windpipe  thus  :  "  The  trachea  is  situated  on 
the  outside  of  the  left  pectoral  muscle,  under  the  skin,  sufficiently  raised  under  the 
wing  that  respiration  would  not  be  impeded  when  the  bird  rested  with  its  breast 
on  the  ground,  the  parallel  tubes  being  firmly  attached  both  to  the  muscle  and  the 
skin  by  cellular  tissue.  The  clavicle  of  the  right  side  of  the  bird  is  of  the  usual 
character,  but  that  on  the  left  is  both  shorter  and  wider,  having  an  aperture  about 
the  middle,  the  sides  diverging  with  a  projecting  point  on  the  inner  side,  to  which 
the  tube  of  the  trachea  is  firmly  attached,  about  two  inches  above  the  bone  of  divari- 
cation. The  trachea  lying  on  the  left  side  of  the  bird,  the  lower  portion  of  the  tube, 
in  its  passage  to  the  lung,  crosses  the  left  branch  of  the  furcula  at  a  right  angle, 


§• 
O 


GEESE. 


139 


but,  becoming  attached  to  this  projection  of  the  clavicle,  receives  from  the  point 
described  its  centrical  direction  into  the  body.  The  whole  length  of  the  windpipe  is 
four  feet  eight  inches." 

The  semi-palmated  goose  (Anseranas  semipalmatci)  is  a  large,  striking-looking 
bird,  glossy,  greenish  black,  with  the  shoulders,  rump,  breast,  and  abdomen  pure 
white.  Its  voice  is  said  to  be  a  loud  whistling. 

Dr.  G.  Bennett,  in  a  letter  to  Mr.  Gould,  speaks  of  it  in  the  following  manner : 
"  The  semi-palmated  goose  I  have  seen  domesticated  in  Sydney  in  a  poultry-yard, 


> 


FIG.  65.  —  Pleciropterus  ruppellii,  spur-winged  goose. 

having  been  hatched  by  a  common  hen.  This  bird  in  its  anatomy  evidently  ap- 
proaches the  cranes,  and  in  habits  also.  Especially  when  you  see  it  running  about  the 
poultry-yard,  it  resembles  one  of  the  Gruidae  more  than  a  goose."  And  again  he 
says :  "  The  black  and  white  plumage  imparts  to  the  bird  a  very  handsome  appearance 
as  it  walks  with  a  stately  tread  (not  with  the  waddling  gait  of  the  goose)  about  the 
yard  of  my  house,  like  one  of  the  waders."  He  further  states  that  they  are  easily 
tamed,  are  very  amicable  to  the  other  poultry,  but  require  company  in  order  to  thrive. 
The  flesh,  however,  is  said  to  be  coarse  and  not  well-flavored.  This  species  inhabited 
southern,  southeastern,  and  northern  Australia,  but  seems  to  have  been  driven  away 
from  the  southern  parts  by  the  progress  of  cultivation.  At  Dr.  Leichardt's  time  they 


140 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


were  so  numerous,  and  the  flocks  so  dense  in  the  north,  that  the  natives  were  enabled 
to  procure  numbers  by  spearing  them  when  flying. 

Nearly  related  to  the  above  species  are  the  African  PLECTROPTEKID^E,  or  spur- 
winged  geese.  As  the  name  indicates,  the  bend  of  the  wing  is  provided  with  a  strong 
spur,  and  the  legs  are  rather  high,  and  placed  well  under  the  middle  of  the  body. 
There  are  three  or  four  species  of  the  genus,  Plectropterus,  one  of  which,  P.  ruppellii, 
from  eastern  Africa,  with  the  high  frontal  knob,  is  here  figured. 

Mr.  T.  Ayres  gives  the  following  account  of  the  habits  of  the  knobless  but  nearly 
related  P.  gambensis,  from  the  western  and  southern  parts,  as  he  observed  them  in  the 
Transvaal :  "  This  is  the  commonest  of  our  wild  geese,  and  is  by  no  means  capital 


^«  n^aara^vfrv 

•i^j&aafc^i^?^&r«: 


M 


^ 


tlinrirt' 


FlG.  66.  —  Alopochen  xgyptiaca,  Egyptian  goose. 

eating,  as  the  flesh  is  coarse  and  tasteless,  and  the  young  birds  have  scarcely  any  meat 
on  them.  Sometimes  they  are  very  shy,  and  at  others  almost  absurdly  tame ;  as  a 
rule,  it  requires  heavy  shot  to  kill  them.  They  come  out  early  in  the  morning  from 
the  swamps  and  reeds  to  feed  on  grass-seeds,  and  are  often  seen  on  the  farmer's  corn- 
lands  :  if  stalked  in  the  long  grass,  they  will  almost  invariably  creep  away,  instead  of 
taking  wing ;  and,  unless  the  hunter  has  a  dog,  it  is  no  easy  matter  for  him  to  find 
them,  as  they  run  at  a  good  pace,  and  by  the  time  he  is  on  the  spot  expecting  them 
to  rise,  he  sometimes  sees  the  head  of  one  a  couple  of  hundred  yards  off,  examining 
the  situation ;  if  the  shooter  squats  when  the  birds  are  flying,  they  will  often  come 
and  have  a  look  at  him,  and  this  curiosity  frequently  costs  them  their  lives.  As  a 

• 


GEESE. 


141 


rule  they  are  gregarious,  but  are  sometimes  seen  singly,  and  at  others  in  pairs ;  they 
breed  away  from  the  water  in  thick,  grassy,  or  rushy  spots,  and  lay  a  number  of  white 
eggs  with  thick,  glossy  shells." 

Another  African  form  of  the  same  family  is  the  well-known  Egyptian  or  Nile  goose 
(Alopochen  cegyptiaca).  It  is  often  found  figured  on  the  Egyptian  monuments,  and 
was  known  to  the  ancient  Greeks,  who  called  it  '  chenalopex,'  or  fox-goose,  either 
because  it  breeds  in  burrows,  or  on  account  of  its  color,  which  is  more  or  less  rusty, 
especially  round  the  eyes,  neck,  tertials,  arid  a  spot  on  the  breast.  The  smaller  wing- 
coverts  are  white ;  a  green  speculum  marks  the  large  coverts ;  bill  and  feet  are  brilliant 
red ;  a  small  frontal  knob  black.  As  the  name  indicates,  it  is  an  inhabitant  of  eastern 
Africa,  but  is  often  shot  in  England  and  other  countries  of  temperate  Europe,  though 


FIG.  67.  —  Anser  anser,  gray-lag  goose. 

probably  many  specimens  have  been  birds  which  have  escaped  confinement,  for  this 
stately  bird,  in  size  equalling  the  common  goose,  is  often  kept  for  ornament  in  parks 
and  gardens,  also  in  this  country ;  and  the  one  which  was  shot  on  Long  Island  in 
1872  evidently  came  from  this  source.  The  Egyptian  goose  has  no  close  ally  in  the 
Old  World,  and  it  is  a  somewhat  extraordinary  fact  that  the  Orinoco  goose  (Alopochen 
jubata),  brown,  with  green  wings  and  white  wing  speculum,  head,  and  neck,  and  with  a 
slight  nuchal  crest  or  '  mane,'  which  inhabits  northeastern  South  America,  seems  to  be 
congeneric  with  it. 

Having  now  disposed  of  the  most  outlying  forms,  there  remains  the  great  bulk  of  the 
ducks,  which  we  unite  in  the  family  ANATID^E,  comprising  the  geese,  swans,  tree-ducks, 
ducks  proper,  and  mergansers,  groups  which  may  be  regarded  as  sub-families.  The  geese 
proper  form  a  well-circumscribed  group,  characterized  by  a  bill  rather  high  at  base,  com- 


142 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


paratively  short  and  strong ;  the  lamellae  hardly  deserve  that  name,  being  short,  broad  at 
base,  tooth-like,  and  altogether  adapted  to  the  grazing  habits  of  these  birds.  The  body 
is  stout,  and  the  legs  placed  near  the  equilibrium,  so  as  to  make  the  movements  on  land 
less  awkward  than  in  most  ducks.  The  plumage  of  the  neck  is  rather  peculiar,  the 
feathers  being  narrow  and  arranged  in  oblique  series  into  more  or  less  conspicuous  ridges 
and  grooves.  The  two  cuts  represent  two  of  the  most  important  genera,  the  gray-lag 
being  the  type  of  Anser  proper,  the  land-geese,  while  the  common  brant  (Eranta  ber- 
nicld)  shows  the  chief  characters  of  the  sea-geese,  which  feed  particularly  on  the  sea- 
grass.  The  gray-lag  goose  (which,  by  the  way,  is  the  wild  stock  of  the  domesticated 
goose)  and  its  allies  are  restricted  to  the  boreal  regions,  while  the  bernicle  geese  are 
equally  well  represented  in  the  southern  hemisphere,  particularly  in  antarctic  South 


FIG.  68.  —  Branta  berniela,  common  brant. 

America,  where  several  handsome  species,  peculiar  by  the  metallic  reflections  of  the 
wing  speculum,  have  their  home. 

One  of  these,  Chlcephaga  melanoptera,  inhabits  the  high  Andes  of  Peru  and  Boli- 
via, as  high  up  as  14,000  feet  above  the  sea-level,  and  has  not  been  met  with  south  of  35° 
south  latitude.  It  descends  in  winter  to  the  plains,  but  retires  in  summer  to  the  high 
Cordillera,  to  the  verge  of  the  line  of  perpetual  snow.  Another  beautiful  species  is 
the  emperor-goose  (Philacte  canagica),  from  islands  in  Bering's  Sea  and  Alaska.  Be- 
sides these  there  are  numerous  other  kinds,  of  which  we  can  only  mention  the  names, 
the  red-breasted  brant  (Rufibrenta  ruficollis),  from  eastern  Siberia,  the  barred-headed 
goose  (Euldbeia  indica),  from  India,  the  swan-goose  (Cygnopsis  cygnoides),  from 
China,  the  Hawkesbury  bernicle  ( Chlamydochen  jubata),  from  Australia,  etc.  We 
will  have  to  stop  a  moment,  however,  to  consider  a  genus,  containing  only  a  few 
diminutive  species  of  geese,  the  so-called  goslets  (Nettepus),  of  which  representatives 


SWANS.  143 

are  found  in  South  Africa,  Madagascar,  India,  and  Australia.  Notwithstanding  their 
size,  which  is  not  greater  than  that  of  a  teal,  they  are  true  geese  with  a  typical  bernicle  bill. 
They  are  excellent  swimmers,  however,  and  pass  the  greater  part  of  their  life  on  the 
water,  thus  differing  from  most  other  geese.  The  Indian  species  (JV.  coromandelicus), 
is  described  as  having  a  peculiar  shuffling  gait  when  on  land,  as  "  after  walking  a  few 
steps  they  always  squat."  Jerdon  thinks  it  probable  that  in  the  wild  state  they  never 
alight  on  the  land. 

The  swans  are  distinguished  by  the  extraordinary  elongation  of  the  neck,  which  is 
affected  by  the  great  number  of  cervical  vertebrae,  and  not  by  their  being  unusually 
lengthened,  as  is  the  case  with  most  other  long-necked  birds.  There  are  no  occipital 
foramina  as  in  most  other  ducks,  and  the  pelvis  is  considerably  lengthened  and  rather 
narrowed  in  the  postacetabular  region.  The  feet  are  placed  far  back,  indicating  that 
the  swans  are  more  at  home  on  the  water  than  on  the  land,  as  is  also  evident  from  the 
shortness  of  the  tarsus.  The  base  of  the  bill,  which  is  anatine  in  its  form,  and  the 
loral  region  are  naked  in  the  adults.  The  swans  are  highly  ornamental  on  ponds  and 
lakes,  and  several  of  the  species  are  kept  in  semi-domestication  for  that  purpose, 
especially  those  with  a  gracefully  curved  neck.  They  inhabit  the  temperate  regions 
both  north  and  south  of  the  equator,  one  genus  with  one  species  being  peculiar  to 
Australia,  one  to  South  America ;  one  genus  is  circumpolar,  and  the  fourth  is  Palaearc- 
tic ;  Africa  alone  has  no  swans  at  the  present  day,  This  group  is  apparently  nearer 
related  to  the  ducks  proper  than  to  the  geese,  but  from  the  caverns  of  Malta  is  known 
a  gigantic  fossil  form,  Palceocygnus  falconeri,  which,  on  account  of  its  high,  stout,  and 
short-toed  feet,  seems  to  take  an  intermediate  position  between  geese  and  swans. 

The  discovery  of  Australia  altered  many  an  Old  World  notion  in  regard  to  ani- 
mals and  plants,  and  the  saying  "  white  as  a  swan  "  had  to  be  modified  when  the  Aus- 
tralian black  swan  (Chenopis  atrata)  was  discovered  towards  the  end  of  the  last 
century.  It  is  a  most  beautiful  species ;  the  neck  is  very  long  and  thin,  its  curvature 
very  graceful,  and  the  inner  wing-feathers  are  curled  and  raised ;  the  color  is  entirely 
dull  black,  with  white  on  the  wing;  the  eye  is  red,  and  the  bill  vivid  carmine, 
adorned  with  a  white  cross-band.  It  is  entirely  acclimatized  in  the  northern  hemi- 
sphere. The  white  swans  of  the  genus  Olor,  of  which  two  species  are  peculiar  to  the 
Palaearctic  region  and  two  to  this  continent,  do  not  carry  their  neck  in  an  S-like  curve 
as  do  the  other  forms,  but  straight,  more  after  the  fashion  of  the  geese.  They  have  a 
loud  and  sonorous  voice,  the  resonant  quality  of  which  is  due  to  the  convolutions  of  the 
windpipe  within  the  breast-bone,  similar  to  the  arrangement  already  described  in  some 
cranes.  The  trumpeters  or  whistling-swans  breed  chiefly  in  the  Arctic  regions,  mi- 
grating southwards  in  winter.  Somewhat  similar  in  appearance,  on  account  of  the 
dazzlingly  white  plumage,  but  differing  in  having  a  most  elegantly  S-like  neck,  a  high 
frontal  knob,  wedge-shaped  tail,  and  simple  windpipe,  is  the  European  so-called  tame 
or  mute-swan  (Cygnus  gibbus),  the  habitat  of  which  seems  to  be  the  western  temper- 
ate portion  of  the  Palaaarctic  region.  When  this  snow-white  bird  with  the  scarlet  bill 
is  leisurely  swimming,  the  wing-feathers  half  raised  like  sails,  and  the  neck  doubly 
curved,  it  certainly  is  one  of  the  most  majestic  and  beautiful  members  of  the  feathered 
tribes.  Among  water  birds  it  has  no  rival  on  the  northern  half  of  the  globe,  and  it 
is  very  doubtful  if  it  does  not  even  excel  the  South  American  black-necked  swan 
(Sthenelides  melanc&rypha),  the  exquisite  grace  of  which  is  beyond  description.  The 
plumage  of  the  last-mentioned  species  is  of  the  purest  white,  except  on  the  head  and 
neck,  which  are  of  a  velvety  seal-brown  of  the  darkest  shade,  in  the  most  strikino-  con- 


144 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


trast.  The  bill,  which  bears  a  double  frontal  knob  at  base,  is  light  plumbeous ;  the 
knob,  intense  rose-color,  the  nail  whitish ;  the  legs  are  flesh-colored.  This  species, 
the  smallest  of  the  swans,  inhabits  South  America,  from  Chili,  across  the  continent, 
and  southward  to  Tierra  del  Fuego  and  the  Falkland  Islands.  Mr.  Gibson  gives  some 
notes  on  its  occurrence  and  habits  in  Buenos  Ayres,  from  which  we  select  the  follow- 
ing :  "  As  there  are  a  great  many  swamps  and  fens  here,  it  is  but  natural  that  all  the 
water-fowl  should  be  represented  in  extraordinary  numbers;  and  accordingly  even 


FIG.  69.  —  Chenopis  atrata,  Australian  black  swan. 

swans  are  nearly  as  abundant  with  us  as  ducks  are  in  other  districts.  I  have  counted 
about  two  hundred  on  one  small  lagoon  in  a  swamp ;  and  the  latter  is  but  one  in  a 
whole  network  of  swamps  and  watercourses.  Another  great  fen,  bordering  our  land,  is 
known  as  the  Canada  de  Cisneros,  or  Swamp  of  the  Swanneries,  an  eminently  suggestive 
name  for  the  oologist,  one  which  its  character  well  bears  out.  About  the  beginning 
of  the  century,  the  first  Christians  (so-called  in  contradistinction  to  the  Indians)  who 
reached  this  district  were  Gauchos,  who,  in  pursuit  of  swans  for  the  sake  of  their  skins, 


DUCKS.  145 

made  occasional  excursions  from  inside  the  frontiers.  Their  weapon  was  the  '  bolea- 
dores,'  or  balls,  of  the  same  nature  as  those  used  for  catching  cattle  and  horses,  and 
which  are  now  sufficiently  well  known  for  me  to  dispense  with  a  description  of  them. 
These  '  swan-balls '  differed  only  in  being  made  of  wood,  so  that  they  should  float  on 
the  water  if  the  Gaucho  missed  his  aim.  The  swans  were  tamer  and  easier  to  ap- 
proach then,  and  the  rider  took  care  always  to  come  down  the  wind,  getting  within 
forty  or  fifty  yards  before  they  took  the  alarm.  Then  a  desperate  push,  if  the  water 
was  not  too  deep,  would  gain  another  ten  yards,  as  the  swans  are  taken  at  the  disad- 
vantage of  being  compelled  to  rise  down  the  wind.  The  balls  are  whirled,  thrown, 
and,  twisting  round  the  wings  and  neck  of  the  bird  selected,  render  it  quite  helpless. 
Nowadays  it  is  difficult  to  get  within  gunshot-range  without  regular  stalking.  It 
nests  very  early,  July  and  September,  however,  being  the  favorite  months.  The  posi- 
tion chosen  is  always  in  one  of  the  largest  and  deepest  swamps,  the  nest  being  placed 
among  the  thickest  rushes,  at  some  distance  from  one  of  the  lagoons,  but  connected 
with  it  by  a  lane  of  clear  water;  for  the  birds  always  leave  the  nest  by  swimming. 
It  is  built  from  the  bottom  of  the  swamp,  sometimes  through  four  or  five  feet  of 
water,  above  the  surface  of  which  it  rises  a  foot  or  a  foot  and  a  half.  The  diameter 
at  the  top  is  about  two  feet.  The  general  clutch  of  eggs  is  either  three  or  four.  They 
are  of  a  smooth,  glossy  cream-color." 

The  Anatinre  comprise  the  group  of  sub-family  rank,  which,  with  a  general  term,  we 
call  '  ducks,'  including  within  it  tree-ducks,  river-ducks,  sea-ducks,  and  a  few  minor  sec- 
tions, which  at  present  we  cannot  satisfactorily  place  elsewhere.  The  common  char- 
acter is  the  shape  of  the  bill  which  is  constructed  upon  the  plan  of  that  of  the  tame 
duck,  rather  broad,  more  or  less  depressed,  with  thin  and  flat  lamellae  and  mostly  nar- 
row nail,  but  modified  in  many  ways  to  conform  to  the  requirements  of  the  different 
habits  and  the  different  food  of  the  members.  The  sub-family  is  rather  numerous  in 
species,  and  somewhat  polymorphic,  for  some  of  the  forms  show  strong  affinities 
towards  the  swans,  others  to  the  spur-winged  geese,  others  again  to  the  mergansers. 

It  will  here  be  necessary  to  go  a  little  into  details  in  describing  the  peculiar  bulbous 
enlargement  of  the  windpipe  so  characteristic  of  most  ducks,  since  in  most  works  of 
a  general  character  this  feature  is  usually  dismissed  by  simple  mention  that  such  an 
enlargement  occurs.  In  the  females  the  windpipe  descends  regularly  to  the  lower 
larynx,  where  it  becomes  more  or  less  contracted.  The  rings  coalesce  into  a  small 
pyramid  with  bony  walls,  from  which  the  two  bronchi  depart.  In  no  species  known 
has  the  female  an  enlargement  like  that  of  the  male,  with  the  exception  of  the  Aus- 
tralian Virago  castanea,  the  female  of  which  has  an  arrangement  similar  to  that  of 
the  male,  but  smaller,  as  shown  by  Prof.  Newton.  The  peculiar  structure  of  the  male 
windpipe  consists  in  a  round,  bony,  bladdery  appendage,  situated  on  the  left  side,  just 
above  the  bronchial  tubes,  forming  the  so-called  labyrinth,  or  bulla  ossea.  This  ap- 
pendage is  only  absent  in  a  few  sea-ducks.  In  the  fresh-water  ducks  it  is  of  a  pretty 
uniform  structure,  as  typified  by  the  labyrinth  of  the  mallard.  Nevertheless  every  spe- 
cies presents  minor  differences  which  are  constant  and  peculiar  to  it.  The  sheldrake 
( Tadormi)  has  a  double  labyrinth,  with  the  enlargement  on  the  right-hand  side.  In 
most  of  the  sea-ducks,  the  labyrinth  is  of  a  somewhat  different  structure,  it  being 
not  uniformly  osseous  all  round,  but  more  or  less  angular,  pierced  through  by  numer- 
ous openings,  the  so-called  feneetree,  which  are  covered  by  membrane.  This  difference 
has  been  regarded  as  of  systematic  importance  in  separating  river-ducks  and  sea-ducks; 
but  the  fact  that  the  presence  or  absence  of  a  lobe  to  the  hind  toe  is  not  co-extensive 
VOL.  iv. —  10 


146  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

with  a  fenestrated  or  closed  labyrinth  renders  the  character  useless  as  such.  As  ex- 
amples may  be  quoted  the  common  eider,  which  has  a  labyrinth  much  like  that  of  the 
mallard,  while  it  is  feuestrated  in  /Sarkidiornis  and  JRhodonessa.  Some  species  have, 
in  addition  to  the  labyrinth,  or  alone,  a  bulbous  expansion  higher  up  on  the  trachea, 
as  in  the  rosy-billed  duck  (Metopiana peposaca)  from  South  America,  without  lobe  to 
the  hind-toe,  and  in  the  velvet-scotor  (Oidemia  fusca),  one  of  our  common  sea-ducks. 

We  shall  now  briefly  review  the  minor  groups  into  which  this  sub-family  is  divis- 
ible, commencing  with  the  tree-ducks,  which  seem  to  be -somewhat  isolated,  and, 
perhaps,  might  have  been  made  to  form  a  separate  sub-family  in  connection  with  the 
Muscovy  duck  and  the  genus  /Sarkidiornis.  The  tree-ducks  (Dendroeygna)  are 
remarkable  for  their  long  thin  neck,  the  long  hind-toe,  their  arboreal  habits,  and  their 
curious  geographical  distribution.  The  genus  consists  of  about  a  dozen  forms,  which 
inhabit  the  tropical  regions  of  the  earth,  chiefly  America  and  the  Malayan  archipelago, 
but  also  India,  Madagascar,  Africa,  and  Australia.  This  general  distribution  is  not 
so  strange,  since  we  have  numerous  parallels,  as  repeatedly  observed  on  previous  pages. 
But  in  this  case  we  are  confronted  with  the  fact  that  one  species,  D.  viduata,  occurs 
both  in  Africa  and  in  South  America.  Dr.  Sclater,  however,  thinks  it  probable  that 
it  has  been  introduced  to  the  latter  country  by  negro  slaves,  but  we  are  not- aware  that 
this  is  more  than  a  mere  guess.  The  Muscovy  duck  (Cairina  mosc/iata),  originally 
neotropical,  but  now  domesticated  nearly  all  over  the  earth,  is  too  wrell  known  to 
detain  us  further,  and  the  'black-backed  geese'  (Sarkidiornis)  need  only  be  men- 
tioned for  the  curious,  compressed,  high  wattle,  that  surmounts  the  culmen  for  nearly 
the  whole  of  its  length.  The  three  species,  one  of  which  is  found  in  South  America, 
one  in  South  Africa  and  Madagascar,  and  one  in  India,  are  exceedingly  alike,  and 
were  once  thought  to  be  only  one  species,  making  one  more  instance  of  the  kind  of 
geographical  distribution  alluded  to  above. 

Not  very  distantly  related  to  the  foregoing  genera  are  the  true  sheldrakes,  Tadorna, 
of  which  the  typical  species  (  T.  tadorna)  is  well  worth  mentioning.  Considering  its 
striking  coloration,  the  head  and  neck  being  greenish  black ;  anterior  part  of  back, 
sides,  and  breast  rusty  brown,  shoulders  and  middle  of  under  parts  black;  wing- 
speculum  green,  rusty  brown  behind ;  bill  and  frontal  knob  bright  carmine,  legs  flesh- 
color,  it  will  be  perceived  that  it  is  one  of  the  most  striking-looking  ducks.  The  size 
is  that  of  a  mallard,  but  it  stands  higher  on  the  legs,  and  looks  much  statelier  and 
walks  better,  on  account  of  the  more  central  position  of  the  feet.  The  sheldrake 
inhabits  the  coast  of  temperate  Europe,  and  is  also  found  in  corresponding  latitudes  on 
the  eastern  shores  of  the  Palaearctic  continent.  It  is  sedentary,  and,  in  spite  of  its 
unlobed  hind  toe,  is  strictly  confined  to  salt  water.  The  plumage  is  only  molted  once 
a  year ;  there  are  no  seasonal  changes,  and  both  sexes  are  neai'ly  alike  in  coloration. 
Its  breeding  history  is  most  interesting,  for  it  nests  in  burrows  made  in  the  sand-dunes 
of  the  coast,  either  made  by  themselves  or  other  burrowing  animals,  as  rabbits  or  foxes. 
The  inhabitants  on  several  of  the  small  sandy  islands  off  the  western  coast  of  Jutland  — 
notably  the  island  of  Sylt — have  made  the  whole  colony  of  sheldrakes  breeding  there  a 
source  of  considerable  income,  by  judiciously  taxing  the  birds  for  eggs  and  down, 
supplying  them,  in  return,  with  burrows  of  easy  access,  and  protecting  them  against  all 
kinds  of  injury.  The  construction  of  such  a  duck-burrow  is  described  by  Johann 
Friedrich  Naumann,  who  says  that  all  the  digging,  with  the  exception  of  the  entrance- 
tunnel,  is  made  from  above.  On  top  of  a  small,  rounded  hill  covered  with  grass,  the 
breeding  chambers  are  first  dug  out  to  a  uniform  depth  of  two  to  three  feet.  These 


DUCKS. 


147 


are  then  connected  by  horizontal  tunnels,  and  finally  with  the  common  entrance.  Each 
breeding  chamber  is  closed  above  with  a  tightly-fitting  piece  of  sod,  which  can  be 
lifted  up  like  a  lid,  when  the  nest  is  to  be  examined  and  plundered.  Such  a  complex 
.burrow  may  contain  from  ten  to  twenty  nest-chanibers,  but  in  the  latter  case  there 
are  usually  two  entrances.  The  birds,  which,  on  account  of  the  protection  extended  to 
them  through  ages,  are  quite  tame,  take  very  eagerly  to  the  burrows.  As  soon  as  the 
female  has  laid  six  eggs  the  egging  commences,  and  every  one  above  that  number  is 
taken  away,  a  single  bird  often  laying  twenty  or  thirty  eggs  in  a  season.  The  birds 
are  so  tame,  that,  when  the  lid  is  opened,  the  female  still  sits  on  the  nest,  not  walking 
off  into  the  next  room  until  touched  by  the  egg-gatherer's  hand.  When  no  more 
fresh  eggs  are  found  in  the  nest,  the  down  composing  the  latter  is  also  collected,  being 
in  quality  nearly  equal  to  eider  down. 


C.W6' 


FIG.  70.  —  Tiulfinia  tailorna,  sheldrake. 


The  coscoroba  duck  (Coscoroba  coscoroba),  is  a  South  American  form  which,  on 
account  of  its  large  size,  graceful  neck,  and  white  color  is  usually  referred  to  the  swans. 
It  is  a  true  duck,  however,  as  proven  both  by  external  and  internal  characters. 

The  true  and  typical  ducks  (Anatina?),  the  central  and  most  numerous  group  of 
the  family,  are  conventionally  divided  into  two  smaller  divisions,  according  to  the 
presence  or  absence  of  a  membranaceous  lobe  to  the  hind  toe,  but  while  there  gener- 
ally is  an  easily  appreciable  difference  between  a  river-duck  and  a  sea-duck,  several 
forms  are  so  completely  intermediate  that  it  is  nearly  impossible  to  decide  to  which 
category  they  should  be  referred.  As  far  as  we  know,  there  is  no  character,  external 
or  internal,  that  will  naturally  divide  the  sub-family  in  two.  As  to  the  value  of  the 
formation  of  the  trachea  and  its  labryinth,  we  have  already  spoken  above.  The  sub- 
family is  a  tolerably  homogeneous  one,  and  only  few  outlying  forms  belong  to  it. 


148 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


Some  species  have  one  or  the  other  organ  extremely  developed  or  abnormally  devel- 
oped, as  the  common  shovelers  (Spatula)  and  the  lobe-billed  shovelers  (Malacorhyn- 
chus),  which  have  the  bill  extremely  expanded  towards  the  extremity,  and  the  lamella? 
very  long  and  thin,  like  a  horny  fringe  around  the  tomia ;  the  latter,  an  Australian 
species  of  peculiar  coloration,  light  brownish  gray  with  dark  lunules,  giving  the  plu- 
mage a  scaly  appearance,  and  a  small,  glossy,  pinkish  spot  behind  the  eye,  has  besides, 
a  soft  membranaceous  flap  attached  to  each  side  of  the  anterior  part  of  the  bill.  The 
male  mallard  (Anas  boschas)  has  some  of  the  upper  tail-coverts  recurved  in  a  peculiar 
manner ;  the  mandarin-duck  (Dendronessa  galericulata),  from  Eastern  Asia,  has  a  ruff 
on  the  side  of  the  neck,  and  the  inner  tertial  modified  into  an  erect  fan  or  sail-like 
ornament;  the  pin-tail  (Dafila  acutd)  and  the  'old  squaw'  (Clangula  hi/emails)  have 


FIG.  71.—  Spatula  clypeata,  shoveler-duck. 

the  middle  tail-feathers  extremely  lengthened  and  pointed ;  the  scoters  and  surf-ducks 
( Oidemia)  have  a  variously  formed  knob  or  tumor  at  base  of  the  bill ;  many  forms 
have  shoulder-feathers  and  tertials  greatly  lengthened  and  pendant,  etc. ;  but  all  are 
closely  connected  otherwise.  The  geographical  distribution  offers  no  peculiarities  of 
a  general  nature,  except  that  the  sea-ducks  are  more  numerous  in  the  boreal  regions 
than  elsewhere. 

Some  of  the  most  tastefully  and  delicately  colored  birds  are  found  among  the 
ducks,  and  some  of  the  rarest  colors  in  the  class  are  here  met  with.  We  have  already 
mentioned  the  pink  spot  behind  the  eye  of  the  lobe-billed  shoveler.  An  Indian 
species,  Rhodonessa  caryophyllacea,  remarkable  as  a  fresh-water-duck  with  the  wind- 
pipe of  a  sea-duck,  is  still  more  extraordinarily  colored,  both  sexes  having  the  head 
and  the  back  of  the  neck  of  a  beautiful,  pale,  rosy  pink,  with  a  small  tuft  of  still 


DUCKS.  149 

brighter  rosy  on  the  top  of  the  head  in  the  breeding-season.  Mr.  F.  B.  Sirason,  in 
'The  Ibis'  for  1884,  gives  some  interesting  notes  about  this  lovely  duck,  and  tells 
how,  during  a  shooting-party  at  Purneah,  he  secured  a  couple  of  specimens  for  Dr. 
Jerdon  as  follows :  "  Whilst  going  on  I  marked  a  small  party  of  pink-headed  ducks 
into  one  of  the  pools,  and  immediately  told  Jerdon  that  if  he  wrould  leave  the  party 
and  come  with  me  I  thought  I  could  get  a  nice  shot  at  his  long-coveted  birds.  So 
we  took  four  elephants  and  started.  Of  course  with  noisy,  splashing  animals  any 
approach  to  ducks  was  impossible;  on  the  other  hand,  the  pool  was  full  of  huge 
crocodiles.  We  could  see  them  with  our  glasses.  However,  I  agreed  to  go  on  foot, 
the  elephants  to  come  to  me  the  moment  the  shots  were  fired.  I  passed  through  the 
tall  bamboo-grass  in  water  deepening  till  it  was  nearly  up  to  my  waist  as  I  came  to  the 
edge,  and  found  myself  about  twenty  yards  from  ten  or  a  dozen  of  the  ducks.  They 
were  not  sitting  close  together,  so  I  shot  the  finest  with  one  barrel,  and  another  as  they 
rose,  and  I  made  off  to  the  elephants  as  hard  as  I  could.  Once  safe  on  Behemoth,  I 
surveyed  with  Jerdon  the  sight,  familiar  to  every  Indian  ornithologist,  but  always 
enjoyable  and  never  to  be  forgotten,  of  the  wonderful  variety  of  bird-life  to  be  seen 
in  a  spot  like  this.  After  having  discussed  all  the  species  we  saw,  we  examined  the 
two  pink-headed  ducks  we  had  picked  up  with  the  aid  of  the  elephants.  Jerdon  was 
delighted  with  them,  and  said  that  the  pink  of  the  head  was  far  more  beautiful  than 
in  dried  specimens."  Mr.  Simson  states  that  this  species  is  far  from  uncommon  in  a 
restricted  area  of  Bengal,  its  home  being  the  southern  part  of  the  district  of  Purneah, 
and  in  the  country  bordering  the  left  bank  of  the  Ganges,  between  the  Coosy  River, 
which  separates  Purneah  from  Bhangalpore,  and  in  the  Maldah  district.  For  various 
reasons  it  is  little  known,  however,  to  the  Bengal  sportsman  and  ornithologist,  and  is 
considered  rare,  the  chief  reasons  being  that  it  is  poor  on  the  table,  and  that  it  is 
never  very  numerous,  nor  goes  in  flocks,  nor  associates  with  other  ducks.  It  is  resident 
all  the  year  round,  pairing  and  nesting  in  short  grass  on  dry  land  at  some  distance 
from  the  pools. 

At  the  southern  extremity  of  South  America  lives  a  singular  sea-duck,  with  lobed 
hind  toe,  which,  on  the  other  hand,  seems  to  have  the  trachea  of  a  fresh-water  duck. 
The  early  travelers,  on  account  of  its  curious  habits,  bestowed  upon  it  the  cognomen 
of  the  'race-horse  duck,'  but  those  of  the  present  century  prefer  to  call  it  the 
'  steamer  duck '  or  *  side- wheel  duck,'  "  on  account  of  its  movements  when  swimming 
presenting  a  strong  resemblance  to  those  of  a  paddle-wheel  steamer."  Others  call  it 
the  '  logger-head  duck,'  and  its  systematic  name  is  Tachyeres  cinereus.  At  one  time 
it  was  thought  that  there  were  two  species,  one  incapable  of  flight,  the  other  possessed 
of  volant  powers,  but  Mr.  R  O.  Cunningham  seems  to  have  established  the  fact  that 
the  '  flying  logger-head '  is  only  the  young  bird,  and  that  the  power  of  flight  departs 
from  it  as  it  grows  old,  or,  to  use  Cunningham's  own  words,  "that,  as  the  bird 
increases  in  size  and  weight,  owing  to  the  deposition  of  an  increased  amount  of 
mineral  matter  in  the  bones  and  various  other  causes,  it  gradually  abandons  the  habit 
of  flight,  finding  that  the  speed  witli  which  it  can  progress  through  the  water  by 
means  of  the  rapid  movements  of  its  wings,  together  with  its  diving-powers,  are 
sufficient  to  preserve  it  from  threatened  danger." 

The  eiders  form  a  particularly  striking  group  among  the  sea-ducks,  also  peculiar 
in  some  structural  characters,  having  an  unfenestrated  labyrinth  like  the  foregoing 
species.  Also,  in  the  great  difference  in  the  coloration  of  the  sexes,  and  in  the  males 
assuming  the  plumage  of  the  female  for  a  short  season  following  the  breeding,  they 


150 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


approach  the  river-ducks.  They  inhabit  the  boreal  regions,  and  in  countries  where 
they  are  numerous  and  protected,  they  are  of  considerable  economical  importance,  the 
down  of  which  they  build  the  nest  being  highly  valued.  Each  nest  yields  about  an 
ounce  and  a  third.  From  Greenland  and  Iceland  alone  six  thousand  pounds,  or  the 
contents  of  seventy-two  thousand  nests,  are  yearly  exported.  This  gives  an  idea  of 


FJG.  72.  —  Somatcria  mollissima,  eider-duck. 

the  number  of  these  birds  in  the  high  north.  All  along  the  coast  of  Norway,  where 
the  bird  is  protected  by  law  throughout  the  year,  the  common  eider  (Somateria  mollis- 
sima), is  now  exceedingly  common  and  very  tame.  The  inhabitants  take  great  care 
of  the  breeding  birds,  which  often  enter  their  houses  to  find  suitable  nesting-places, 
and  cases  are  authenticated  in  which  the  poor  fisherman  vacated  his  bed  in  order  not 
to  disturb  the  female  eider,  which  had  selected  it  as  a  quiet  corner  wherein  to  raise 


DUCKS.  151 

her  young.  In  another  instance  the  cooking  of  a  family  had  to  be  done  in  a  tem- 
porary kitchen,  as  a  fanciful  bird  had  taken  up  her  abode  on  the  fireplace. 

Nearly  related  to  the  eiders  is  one  of  our  North  American  sea-ducks,  the  history 
of  which  is  extremely  interesting.  We  refer  to  the  Labrador  duck  (Camptolaimus 
labradorius),  which,  to  all  appearance,  is  now  extinct,  or  at  least  very  nearly  so,  since 
no  capture  of  a  specimen  has  been  reported  since  December,  1878,  while  during  the 
preceding  ten  years  scarcely  more  than  half  a  dozen  birds  were  obtained.  Altogether 
only  three  dozen  specimens  are  preserved  in  collections,  of  which  eleven  are  in  Europe, 
the  remainder  in  North  America.  The  Labrador  duck,  consequently,  is  twice  as  rare 
in  museums  as  the  great-auk.  As  it  was  a  good  flyer,  the  circumstances  which  led  to 
its  destruction  must  have  been  quite  different  from  those  extinguishing  .the  auk. 
Within  historical  times  its  distribution  seems  to  have  been  very  limited  (the  north- 
eastern Atlantic  coast,  presumably  breeding  in  Labrador  and  migrating  southwards  in 
winter  as  far  as  the  Chesapeake),  but  it  has  always  been  comparatively  rare,' even  at 
the  time  of  Wilson.  It  is  difficult  to  say  what  ultimately  brought  on  their  extermina- 
tion, and  the  suggestion  of  an  epizooty  may  be  as  good  as  any,  but  I  would  submit 
another  possibility.  It  seems  to  be  a  fact  that  when  a  migratory  species  has  reached 
a  certain  low  number  of  individuals,  the  rapidity  with  which  it  goes  towards  extinction 
is  considerably  increased.  Two  circumstances  may  tend  towards  this  result.  We 
know  that  when  birds  on  their  migrations  get  astray,  having  lost  their  route  and  com- 
rades, they  are  nearly  always  doomed  to  destruction,  that  fate  not  only  overtaking 
single  individuals,  but  also  large  flocks  to  the  last  member.  If  the  safety  of  the  wan- 
derers, therefore,  greatly  depends  upon  their  keeping  their  correct  route,  then  safety 
decreases  disproportionately  the  scarcer  the  species  becomes,  since,  if  the  route  is 
poorly  frequented,  the  younger  and  inexperienced  travelers  have  less  chance  of  fol- 
lowing the  right  track,  and  more  chance  of  getting  lost,  and  consequently  destroyed. 
The  fewer  the  individuals,  the  more  disconnected  become  the  breeding  localities,  the 
more  difficult  for  the  birds  to  find  each  other  and  form  flocks  in  the  fall.  Finally, 
the  number  will  be  reduced  to  a  few  colonies,  and  the  species,  consequently,  in  danger 
of  extinction,  since  a  casualty  which  under  ordinary  circumstances  only  would  affect 
a  fraction  of  the  members,  now  may  easily  prove  fatal  to  all  the  remainders  of  the 
species.  We  need  only  suppose  that  during  one  unfortunate  year  nearly  all  the 
broods  were  destroyed  by  inundations,  fires,  or  frost,  to  perceive  what  difficulty  the 
few  birds  left  in  the  autumn  would  have  in  winding  their  way  without  getting  astray. 
We  know  that  the  proportion  of  birds  returning  in  spring  is  comparatively  small,  and 
the  flocks  are  considerably  thinned  down.  Under  the  circumstances  presumed, 
there  will  hardly  be  birds  left  to  form  flocks.  But  birds  used  to  migrate  in  flocks  do 
not  like  to  or  cannot  travel  alone ;  hence  they  are  forced  to  follow  flocks  of  allied 
species,  which  may  take  them  to  localities  far  from  their  home.  In  that  way  a  few 
scattered  pairs  may  survive,  and  breed  here  and  there,  a  number  of  years  after  the 
rest  are  destroyed,  and  such  survivors  are  probably  those  few  Labrador  ducks  which 
have  been  captured  occasionally  during  the  last  twenty  years  or  more.  There  is  a 
possibility  that  a  few  such  pairs  may  still  be  in  existence,  but,  however  hardy,  their 
fate  is  sealed,  and  perhaps  not  a  single  one  will  get  into  the  hands  of  a  naturalist. 

Well  may  the  Erismaturinae  be  called  quasi-cosmopolitan.  The  group,  which  is 
related  to  the  sea-ducks,  in  reality  belongs  to  the  same  category  as  Rostratida,  Sarki- 
diornis,  etc.,  having  one  or  a  few  '  aberrant '  representatives  in  South  America,  Austra- 
lia, and  South  Africa,  in  this  case  somewhat  modified,  as  no  species  is  found  in  India, 


152 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


while  one  invades  the  Palaearctic  region,  and  one,  our  ruddy  duck  (Erismatura  ru- 
bida),  is  peculiar  to  North  America.  The  birds  of  this  family  are  especially  charac- 
terized by  the  narrow  and  rigid  tail-feathers,  which  are  only  scantily  protected  with 
coverts  at  the  base.  The  strangest  bird  of  the  group  is  the  Australian  musk-duck 
(Biziura  lobata),  the  male  of  which  has  a  large,  compressed  wattle  underneath  the 
chin,  very  much  like  that  which  Sarkidiornis  has  on  the  top  of  the  bill.  It  very 
seldom  takes  to  the  wing,  even  when  hard  pressed,  but  it  dives  with  great  ease  and 
can  remain  under  water  for  an  incredible  space  of  time.  Its  chief  mode  of  progres- 
sion is  by  swimming  with  the  head  and  part  of  the  neck  alone  above  the  surface. 
The  male  is  nearly  twice  as  big  as  the  female,  and  the  color  of  both  sexes  is  a  blackish 
brown.  During  the  pairing  and  breeding  season  the  male  emits  a  strong  odor  of 


FIG.  73.  —  Merganser  merganser,  European  goosander. 

musk,  which  may  be  smelt  long  before  the  bird  is  seen,  and  hence  the  name.  The 
eggs,  which  usually  are  only  two  in  number,  are  comparatively  large,  and  of  a  pale 
olive  color ;  the  shell  is  rough  and  very  strong.  The  peculiar  voice  of  the  musk-duck 
is  said  to  resemble  "  the  sound  caused  by  a  large  drop  of  water  falling  into  a  deep 
well." 

The  last  sub-family  consists  of  the  mergansers,  which  are  directly  and  closely 
related  to  sevei-al  of  our  sea-ducks,  but  adapted  to  a  diet  of  living  fish  instead  of  the 
molluscs  which  serve  the  sea-ducks  for  food.  In  consequence  the  bill  has  been  greatly 
modified.  The  great  width,  being  unnecessary,  has  been  reduced,  the  lamella?,  no 
longer  serving  as  a  sieve,  have  been  changed  into  strong  teeth  which  will  prevent  the 
escape  of  the  unfortunate  victims,  and  the  nail  has  assumed  the  character  of  a  strong 
hook.  The  result  is  that  these  birds  are  among  the  greatest  destroyers  of  fish  life. 


FLAMINGOS.  153 

The  true  mergansers  —  perhaps  not  more  than  seven  species  —  are  all  adorned 
with  a  more  or  less  conspicuous  crest  on  the  head,  our  North  American  hooded- 
merganser  (Lophodytes  cucullatus  )  being  in  that  respect  the  most  noteworthy,  as  it 
is  also  altogether  the  prettiest  species  of  the  gi'oup. 

A  small  genus  of  South  American  ducks  are  doubtfully  referred  to  this  sub-family, 
and  may  probably  constitute  a  separate  group,  viz.,  the  so-called  '  torrent-ducks '  (Mer- 
ganetta).  The  bill  is  more  like  that  of  the  ordinary  ducks,  but  their  plumage  recalls 
that  of  the  mergansers,  while  a  sharp  and  large  spur  at  the  bend  of  the  wing  is  en- 
tirely peculiar.  They  inhabit  only  the  highest  Andes  from  Columbia  to  Chili,  and 
the  rapidity  with  which  they  swim  and  dive  against  the  mountain-torrents  is  described 
as  truly  astonishing. 

Among  all  the  curious  modifications  of  the  typical  bird-beak,  none  is  more  strange 
and  aberrant  than  that  of  the  flamingos  (PHCENICOPTERCIDEJ5).  The  lower 
mandible  forms  a  deep  and  broad  box,  into  which  the  upper  one,  which  is  much  lower 
and  narrower,  fits  like  a  lid ;  the  sides  are  provided  with  quite  duck-like  lamella? ;  and, 
to  complete  the  oddness  of  the  structure,  both  mandibles  at  the  middle  are  bent 
abruptly  downwards.  This  makes  the  flamingo  a  '  sifter,'  indeed,  and  the  bill  is  used 
to  great  advantage  in  sifting  out  the  various  minute  crustaceans,  molluscs,  and  vegeta- 
ble matter  which  they  gather  from  the  soft  mud  of  the  salt-water  lagoons  frequented 
by  them.  In  feeding,  the  head  is  bent  forwards  until  the  anterior  deflected  part  of 
the  bill  is  parallel  with  the  ground.  The  gullet  is  remarkably  narrow,  and  allows  only 
the  minutest  particles  to  pass  into  the  stomach.  In  this  particular,  and  also  in  the 
lamellae  and  the  narrowness  of  the  upper  mandible,  the  flamingos  present  a  most 
striking  and  interesting  analogy  to  the  balaenid  whales,  the  'whale-bone'  of  which  has 
the  same  function  as  the  lamella?  of  the  Anatidae  and  the  flamingos. 

On  account  of  the  extreme  elongation  of  the  neck  (which,  by  the  way,  is  not 
caused  by  a  particularly  great  number  of  vertebras,  there  being  only  eighteen,  but  by 
a  prolongation  of  the  individual  vertebrae,  especially  in  the  middle  portion),  and  also 
on  account  of  the  equally  lengthened  legs,  the  flamingos  were  associated  with  the 
waders  by  the  early  authors.  Some  recent  ornithologists  who  still  adhere  to  this  view 
have  strengthened  it  by  adducing  several  anatomical  features  in  support  of  the  affinity 
to  the  Herodii,  especially  to  the  ibises.  According  to  them  the  characters  of  the 
breast-bone,  and  still  more  the  pelvis,  the  number  of  ribs,  the  pterylography,  and  the 
visceral  arrangement  point  directly  toward  the  latter  order.  Huxley,  on  the  other 
hand,  thinks  that  the  flamingo  is  "  so  completely  intermediate  between  the  Anserine 
birds  on  the  one  side,  and  the  storks  and  herons  on  the  other,  that  it  can  be  ranged 
with  neither  of  these  groups,  but  must  stand  as  the  type  of  a  division  by  itself."  This 
position,  however,  seems  to  us  indefensible,  since  the  flamingos  show  no  such  peculiar 
characters  that  warrant  the'ir  independent  position.  Combining  characters  of  both,  it 
must  belong  to  one  or  the  other  of  the  two  groups,  and  it  does  not  seem  to  us  that  the 
characters  are  so  nicely  balanced  as  to  leave  us  in  doubt  in  regard  to  the  place  of  the 
flamingos,  following,  as  we  do,  those  authors  who  associate  them  with  the  Anseres.  It 
will  suffice  to  mention  the  following  characters :  The  lacrhymo-nasal  region  is  elongated ; 
the  frontalia  are  narrow,  not  covering  the  orl  its  above :  grooves  for  the  orbital  glands 
are  present ;  so  are  also  basi-pterygoid  processes,  though  rudimentary ;  all  characters 
which  are  duck-like  and  not  at  all  herodinine,  and  the  f  urculum  and  the  shoulder-blades 
are  distinctly  anserine  too.  The  muscular  formula,  BXY,  points  neither  way,  nor  does 
the  pterylosis  strike  us  as  so  extremely  distinct  from  that  of  the  Anseres.  The  partly 


154  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

stork-like  arrangement  of  the  viscera,  on  the  other  hand,  is  completely  counterbalanced 
by  the  strongly  and  unmistakably  anserine  nature  of  the  tongue,  and  by  the  presence 
of  well-developed  caaea.  We  do  not  lay  much  stress  upon  the  external  characters, 
though  the  lamellae  of  the  beak,  the  palmation  of  the  toes,  and  the  number  of  tail- 
feathers  —  there  being  fourteen  in  the  flamingo,  but  only  twelve  or  ten  in  all  Herodiones 
—  point  in  the  same  direction.  A  peculiar  character  is  the  number  of  primaries,  the 
flamingo  having  eleven,  or  one  more  than  most  birds.  The  arrangement  of  the  carotids 
is  also  worth  mentioning.  It  is  usually  asserted  that  Phoenicopterus  has  only  one  carotid, 
the  right  —  a  very  unusual  arrangement,  since  nearly  all  birds  which  possess  only  one 
have  retained  the  left  one.  Professor  Garrod,  however,  has  shown  that  this  is  a  mis- 
take, and  that  the  flamingo  has  two  carotids,  though  the  left  one  is  very  small,  and 
unites  with  the  right  one  at  the  point  where,  in  allied  birds, 
the  two  arteries  meet  in  order  to  follow  alongside  of  each 
other,  —  a  unique  modification,  as  illustrated  by  the  accom- 
panying diagram. 

The  characters  which  seem  to  connect  the  flamingo  with 
the  ibises  and  storks  we  regard  partly  as  ancestral,  and  partly 
as  the  result  of  adaptation  to  a  similar  mode  of  life.  On  the 
other  hand,  placing  them,  as  we  do,  next  to  the  latter  group, 
we,  of  course,  do  not  deny  their  mutual  relationship. 

The  group  is  now  a  very  small  one,  only  about  eight 
species  being  recognized  at  present.    Otherwise  during  earlier 
geological  periods,  as  there  are  more  fossil  Phcenicopteroid 
FIG.  74.  —  Carotids  in  Phanicop-  birds  known  from  the  deposits  in  France  alone  than  are  now 
oTaoVta'jTffefrcaVotid1-1^  distributed  all  over  the  tropical  and  sub-tropical  world.     The 
subciav^art^ry^rc^ight1^  tvPe  is  therefore  a  rather  antique  one,  and  at  one  time  num- 
rotid ;  ri,  right  innominate ;   erous  species  and  genera  inhabited  the  shore  of  the  lakes 
and  estuaries  under  latitudes  considerably  north  of  the  pres- 
ent limit  of  the  family.     In  the  eocene  beds  of  France  have  been  found  remains  of  ap- 
parently flamingo-like  birds,  upon  which  have  been  based  the  genera  Agnopterus  and 
Elornis.      From  the  miocene  deposits  there  are  described  a  Phoenicopterus  croizeti, 
and  not  less  than  five  species  of  the  genus  Palceolodus.     As  will  be  seen  from  the 
accompanying  sketch  of  the  restored    skeleton  of  one  of  these,  they  were  essentially 
like  the  flamingos  of  the  present  day  in  regard  to  the  length  of  the  legs  and  neck,  but 
the  bill  was  straight  and  altogether  more  normal  than  in  the  latter,  the  undeveloped 
young  of  which  likewise  has  a  straight  bill.     They  very  properly  constitute  the  family 
PALJEOLODONTTD^E. 

The  recent  PHOENICOPTERID./E  embrace  only  two  genera,  Phcenicoparra  and  Phoe- 
nicopterus. The  former,  which  is  characterized  by  its  thick,  short,  and  otherwise 
aberrant  beak  and  the  absence  of  a  hind  toe,  is  peculiar  to  the  Andes  of  Chili  and 
Peru,  and  consists  only  of  one  imperfectly  known  species,  P.  andinus. 

Of  the  true  flamingos  the  species  belonging  to  the  fauna  of  the  United  States, 
P.  ruber,  has  been  known  under  this  name  since  the  time  of  Linnaaus,  but  he  and  his 
successors  during  the  last  century  believed  it  to  be  conspecific  with  the  Mediterranean 
species.  Bonnaterre,  in  1790,  and  Temminck  thirty  years  later,  expressed  a  belief  of 
their  being  separable  ;  but  Brehm  in  1823  seems  to  have  been  the  first  author  to  take 
their  distinctness  for  granted,  adopting  without  hesitation  the  name  P.  antiquorum, 
which  Temminck  had  only  proposed  hypothetically. 


FLAMINGOS. 


155 


The  flamingos  are  often  kept  in  captivity,  and  their  manners  and  habits,  so  far  as 
they  could  be  observed  in  a  zoological  garden,  are  well  known.  In  the  wild  state, 
however,  they  are  extremely  shy  birds,  and  of  their  breeding  history  nearly  nothing 
was  known,  the  old  fable  of  their  riding  astride  on  top  of  high  pyramids  being  copied 
from  age  to  age  in  words  and  pictures,  notwithstanding  that  Naumann,  as  early 
as  1838,  demonstrated  the  anatomical  and 
physiological  impossibility  of  the  alleged 
position  of  the  breeding  bird,  and  in  spite 
of  Dr.  Cresson's  assertions  to  the  contrary. 
The  story  originated  with  the  famous  trav- 
eler Dampier,  but  from  his  narrative  it  is 
clear  that  he  was  only  speaking  upon  hear- 
say evidence ;  for  when,  in  1683,  he  visited 
the  Cape  Verde  Islands,  he  found  only  nests 
and  young  ones,  but  no  eggs ;  and  the  ac- 
count of  the  breeding  is  therefore  evidently 
based  upon  the  tales  of  the  natives.  It  runs 
as  follows :  — 

"  When  incubating  they  stand  with  their 
legs  in  the  water,  resting  themselves  against 
the  Hillock,  and  covering  the  hollow  Nest 
upon  it  with  their  Rumps ;  for  their  Legs 
are  very  long ;  and  building  thus  as  they 
do  upon  the  Ground  they  could  neither 
draw  their  Legs  conveniently  into  their 
Nests,  nor  sit  down  upon  them  otherwise 
than  by  resting  their  whole  Bodies  there,  to 
the  Prejudice  of  their  Eggs  or  their  Young, 
were  it  not  for  this  admirable  Contrivance 
which  they  have  by  natural  Instinct." 

His  statement  has,  however,  been  generally,  if  not  universally,  accepted,  for  want 
of  a  better,  inasmuch  as  no  competent  observer  had  succeeded  until  1881  in  watching 
the  manner  in  which  the  flamingo  performed  the  task  of  incubation.  Eggs  have, 
indeed,  been  obtained  by  the  bushel,  but  the  wariness  of  the  birds  precluded  any  trust- 
worthy account  until  the  visit  of  H.  H.  Jonston,  in  1881,  to  a  small  colony  in  the  Lake 
of  Tunis,  and  of  Mr.  Abel  Chapman,  in  1883,  to  a  large  one  near  the  mouth  of  the 
river  Guadalquivir  in  Spain.  The  former  says  :  "  I  took  up  my  opera-glass  and  saw 
on  two  mounds,  some  foot  and  a  half  high,  two  flamingos  sitting  with  their  legs  under 
them.  Of  this  I  am  certain  :  I  could  see  the  tarsi  protruding  beyond  the  loose  plumes 
of  the  wings."  The  latter  gentleman's  account  is  fuller,  so  we  give  the  following 
extract  from  his  narrative :  — 

"  The  islands  were  about  six  miles  distant  from  the  low  shores  of  the  '  marisma,' 
and  at  that  distance  no  land  whatever  was  in  sight.  The  only  relief  from  the  monot- 
ony of  endless  wastes  of  water  were  the  birds ;  a  shrieking,  clamoring  crowd  hung 
overhead,  while  only  a  few  yards  off  the  surface  was  dotted  with  troops  of  stilts, 
sedately  stalking  about,  knee-deep.  Beyond  these  the  strange  forms  of  hundreds  of 
flamingos  met  one's  eye  in  every  direction,  —  some  in  groups  or  in  dense  masses; 
others,  with  rigidly  outstretched  neck  and  legs,  flying  in  short  strings  or  larger  flights, 


FIG.  75.  —  Restoration  of  the  skeleton  of  PaUeolodus 
ambiguum. 


156 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


'  glinting '  in  the  sunlight  like  a  pink  cloud.  Many  pairs  of  old  red  birds  were  observed 
to  be  accompanied  by  a  single  white  (immature)  one.  On  examining  narrowly  the 
different  herds,  there  was  an  obvious  dissimilarity  in  the  appearance  of  certain  groups : 
one  or  two  in  particular  seemed  so  much  denser  than  the  others ;  the  narrow  white 
line  appeared  at  least  three  times  as  thick,  and  in  the  centre  it  looked  as  if  the  birds 
were  literally  piled  upon  each  other.  Felipe  suggested  that  these  birds  must  be  at 
their  '  pajarera,'  or  breeding-place ;  and  after  a  long  ride  through  rather  deep  water 
we  found  that  this  was  so.  On  our  approach,  the  cause  of  the  peculiar  appearance  of 

the  herd  from  a  distance 
became  clearly  discerni- 
ble. Many  of  the  birds 
were  sitting  down  on  a 
low  mud  island;  some 
were  standing  on  it,  and 
others,  again,  were  in  the 
water.  Thus  the  differ- 
ent elevations  of  their 
bodies  formed  what  had 
appeared  a  triple  or  quad- 
ruple line.  On  reaching 
the  spot  we  found  a  per- 
fect mass  of  nests;  the 
low  mud  plateau  was 
crowded  with  them  as 
thickly  as  the  space  per- 
mitted. These  nests  had 
little  or  no  height:  some 
were  raised  two  or  three 
inches,  a  few  might  be 
five  or  six  inches;  but 
the  majority  were  mere- 


ly circular  bulwarks  of 
mud,  with  the  impression 
of  the  birds'  legs  dis- 
tinctly marked  on  it. 
The  general  aspect  of  the 


.  76.  —  Pkcemcoptenis  antiyuorum,  ilamiiigo. 


plateau  was  not  unlike  a  large  table  covered  with  plates.  In  the  centre  was  a  deep  hole 
full  of  muddy  water,  which,  from  the  gouged  appearance  of  its  sides,  appeared  to  be 
used  as  a  reservoir  for  nest-making  materials.  Scattered  all  round  this  main  colony  were 
numerous  single  nests  rising  out  of  the  water,  and  evidently  built  up  from  the  bottom. 
Here  and  there  two  or  three  or  more  of  these  were  joined  together,  — '  semi-detached,' 
so  to  speak ;  these  separate  nests  rose  some  six  or  eight  inches  above  the  water-level, 
and  were  about  fifteen  inches  across.  The  water  was  about  twelve  or  fifteen  inches  deep. 
None  of  these  nests  as  yet  contained  eggs,  and  though  I  returned  to  the  'pajarera'  on  the 
latest  day  I  was  in  the  neighborhood  (May  11),  they  still  remained  empty.  On  both 
occasions  many  hundreds  of  flamingos  were  sitting  on  their  nests,  and  on  the  llth 
we  had  a  good  view  of  them  at  close  quarters.  Linked  arm  and  arm  with  Felipe,  and 
crouching  low  on  the  water,  to  look  as  little  human  as  possible,  we  approached  within 


HERONS.  157 

some  seventy  yards  before  their  sentries  showed  signs  of  alarm,  and  at  that  distance 
with  the  glass  observed  the  sitting  birds  as  distinctly  as  one  need  wish.  Their  long 
red  legs  doubled  under  their  bodies,  the  knees  [heels!]  projecting  as  far  as  or  beyond 
the  tail,  and  their  graceful  necks  neatly  curled  away  among  their  back-feathers,  like  a 
sitting  swan,  with  their  heads  resting  on  their  breasts,  —  all  these  points  were  unmis- 
takable. Indeed  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  point  out  that  in  the  great  majority  of  cases 
(the  nests  being  hardly  raised  above  the  level  of  the  flat  mud),  no  other  position  was 
possible.  Still  none  of  the  crowded  nests  contained  a  single  egg !  How  strange  it  is 
that  the  flamingo,  a  bird  which  never  seems  happy  unless  up  to  its  knees  in  water, 
should  so  long  delay  the  period  of  incubation !  for,  before  eggs  could  be  hatched  in 
the  nests,  and  young  reared,  the  water  would  have  entirely  disappeared,  and  the 
flamingos  would  be  left  stranded  in  the  midst  of  a  scorching  plain  of  sun-baked  mud. 
Being  unable  to  return  to  the  marisma,  I  sent  Felipe  back  there  on  26th  May,  when 
he  found  eggs." 

So  much  for  the  breeding  habits,  of  which  the  accompanying  cut  gives  a  most 
excellent  illustration.  To  complete  the  pictui'e  of  these  interesting  birds  we  add  the 
following,  also  from  Mr.  Chapman's  pen  :  — 

"  In  herds  of  three  hundred  to  five  hundred,  several  of  which  are  often  in  sight  at 
once,  they  stand  feeding  in  the  open  water,  all  their  heads  under,  greedily  tearing  up 
the  grasses  and  water-plants  from  the  bottom.  On  approaching  them,  which  can  only 
be  done  by  extreme  caution,  their  silence  is  first  broken  by  the  sentries,  who  com- 
mence walking  away  with  low  croaks ;  then  the  hundreds  of  necks  rise  at  once  to  the  full 
extent,  every  bird  gaggling  its  loudest,  as  they  walk  obliquely  away,  looking  back  over 
their  shoulders  as  though  to  take  stock  of  the  extent  of  the  danger.  Pushing  a  few 
yards  forward,  up  they  all  rise,  and  a  more  beautiful  sight  cannot  be  imagined  than 
the  simultaneous  spreading  of  their  crimson  wings,  flashing  against  the  sky  like  a 
gleam  of  rosy  light.  In  many  respects  these  birds  bear  a  strong  resemblance  to 
geese.  Like  them,  flamingos  feed  by  day;  and  great  quantities  of  grass,  etc.,  are 
always  floating  about  the  muddy  water  where  a  herd  has  been  feeding.  Their  cry  is 
almost  undistinguishable  from  the  gaggling  of  geese,  and  they  fly  in  the  same  catena- 
rian formations." 

OIIDBR  IX.  —  HERODII. 

The  limitation  of  the  present  order,  as  it  is  adopted  here,  dates  back  only  to 
1867,  when  Huxley  founded  the  '  family '  Pelargomorphae  for  all  the  desmognathous 
'waders' except  the  flamingos.  His  action  was  then  cordially  welcomed  as  a  relief 
from  the  different  attempts  of  separating  the  larger  and  hard-billed  waders  and  the 
Scolopacoid  birds,  attempts  which  had  failed,  since  the  separation  was  based  upon  the 
length  and  position  of  the  hind  tot1,  or  the  condition  of  the  feathering  of  the  face,  or 
the  situation  of  the  nostrils,  or  the  nature  of  the  bill,  or  the  condition  of  the  young  when 
leaving  the  egg,  or  some  other  trifling  character.  Broadly  speaking,  the  group  pro- 
posed by  Huxley  consists  of  three  types,  —  ibises,  storks,  and  herons,  which,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  desmognathous  character  of  the  palate,  agree  in  having  no  trace  of  basi- 
pterygoid  processes,  therein  differing  from  the  members  of  the  foregoing  order,  and  in 
having  long  '  wading '  legs  with  no  full  webs  between  the  toes,  therein  different  both 
from  the  foregoing  order  and  from  that  following,  the  Steganopodes.  At  first  the  group 
was  generally  regarded  as  a  very  natural  and  rather  homogeneous  one.  The  only  dis- 


158  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

sent  came  from  those  authors  who  expected  to  add  to  the  naturalness  and  homoge- 
neity by  including  the  flamingos,  though  Professor  Parker,  it  must  be  admitted,  all  the 
time  tried  to  show  that  the  distance  of  the  Pelargomorphae  from  some  of  the  schizo- 
gnathous  waders  was  not  so  great  as  most  authors  were  ready  to  concede  since  Hux- 
ley's scheme  of  classification  had  commenced  to  overthrow  the  old  notions.  As  to 
the  mutual  relationship  of  the  forms  included,  the  views  were  a  little  divided,  some 
authors  holding  that  the  ibises  and  storks  were  more  closely  allied  than  the  storks  and 
herons,  others  defending  the  opposite  opinion.  The  latter  are  now  generally  conceded 
to  be  right,  but  so  far  have  some  modern  anatomical  systematists  gone  as  to  assert  that 
the  ibises  are  so  different  from  the  storks  and  herons,  and  so  much  like  the  schizo- 
gnathous  waders,  that  they  are  better  classified  with  the  latter  than  with  the  former, 
Forbes  being  foremost  among  the  authors  recommending  this  course.  Forcible  argu- 
ments are  produced  on  both  sides,  but  a  final  decision  is  extremely  difficult,  since  it 
seems  to  depend  upon  the  question  whether  the  desmognathism  is  so  important  a 
character  that  it  counterbalances  the  many  characters  in  which  herons  and  storks  dis- 
agree with  the  ibises,  and  which  the  latter  have  in  common  with  the  Grallae.  For 
obvious  reasons  we  shall  not  try  to  solve  the  question  here,  but  will  retain  the  ibises 
in  this  order,  though  regarding  them  as  a  group  of  equal  taxonomic  value  to  the 
storks  and  herons  combined. 

We  therefore  propose  to  treat  them  as  a  super-family  under  the  name  of  IBIDOI- 
DE^E,  and  shall  at  once  proceed  to  point  out  the  chief  characters  by  which  they  differ 
from  the  Ardeoidese.  The  former,  which  embrace  ibises  and  spoonbills,  are  schizo- 
rhinal ;  the  posterior  angle  of  their  mandible  is  recurved ;  occipital  foramina  are  pres- 
ent ;  the  edge  of  the  cranium  above  the  orbits  is  truncate,  indicating  the  position  of 
the  nasal  glands;  the  breast-bone  is  four-notched  behind,  like  that  of  the  curlews; 
the  accessory  femoro-caudal  is  present.  They  also  differ  from  the  storks  and  herons 
in  the  form  of  'the  furculum  and  its  relation  to  the  breast-bone,  the  number  of  ribs, 
and  several  other  characters  of  more  or  less  importance.  Externally  the  two  super- 
families  are  easily  distinguished  by  the  bill,  the  Ibidoideas  having  it  weak  and  fur- 
rowed by  a  long  groove  for  nearly  its  whole  length. 

As  indicated  above,  the  present  super-family  embraces  the  ibises  and  the  spoon- 
bills, but  while  the  members  of  these  two  groups  look  extremely  dissimilar  on  account 
of  the  apparently  enormous  difference  in  the  shape  of  their  bills,  they  are  otherwise 
so  closely  allied  as  to  be  hardly  allowed  more  than  sub-family  rank ;  hence  we  recog- 
nize only  one  family,  the  IBIDID^E.  The  bill  of  the  ibises  is  more  or  less  cylindrical, 
and  evenly  arched  from  the  base,  much  after  the  fashion  of  a  curlew's  bill.  The 
spoonbills  have  the  beak  greatly  flattened  and  broadened,  anteriorly  widened  into  a 
spoon-like  or  spade-like  expansion.  The  Ibididaj  inhabit  the  warmer  portions  of  the 
globe,  but  are  not  very  numerous,  some  thirty  living  species  being  known.  Several 
fossil  forms  have  been  described,  however ;  for  instAnce,  Ibis  payana  and  Ibidopodia 
palustris,  from  the  miocene  deposits  of  France,  which  are  said  to  show  even  greater 
affinities  to  the  curlews  than  the  recent  species. 

First  in  the  line  comes,  of  course,  Ibis  cethiopica,  the  sacred  ibis  of  the  ancient 
Egyptians  (and  of  the  British  Ornithologists'  Union).  In  explanation  of  the  accom- 
panying cut,  it  may  be  stated  that  the  head  and  neck  are  entirely  naked,  and  the  skin 
black ;  the  feathers  of  the  body  are  white  ;  the  lengthened  and  disconnected  barbs  of 
the  tertiaries  are  beautifully  blackish  purple. 

According  to  the  Rev.  E.  C.  Taylor,  the  buff-backed  heron  "  does  duty  on  the 


IBISES. 


159 


Nile  as  the  ibis,  being  generally  pointed  out  to  travelers  by  dragomans,  etc.,  as  the 
real  Ibis  religiosa."  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  "  sacred  ibis,"  to  quote  Mr.  D. 
G.  Elliot's  words,  "  is  no  longer  met  with  upon  the  Nile  north  of  Khartum,  and  I  do  not 
know  of  any  authentic  account  of  its  having  been  seen  in  Egypt  in  modern  times ; "  and 
Dr.  A.  L.  Adams  finds  "no  reason  for  considering  the  sacred  ibis  to  have  been  a 
native  at  any  time  of  either  Egypt  Or  Nubia."  A  few  straggling  individuals  to 
lower  Egypt  have,  however,  been  recently  reported.  The  latter  author  continues  as 
follows:  "No  doubt  it  was  imported  by  the  ancient  Egyptians;  and  judging  from 
the  numbers  which  are  constantly  turning  up  in  the  tombs  and  pits  of  Sakkara  and 


FIG.  77.  —  Ibis  cethiopica,  sacred  ibis. 


elsewhere  in  Egypt,  and  the  accounts  of  Herodotus,  Diodorus,  Strabo,  etc.,  the  ibis 
must  have  been  very  numerous,  and,  like  the  brahmin  bull  in  India,  'did  as  it  choosed.' 
The  last-named  writer  says,  *  every  street  in  Alexandria  is  full  of  them.  In  certain 
respects  they  are  useful,  in  others  troublesome.  They  are  useful  because  they  pick 
up  all  sorts  of  small  animals,  and  the  offal  thrown  out  of  the  butchers'  and  cooks' 
shops.  They  are  troublesome  because  they  devour  everything,  are  dirty,  and  with 
difficulty  prevented  from  polluting  in  every  way  what  is  clean,  and  what  is  not  given 
to  them.'  The  late  Mr.  Rhind  informed  me  that  he  found  several  jars  of  white  eggs, 
as  large  as  a  mallard's,  along  with  many  embalmed  bodies  of  ibises,  at  Thebes. 
Mummied  ibises  are  usually  found  alone,  but  sometimes  with  the  sacred  animals ;  and 


160  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

although  Hermopolis  was  the  patron  city  of  the  bird,  as  Buto  of  the  kestrel  and  other 
hawks,  we  find  it  also  among  the  tombs  of  Thebes  and  Memphis.  No  doubt  the 
white  ibis  was  imported  into  Italy  and  kept  about  the  temples  of  Isis.  It  was  the 
emblem  of  Thoth,  the  scribe  or  secretary  of  Osiris,  whose  duty  it  is  to  write  down 
and  recount  the  deeds  of  the  deceased  ;  in  consequence  the  bird  is  constantly  seen  on 
the  ancient  monuments  under  various  forms." 

The  sacred  ibis  inhabits  tropical  Africa  down  to  the  Transvaal ;  a  very  near  ally, 
I.  bernieri,  is  peculiar  to  Madagascar,  while  another,  also  very  closely  related  form,  /. 
strictipennis,  inhabits  Australia  and  several  of  the  Moluccan  islands. 

In  regard  to  the  habits  of  this  famous  bird,  the  "  well-known  portrait  of  which 
greets  us  —  ever  welcome  —  every  quarter,"  we  make  the  following  abstracts  from 
the  account  of  Dr.  R.  Vierthaler,  who  had  rich  opportunities  for  studying  these  birds 
in  their  native  haunts.  "In  the  beginning  of  September  they  build,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Khartum,  their  nests  on  the  mimosas  which  stand  in  the  middle  of  the  inun- 
dated marshes,  twenty  to  thirty  on  a  single  tree.  The  nest  is  more  or  less  skilfully 
made,  of  the  size  of  that  of  the  rook,  and  woven  together  of  coarse  twigs,  with  an 
inner  layer  of  fine  grass  and  a  few  feathers.  The  eggs,  which  are  of  a  greenish  white, 
are  generally  three — rarely  four — in  number,  and  the  size  that  of  the  mallard.  It  only 
breeds  once  a  year,  but  does  not  confine  itself  strictly  to  one  quite  fixed  time,  as  I 
found  young  ones  in  November  of  the  same  size  as  those  taken  in  the  latter  part  of 
September,  and  it  is  not  probable  that  this  was  caused  by  any  disturbance  during  the 
breeding,  since  the  nests  are  nearly  inaccessible,  small  boats  being  entirely  wanting. 
In  freedom  the  ibis  shows  a  considerable  cunning,  and  is  so  shy  that  the  hunter  can- 
not creep  up  to  it,  and  almost  always  follows  it  in  vain.  It  does  not  show  any  fear  at 
all  for  the  natives,  and  I  saw  it  often  among  the  cattle,  quite  regardless  of  the  shep- 
herd or  any  other  black  man  who  happened  to  be  quite  near.  The  flesh  of  the  young 
as  well  as  the  old  birds  is  savory  and  tender,  and  when  well  prepared  it  is  a  great 
dainty.  The  old  Egyptians  do  not  appear  to  have  been  acquainted  with  this  fact,  or 
they  would  not  probably  have  embalmed  them." 

The  extent  of  the  feathering  on  the  head  and  neck  is  very  variable  in  the  ibises, 
and  numerous  generic  appellations  have  been  created  in  consequence.  In  other 
respects  the  group  is  rather  homogeneous,  and  few  striking  abnormalities  can  be 
recorded.  A  curious  modification  of  the  feathers  is  found  in  the  straw-throated  ibis 
( Carphibis  spinicollis)  from  Australia,  which  has  the  feathers  of  the  front  of  the  neck 
and  breast  changed  into  stiff  and  blunt  spines,  which  in  appearance  and  color  are 
surprisingly  like  short  bits  of  straw  hanging  down  over  the  breast  in  front.  Both 
males  and  females  are  said  to  possess  this  ornament,  and,  in  fact,  the  sexes  are  similar 
in  all  these  birds. 

We  have  already,  in  the  introduction  (p.  9),  alluded  to  the  fact  that  the  two  alleged 
species  of  the  genus  d-uara^  the  white  and  the  scarlet  ibises,  are  structurally  identical, 
only  differing  in  coloration  as  indicated  by  the  names.  The  scarlet  species  is  a  native 
of  northeastern  South  America,  and  has  only  been  reported  as  seen,  but  not  obtained, 
within  our  fauna.  On  account  of  the  brilliancy  and  pureness  of  its  red  color,  it  is  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  water-birds,  and  as  it  bears  the  captivity  quite  well,  it  is  often 
kept  in  the  zoological  gardens.  Here,  however,  the  scarlet  coloration  soon  gives  way 
to  a  regular  rosy  tint. 

Only  one  species,  namely  the  glossy  ibis  (Plegadis  autumnalis),  is  distributed  over 
all  the  warmer  regions  of  the  globe.  Like  its  congeners  it  has  nearly  the  whole  head 


SPOON-BILLS. 


161 


feathered,  except  a  stripe  between  the  eye  and  the  base  of  the  bill.     In  that  respect 
they  represent  the  opposite  extreme  to  the  sacred  ibis. 

The  name  of  the  spoonbills  explains  itself,  and  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  refer  to 
the  accompanying  illustration,  for  no  one  who  ever  saw  any  of  these  large  and  beauti- 
ful birds  with  the  singular  beak  mistook  it  for  anything  else.  The  Old  World  species 


FIG.  78.  —  Platalea  leucorodia,  spoon-bill. 

(Plataka)  are  all  nearly  pure  white,  while  the  American  spoonbill  (Ajaja  ajaja)  is 
light  rose-colored,  with  brilliant  carmine  wing-coverts.  In  their  general  habits,  as  in 
their  structure,  the  spoonbills  are  only  modified  ibises.  Like  these  they  also  fly  with 
outstretched  necks,  perch  on  trees,  and  also  generally  breed  in  trees.  Messrs.  Sclater 
and  Forbes  have  demonstrated  that,  in  certain  localities  at  least,  the  spoonbill  of 
Europe,  P.  leucorodia,  breeds  on  the  ground  among  the  reed-beds.  In  1877  they  vis- 

VOL.   IV. —11 


162  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

ited  a  breeding  colony  near  Amsterdam,  in  Holland,  from  the  interesting  account  of 
which  we  select  the  following :  — 

"Having  inspected  the  cormorants' breeding-place,  we  proceeded  about  fifty  yards 
further  through  the  reed-beds,  over  a  still  more  treacherous  swamp,  to  the  breeding- 
place  of  the  spoonbills.  The  nests  of  these  birds  were  not  situated  so  near  together 
as  those  of  the  cormorants,  but  scattered  about  two  or  three  yards  from  each  other, 
with  thin  patches  of  reeds  growing  between  them.  There  was,  however,  a  clear  open 
space  in  the  neighborhood,  formed  of  broken-down  reeds,  in  which  the  birds  were  said 
to  congregate.  The  spoonbill's  nest,  in  the  Horster  Meer  at  least,  is  a  mere  flattened 
surface  of  broken  reed,  not  elevated  more  than  two  or  three  inches  above  the  general 
level  of  the  swamp ;  and  no  other  substance  but  reed  appears  to  be  used  in  its  con- 
struction. What  the  proper  complement  of  eggs  would  be  if  the  birds  were  left 
undisturbed  we  cannot  say,  for,  as  in  the  case  of  the  cormorants,  the  nests  are  robbed 
systematically  twice  a  week,  until  the  period  when  it  is  known  by  experience  that  they 
cannot  produce  anymore  eggs.  Then  at  last  the  birds  are  allowed  to  sit  undisturbed. 
At  the  time  of  our  visit  the  season  for  collecting  eggs  was  just  past ;  but  we  helped 
ourselves  to  eight  fresh  eggs,  from  different  nests,  laid  since  the  last  collection  had 
been  made.  During  all  the  time  that  we  were  in  the  reed-beds,  the  cormorants  and 
spoonbills  were  floating  about  over  our  heads,  fully  aware  that  there  was  an  enemy 
in  the  camp." 

The  characters  of  the  super-family  ARDEOIDE  J£  having  already  been  stated  to 
be  the  reverse  of  those  given  for  the  Ibidoideae,  we  may  at  once  proceed  to  treat  of 
the  separate  families. 

Through  the  wood-ibises,  which,  indeed,  until  very  recently,  in  the  systems  were 
associated  and  more  or  less  confounded  with  the  true  ibises,  we  are  led  into  the 
CICONIID^E,  the  storks.  With  a  general  resemblance  to  the  herons,  the  storks  combine 
quite  important  external  and  internal  characters  of  their  own.  Of  the  former  it  is 
sufficient  to  mention  the  connection  of  all  the  anterior  toes  at  the  base,  the  scutella- 
tion  of  the  tarsus,  the  evident,  though  slight,  elevation  of  the  hind  toe,  and  the  broad- 
ness of  the  feather-tracts.  The  internal  peculiarities  are  still  more  important.  The 
pectoral  muscle,  which  in  all  members  of  the  super-family  is  more  or  less  separable 
into  two  layers,  is  completely  double  in  the  storks ;  the  ambiens  is  rarely  absent ;. 
flexor  hallucis  sends  a  special  slip  to  the  second  toe ;  an  expansor  secundariorum  is 
present ;  in  regard  to  the  respiratory  organs  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  syrinx  has 
no  intrinsic  muscles,  and  that  the  storks  consequently  are  deprived  of  voice,  and  the 
c  ily  sound  they  produce  is  a  loud  clatter,  by  beating  their  huge  mandibles  together ; 
the  rings  of  the  bronchi  are  complete.  Rudiments  of  two  caeca  are  visible. 

The  storks  are  diurnal  birds,  usually  of  solitary  habits,  though  some  of  them  nest 
in  colonies,  as,  for  instance,  the  wood-ibises.  Their  peculiar  clattering  of  the  bill  in 
defect  of  the  voice  is  already  mentioned.  Their  flight  is  easy,  powerful,  and  quiet. 
A  flying  stork  may  always  be  told  from  a  heron  on  the  wing,  as  it  keeps  the  neck 
directed  straight  forward,  like  the  ibises,  while  the  heron  flies  with  the  neck  bent  and 
the  hei.d  withdrawn  so  far  back  as  to  rest  above  the  shoulders. 

The  family  comprises  about  two  dozen  species  of  a  somewhat  peculiar  geographical 
distribution.  While  occurring  all  over  the  tropical  and  temperate  regions  of  the 
world,  they  are  nearly  wanting  in  North  America ;  for  although  both  the  wood-ibis  and 
the  jabhu  are  enumerated  in  our  faunal  lists,  only  the  former  occurs  and  breeds  regu- 
larly in  the  southern  parts  of  the  country,  the  latter  being  only  an  occasional  visitor. 


STORKS. 


163 


.Australia  also  has  only  one  species.  The  different  forms,  with  the  exception  of  the 
true  storks,  are  so  distributed  that  it  would  seem  as  if  a  species  inhabiting  one  part  of 
the  world  is  nearer  related  to  those  inhabiting  distant  regions  than  to  those  which  live 
on  the  same  continent.  The  South  American  maguari  stork,  for  instance,  is  more 
nearly  allied  to  the  Old  World  forms  than  it  is  to  either  the  jabiru  or  the  wood-ibis, 
which  are  both  American.  The  true  storks  are  strictly  Palaeogaean,  while  the  curious 
open-bills  are  Indo-African. 


Fig.  79.  —  Pseudotantalus  rhodinopterut,  African  wood-ibis. 

The  stork  family  has  been  traced  as  far  back  as  the  miocene  formation,  from  the 
beds  of  which,  in  France,  A.  Milne-Edwards  has  described  a  species,  Pelargopappus 
magnus. 

The  wood-ibises  form  a  somewhat  isolated  group  of  apparent  affinities  to  the  true 
ibises,  with  which  they  were  formerly  associated  by  most  systematists,  and  one  species, 
Pseudotantalus  rhodinopterus,  was,  indeed,  regarded  as  the  ibis,  —  that  is,  the  sacred 
ibis  of  the  Egyptians,  —  until  the  beginning  of  this  century.  The  resemblance  is 
quite  obvious  in  the  sub-cylindrical  and  gently  curved  bill  as  represented  in  the  accom- 


164 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


panying  cut ;  but  the  bill  is  yellow,  and  the  naked  face  and  the  feet  are  red.  The 
plumage  is  white,  tinged  with  rosy  on  the  wing  coverts.  It  is  common  throughout 
the  Ethiopian  region,  but  is  scarce  in  Egypt. 

The  American  wood-ibis  (Tantalus  loculator)  is  especially  at  home  in  South 
America,  but  its  range  includes  also  our  southern  states.  It  breeds  abundantly  in 
Florida.  J 


FIG.  80.  —  Leptoptllos  crumenifer,  marabou,  adjutant. 

The  genus  Leptoptllos,  as  typified  by  the  African  marabou-stork  (L.  crumenifer)^ 
white,  with  a  greenish  slate-colored  mantle,  offers  some  interesting  features.  Ana- 
tomically, the  absence  of  the  femoro-caudal  with  its  accessory  slip  is  noteworthy  as 
unique  among  the  storks.  A  striking  feature  is  the  long  pendant  pouch  underneath 
the  flesh-colored  and  black-spotted  naked  neck,  which  gives  the  birds  a  peculiar, 
unattractive,  not  to  say  ugly,  appearance,  as  well  pictured  in  our  cut.  The  exact  use 
of  the  pouch  is  not  yet  ascertained ;  so  much  is  sure,  however,  that  it  connects  with 


STORKS. 


165 


the  respiratory  system,  not  with  the  oesophagus,  as  is  the  popular  notion ;  Blyth 
regarded  it  as  a  reservoir  of  air  for  supply  during  protracted  acts  of  deglutition  in  the 
species  which  feed  upon  carrion.  They  also  present  another  unique  feature,  as  the 
semi-plumes  of  the  anal  region  are  lengthened  so  as  to  protrude  beyond  and  conceal 
the  true  feathers,  thus  forming  a  downy  ornament  of  a  most  interesting  character. 
These  under  tail-coverts  are  the  so-called  marabou  feathers,  which — especially  formerly 
—  were  used  extensively  on  ladies'  hats.  Jerdon  informs  us  of  the  habits  of  the 
large  Indian  species,  L.  dubius,  as  follows :  — 


FlG.  81.  —  Anastomus  lamelligerus,  open-bill. 

"In  Calcutta  and  some  other  large  towns,  the  adjutant  is  a  familiar  bird,  unscared 
by  the  near  approach  of  man  or  dog,  and  protected  in  some  cases  by  law.  It  is  an 
efficient  scavenger,  attending  the  neighborhood  of  slaughter-houses,  and  especially  the 
burning-grounds  of  the  Hindus,  where  the  often  half-burnt  carcasses  are  thrown  into 
the  rivers.  In  the  Deccan  it  soars  at  an  immense  height  in  the  air,  along  with  vul- 
tures, ready  to  descend  on  any  carcass  that  may  be  discovered.  After  it  has  satisfied 
the  cravings  of  its  appetite,  the  adjutant  reposes  during  the  heat  of  the  day,  some- 


166 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


times  on  the  tops  of  houses,  now  and  then  on  trees,  and  frequently  on  the  ground, 
resting  often  on  the  whole  leg  (tarsus).  The  adjutant  occasionally  may  seize  a  crow 
or  a  myna,  or  even,  as  related,  a  small  cat ;  but  these  are  rare  bits  for  it,  and  indeed 
it  has  not  the  opportunity,  in  general,  of  indulging  its  taste  for  living  birds,  notwith- 
standing Cuvier's  statement  that  its  large  beak  enables  it  to  capture  birds  on  the 
wing." 

S: 


FIG.  82.  —  Ephippiorhynchus  senegalensis,  saddle-billed  stork. 

The  name  of  open-bill  is  suggested  by  a  glance  at  the  bird  illustrated  in  the  accom- 
panying cut.  Towards  the  end  of  the  beak  the  lateral  margins  of  the  mandibles  are 
separated  by  a  more  or  less  open  space,  as  if  they  were  worn  away,  so  as  to  assume 
the  shape  of  a  pair  of  pinchers.  The  gap  between  the  mandibles  is  said  to  exist  even 
in  the  young  individuals,  thus  not  being  the  result  of  attrition,  as  is  generally  sup- 
posed, and  the  curious  shape  is  believed  to  be  "  a  provision  of  nature  to  enable  them 
to  open  the  shells  of  the  Uiiio,  on  which  they  feed."  Their  principal  food  being 


STORKS. 


167 


molluscs,  they  have  also  been  called  '  shell-ibises.'  Jerdon  tells  how  he  saw  a  blinded 
open-bill  extracting  the  whole  animal  of  an  Ampidlaria  without  breaking  the  shell, 
the  bird  first  securing  it  by  its  feet  and  cutting  off  the  operculum.  Two  species  com- 
pose the  genus  Anastomus,  one  from  India  and  Indo-China,  the  other  from  the  Ethio- 
pian region.  The  latter,  which  is  the  species  figured,  differs  chiefly  in  having  the 


FIG.  83.  —  Sphenorhynchus  abdimii,  white-bellied  stork. 

feathers  of  the  neck  and  lower  parts  ending  in  a  horny  lamella,  hence  the  specific 
name,  A.  lamdligerus.     The  general  color  is  blackish,  shining  green,  and  purple. 

The  American  jabiru  (Mycteria  americana)  differs  from  its  Indian  and  Australian 
relatives  in  having  the  whole  head  and  neck  naked,  and  black,  with  a  flesh-colored 
ring  round  the  lower  end  of  the  neck.  In  having  the  end  of  the  bill  slightly  turned 
up,  the  saddle-billed  stork  (Epkippiorhynchus  senegalensis)  agrees  with  the  jabirus, 
but  it  has  a  peculiar,  soft  membranaceous  shield  on  top  at  base  of  the  bill,  therein 
agreeing  with  the  following  species  (Sphenorhynchus  abdimii),  of  which  a  figure  is 


168  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

also  given.  These  two,  furthermore,  agree  in  being  the  only  two  storks  in  which  the 
ambiens  muscle  is  wanting.  Both  are  natives  of  Africa.  The  former  was  met  with 
by  Dr.  J.  Kirk  in  the  Zambesi  region.  He  states  that  it  feeds  on  snakes,  frogs,  and 
fish,  which  latter  it  was  seen  catching  in  the  shallow  water  of  the  river  Rovuma,  by 
running  forward  rapidly,  so  as  to  make  the  fish  rush  past  it,  when  it  caught  them, 
keeping  its  bill  all  the  while  in  the  water.  He  asserts  that  they  are  commonly  found 
in  pairs,  —  never  in  large  flocks.  Mr.  Ayres  says  that  occasionally,  when  the  pairs  are 
feeding  together,  they  suddenly  stop  and  skip  or  dance  round  and  round  in  a  small 
circle,  then,  stopping  to  bow  to  each  other,  again  resume  their  quaint  dance.  The 
bird  is  white,  with  the  head  and  neck  black,  glossed  with  bronze-green ;  scapulars  and 
wing  and  tail  feathers  black.  The  bill  is  described  as  bright  crimson  with  a  black 
*  saddle,'  as  seen  in  the  figure ;  the  frontal  shield  bright  yellow ;  shanks  and  tarsi 
black,  heels  and  feet  brick-dust  red.  The  female  is  said  to  have  the  iris  yellow,  while 
it  is  brown  in  the  male. 

The  white-bellied  stork  (/&  abdimii)  is  characterized  by  its  short  legs.  Above,  it 
is  greenish  purple,  the  neck  brown  with  purplish  gloss.  The  bill  is  greenish  with 
orange-red  tip.  Dr.  Alfred  E.  Brehm  writes  thus  of  it  in  his  journal :  — 

"  This  bird,  especially  seeking  the  presence  of  men,  confidingly  perches  on  the 
tops  of  those  peculiar,  round,  wedge-shaped  straw  huts  of  the  interior  of  Africa, 
adorned  with  eggs  of  the  ostrich,  and  here  called  '  tokahl ; '  the  dweller  in  the  hut 
rejoices  in  these  '  birds  of  blessing,'  as  he  calls  them,  and  protects  them  from  foreign 
disturbance ;  in  fact,  he  offers  the  same  perfect  hospitality  to  every  bird  which  estab- 
lishes its  nest  near  his  dwelling.  In  the  storks'  nests  the  chattering  host  of  house- 
sparrows  build  their  nests ;  on  the  lower  bushes,  at  hardly  man's  height,  are  seen 
many  old  nests  of  turtle-doves.  I  sent  my  servant  Aali,  in  spite  of  his  opposition,  up 
the  trees  to  fetch  me  down  eggs  of  the  storks.  He  brought  me  many,  three  or  four 
from  each  nest.  The  Arabs  raised  a  cry  of  murder,  that  we  disturbed  their  holy  birds, 
'  simbere, '  and  invoked  the  curse  and  punishment  of  heaven  upon  Aali  and  myself, 
which  brought  him  quite  to  rage  and  despair." 

The  following  account  by  Sir  Samuel  Baker  is  said  to  relate  to  the  present  species. 
The  copper-colored  'fly-catcher,'  mentioned  therein,  is  thought  to  be  a  Lampro- 
tornis  : — 

"  During  the  march  over  a  portion  of  the  country  which  had  been  cleared  by  burn- 
ing, we  met  a  remarkably  curious  hunting-party.  A  number  of  the  common  black  and 
white  storks  were  hunting  for  grasshoppers  and  other  insects,  but  mounted  on  the 
back  of  each  stork  was  a  large  copper-colored  fly-catcher,  which,  perched  like  a  rider 
on  his  horse,  kept  a  bright  lookout  for  insects,  which,  from  its  elevated  position,  it 
could  easily  discover  upon  the  ground.  I  watched  them  for  some  time.  Whenever 
the  storks  perceived  a  grasshopper  or  other  winged  insect,  they  chased  them  on  foot ; 
but  if  they  missed  their  game  the  fly-catchers  darted  from  their  backs,  ant'  then  return- 
ing to  their  steeds  to  look  out  for  another  opportunity." 

The  ibises  and  storks  have  generally  been  regarded  as  sacred  birds  by  the  people 
among  which  they  occur,  and  as  the  Arabs  in  Africa  and  Asia  are  averse  to  killing  or 
disturbing  them,  so  the  European  farmer  protects  the  white,  red-billed,  and  red-legged 
stork  (  Ciconia  ciconia)  which  has  built  its  large  nest  on  top  of  his  house ;  and  those 
who  are  not  so  fortunate  as  to  possess  a  stork-nest  on  the  roof,  fix  an  old  cart-wheel 
on  the  ridge,  in  order  to  induce  a  stork  family  to  construct  their  bulky  nest  on  the 
foundation  thus  offered.  Year  after  year  the  same  pair  return  to  the  same  house,  after 


STORKS.  169 

having  passed  the  winter  in  the  south,  and  the  farmer  and  his  children  greet  them  joy. 
fully,  as  if  they  were  members  of  the  family.  The  storks,  when  migrating,  travel  in 
large  flocks.  Canon  Tristram  thus  describes  his  experience  in  Palestine,  in  1881,  with 
the  migrating  storks :  "  The  stork  kept  its  appointed  time,  and  stalked  solemnly  over 
the  plains  from  the  10th  April.  I  never  saw  one  after  the  22d  April.  Up  to  that 
date  there  was  a  constant  succession  of  arrivals  from  the  south  and  departures  for  the 
north.  The  most  wonderful  flight  of  storks  was  one  which  passed  over  us  in  the  plain 
of  the  upper  Jordan  on  19th  April,  steering  due  north,  in  the  long  V-like  wedges  with 
which  we  are  so  familiar  in  the  flight  of  wild  geese.  Party  after  party  passed,  per- 
petually changing  their  leader,  and  the  hindmost  of  the  longest  limb  frequently  cross- 
ing lover  to  take  the  rear  of  the  other  limb ;  but  never,  countless  though  their  num- 
bers were,  did  they  fly  in  a  mass,  or  in  any  other  order  than  that  of  the  wedge." 

There  remains  still  to  be  mentioned  two  genera  of  storks  in  which  the  structure  of 
the  tail  is  curiously  modified.  The  genus  Dissoura,  with  the  plumage  of  the.  head 
and  neck  downy,  size  small,  and  with  metallic  reflections  above,  inhabits  India  and 
Africa,  while  Euxenura  is  South  American.  The  latter  is  as  large  as  the  European 
stork,  and  similarly  colored,  but  with  the  bill  yellow.  Both  agree,  however,  in  having 
the  tail  proper  strongly  bifurcated,  the  outer  tail-feathers  being  much  larger  than  the 
middle  pair.  This  character  alone  would  make  these  birds  unique  within  their  order, 
but  the  tail  is  still  more  strangely  constructed,  for  the  lower  tail-coverts  are  stiff  and 
longer  than  the  tail-feathers  themselves !  To  a  superficial  observer  it  appears  as  if 
the  tail  is  white,  slightly  rounded,  and  protected  at  the  base  by  some  stiffened  black 
upper  coverts,  arranged  in  an  abnormal  manner,  while  the  fact  is  that  the  tail  is  black, 
and  bifurcate,  with  white  long  under  tail-coverts !  Thus  a  well-known  author  in  1877, 
while  monographing  the  order,  in  the  species  diagnosis,  speaks  of  the  upper  tail-coverts 
being  bifurcate  and  raven-black  !  The  mistake  is  easily  discovered  by  a  close  inspec- 
tion, for  the  black  feathers  have  the  groove  on  the  under  side  of  the  shaft,  while  the 
white  ones  are  grooved  on  the  side  turned  up.  Mr.  Robert  Ridgway,  in  establishing 
the  genus  Euxenura,  seems  to  have  been  the  first  to  understand,  and  clearly  describe, 
the  true  nature  of  these  feathers  in  the  American  species. 

The  maguari  stork  (JEktxenura  maguari))  the  only  known  species,  is  confined  to 
South  America.  Mr.  Gibson  says  that  it  is  very  common  in  Buenos  Ayres,  and  not 
entirely  confined  to  the  swamps,  but  is  also  found  on  the  plains,  "  at  offal,  or  stalking 
about  in  search  of  snakes,  frogs,  lizards,  rats  and  mice,  locusts,  and  birds'  eggs,  —  any- 
thing and  eveiy thing,  in  short."  Of  a  tame  maguari,  which  was  called  '  Byles,  the 
lawyer,'  he  relates  that  it  seized  snakes  by  the  nape  of  the  neck,  and  passed  them 
transversely  through  its  bill  by  a  succession  of  rapid  and  powerful  nips,  repeating  the 
operation  two  or  three  times  before  being  satisfied  that  life  was  totally  extinct. 
"  Byles  inspired  a  wholesome  respect  in  all  the  dogs  and  cats,  but  was  very  peaceable 
as  a  rule.  One  of  our  men  had  played  some  trick  on  him,  however ;  and  the  result 
was  that  Byles  incontinently  *  went  for  him '  on  every  possible  occasion,  his  long  legs 
covering  the  ground  like  those  of  an  ostrich,  while  he  produced  a  demoniacal  row  with 
his  bill.  It  was  amusing  to  see  his  victim  dodging^  him  all  over  the  place,  or  some- 
times, in  desperation,  turning  on  him  with  a  stick ;  but  Byles  evaded  every  blow  by 
jumping  eight  feet  into  the  air,  coming  down  on  the  other  side  of  his  enemy,  and 
there  repeating  his  war-dance ;  while  he  always  threatened  (though  these  threats  were 
never  fulfilled)  to  make  personal  and  pointed  remarks  with  his  formidable  bill." 

In  order  that  the  reader  may  be  enabled  to  distinctly  understand  the  intermediate 


170  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

position,  and,  on  the  whole,  the  relationship  of  the  perplexing  and  curious  species 
which  alone  constitutes  the  family  SCOPID^E,  we  shall  here  introduce  a  slight  modifica- 
tion of  the  synoptical  table  which  Prof.  F.  E.  Beddard  laid  before  the  Zoological 
Society  of  London,  in  November,  1884 :  — 

Storks.  Scopus.                                          Herons. 

Pectoral  muscle,              Completely  double.  Not  completely  double. 

Ambiens  muscle,              Barely  absent.  Always  absent. 

Flexor  hallucis,               With   a   special  slip  to   the   second   toe.                  With  no  slip  to  the 

second  toe. 

Expansor  secundar,         Present.  Absent  (except  in  Cochlearius  and  Egretta. ) 

Origin  of  obtur.  int.  Oval.                                        Triangular. 

Syrinx,                              Without  intrinsic  mus-  With  intrinsic    muscles. 

cles. 

Anterior  rings  of          Complete.  Incomplete,   closed   by  membrane. 

bronchi, 

Cceca,  Two.                                       One. 

Powder-downs,  Absent.                                     Present. 
Neck,  during  flight, 

carried,  Straight.                                   Curved  backwards. 

In  view  of  this  table  one  must  agree  with  Prof %  Beddard  that  /Scopus  is  in  many 
respects  an  intermediate  type  between  the  Ciconiida?,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
Ardeid.se  on  the  other.  As  Scopus  also  has  many  peculiarities  of  its  own,  especially 
in  the  skeleton,  we  also  follow  him  in  separating  it  as  an  equivalent  family. 

The  umbrette  ($.  umbretta),  as  the  name  indicates  and  the  accompanying  cut 
illustrates,  is  a  sombre-looking  bird,  dull  brownish  dusky  all  over,  with  a  long  occipi- 
tal crest.  The  bill  is  rather  peculiar  :  the  culmen  is  elevated  at  the  base,  keeled,  and 
curved  at  the  tip,  which  is  hooked ;  the  sides  are  much  compressed,  and  grooved  near 
the  culmen  from  the  base  to  the  tip ;  the  gonys  is  long  and  curved  upwards,  and  the 
nostrils  are  partly  closed  by  a  membranous  scale.  All  three  anterior  toes  are  con- 
nected with  a  membrane  at  base,  as  in  the  storks,  but  the  nail  of  the  middle  toe  is 
pectinated,  as  in  the  herons,  and  the  tarsus  is  reticulate. 

The  habits  of  the  bird,  especially  in  nesting  and  breeding,  are  nearly  as  remarkable 
as  its  internal  structure,  and  quite  as  interesting.  We  first  introduce  a  general 
account  by  Dr.  Anton  Reichenow,  who  made  its  acquaintance  in  western  Africa. 

"  The  umber  bird  is  sociable  only  in  a  slight  degree.  It  is  usually  found  single 
except  at  the  nest,  in  wooded  districts,  watching  for  fishes  with  its  neck  drawn  in,  or 
walking  with  measured  steps  in  search  of  frogs  which,  besides  worms,  snails,  and 
insects,  constitute  its  food.  Its  flight  resembles  that  of  the  ibises,  neck  and  feet 
being  carried  straight  out,  the  former,  however,  as  I  had  the  opportunity  to  observe, 
slightly  curved.  Its  voice  is  a  harsh  quack,  similar  to  that  of  the  spoon-bill.  It 
roosts  in  trees  or  passes  the  night  in  its  nest,  which  is  a  very  peculiar  structure,  com- 
pletely over-vaulted,  and  shaped  like  an  oven,  with  an  entrance  from  the  side.  The 
interior  is  said  to  usually  contain  several  divisions.  The  diameter  of  such  a  nest, 
which  is  built  of  branches  and  twigs,  is  five  or  six  feet.  The  eggs,  three  to  five  in 
number,  are  white,  and  resemble  those  of  the '.'Storks.  It  seems  to  be  a  stationary 
resident  throughout  its  range." 

Dr.  Kirk  says  that  the  Africans  look  on  ftiis  bird  as  unfit  for  food,  and  also  as 
sacred,  or  as  possessing  the  power  of  witchcraft;  and  to  injure  it  is  everywhere 
regarded  as  unlucky.  He  asserts  that  the  colossal  nest  serves  for  many  years,  and 
Mr.  E.  L.  Layard  describes  a  place  where  he  counted  six  or  eight  within  fifty  yards, 


SHOE-BILL. 


171 


all  exhibiting  the  same  form  and  structure,  and  some  of  them  containing  at  least  a  large 
cartload  of  sticks.  The  latter  author  also  informs  us  that  the  nests  are  so  solid  that 
they  will  bear  the  weight  of  a  large,  heavy  man  on  the  domed  roof  without  collapsing. 
Such  an  enormous  structure  is  built  by  a  single  pair,  and  the  bird  itself  is  not  larger 
than  our  night-herons. 

Remarks  similar  to  those  which  preceded  the  foregoing  family  might  equally  well 
apply  to  the  present  one,  the  BAL^ENTCIPITID^E.  This  too  is  African,  and  comprises  a 
single  species,  which  in  a  somewhat  similar  way  is  intermediate  between  storks  and 


FIG.  &i.  —  Scopus  umbretta,  umbrette. 


herons.  Considerable  diversity  of  opinion  exists  as  to  its  real  affinities.  Some  authors 
make  it  unconditionally  a  heron ;  others  regard  it  as  separate ;  others  again  unite  it 
with  the  umbrette.  The  anatomy  of  its  soft  parts  are  as  yet  unknown,  so  our  con- 
clusions have  to  be  based  upon  the  skeleton  and  the  external  characters.  It 
appears  to  us  that  the  shoe-bill  (Bcdceniceps)  is  intermediate  between  storks  and 
herons,  but  as  the  umbrette  inclines  towards  the  storks,  so  does  the  shoe-bill  to  the 
herons.  The  two  birds  themselves  are  also  rather  closely  related,  perhaps  more  so 
inter  se  than  with  either  storks  or  herons  proper.  There  seems,  however,  to  be 


172  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

numerous  peculiarities  besides,  which  warrant  us  in  regarding  it  as  the  type  of  a 
separate  family. 

The  first  feature  to  attract  our  attention  in  this  singular  bird,  of  which  an  excellent 
illustration  faces  this  page,  is  the  enormous  bill,  broad  and  swollen,  justifying  the 
expression  of  Prof.  Parker  that  the  JBalceniceps  has  "  in  its  strange  countenance  an 
artistic,  if  not  a  family  likeness  to  the  crocodile."  Most  interesting  is  the  groove 
along  the  culmen,  and  the  hooked  nail  at  the  end,  showing  a  near  approach  to  similar 
features  in  the  umbrette.  The  tarsi  are  reticulate,  the  anterior  toes  are  entirely 
deprived  of  basal  membranes,  and  the  middle  claw  is  not  pectinate.  In  the  pterylosis  it 
agrees  with  the  herons  in  possessing  powder-down  tracts,  of  which,  however,  it 
only  has  one  pair.  The  skull  has  been  considerably  modified  in  consequence  of 
the  exaggerated  development  of  the  bill.  Otherwise  the  shoe-bill,  in  its  skeleton, 
shows  many  near  affinities  to  the  herons,  but  the  sternal  apparatus  is  rather  stork -like, 
with  some  very  remarkable  peculiarities  of  its  own,  as  shown  by  the  following,  which 
is  selected  from  Prof.  Parker's  monograph :  In  Bal&niceps  we  encounter  a  host  of 
difficulties,  both  in  the  breast-bone  and  also  in  the  furculum,  although  its  general 
shape  and  proportions  agree  well  with  that  of  the  gigantic  storks.  The  costal  pro- 
cesses are  exactly  like  those  of  the  adjutant,  but  the  episternal  process,  which  is  dis- 
tinct in  the  adjutant  and  long  in  the  typical  herons,  is  not  differentiated  in  Balceni- 
ceps.  In  parrots,  woodpeckers,  and  horn-bills,  that  emargination  is  absent  which 
separates  the  episternum  in  most  birds  from  the  tip  of  the  sternal  keel.  The  same 
thing  occurs  in  the  Balceniceps ;  so  that  in  this  wader,  as  well  as  in  those  arboreal 
birds,  the  keel  of  the  sternum  projects  some  distance  in  front  of  the  coracoid  grooves. 
In  most  of  the  larger  herons  and  in  the  storks,  the  end  of  the  furculum  has  a  gliding, 
synovial  joint  with  the  tip  of  the  keel  of  the  breast-bone ;  and  this  appears  to  be 
persistent  even  in  very  old  birds.  The  same  thing  occurs  in  gannets  and  in  cormo- 
rants. In  several  other  birds  the  joint  becomes  obliterated  in  full  age ;  for  instance, 
in  the  cranes.  But  in  the  young  JBalceniceps  not  only  is  all  trace  of  a  joint  gone,  but 
the  amount  of  ossification  and  the  actual  strength  of  this  part  are  very  strong ; 
indeed,  it  is  a  seven-times-strengthened  anchylosis.  In  some  of  the  storks  there  are 
very  small  rudiments  of  a  pair  of  sub-mesial  emarginations  besides  the  large  lateral 
ones.  In  JZalceniceps,  however,  these  notches  are  nearly  half  an  inch  broad,  while  the 
outer  notch  is  nine  lines  across. 

In  1860  Mr.  J.  Petherick,  then  English  consul  for  the  Sudan,  brought  to  the  Zoo- 
logical Gardens  in  London  two  shoe-bills,  at  which  occasion  he  gave  the  following 
account  of  these  birds,  which  at  the  time  caused  an  intense  interest  in  ornithological 
circles :  — 

"The  birds  here  are  seen  in  clusters  of  from  a  pair  to  perhaps  one  hundred 
together,  mostly  in  the  water,  and,  when  disturbed,  will  fly  low  over  its  surface,  and 
settle  at  no  great  distance  ;  but  if  frightened  or  fired  at,  they  rise  in  a  flock  high  in  the 
air,  and,  after  hovering  and  wheeling  around,  will  settle  on  the  highest  trees,  and  as 
long  as  their  disturbers  are  near  will  not  return  to  the  water.  Their  food  principally 
is  fish  and  water-snakes,  which  they  have  been  seen  by  my  men  to  catch  and  devour. 
They  will  also  feed  on  the  intestines  of  dead  animals,  the  carcases  of  which  they  easily 
rip  open  with  the  strong  hook  of  the  upper  bill.  The  breeding-time  of  the  Balaz- 
niceps  is  the  rainy  season,  during  the  months  of  July  and  August,  and  the  spot  chosen 
is  in  the  reeds  or  high  grass  immediately  on  the  water's  edge,  or  on  some  small  ele- 
vated and  dry  spots  entirely  surrounded  by  water."  He  continues  to  tell  how  he 


,  shoe-bill. 


HERONS.  173 

failed  in  rearing  young  birds  taken  fronl  the  nest,  but  that  he  finally  succeeded  in 
hatching  some  eggs  under  hens.  The  veracity  of  Mr.  Petherick  has  been  doubted  in 
regai-d  to  an  alleged  statement  by  him  that  the  young  shoe-bill  "  runs  about  in  search 
of  food  immediately  after  it  is  hatched,"  —  a  feature  which,  if  true,  would  be  "  one 
of  the  moat  extraordinary  facts  I  have  yet  met  with,"  as  Mr.  A.  D.  Bartlett  puts  it. 
I  can  find  no  such  statement  in  Mr.  Petherick's  paper,  however;  and  he  only 
says  that  the  young  ones  "  ran  about  the  premises  of  my  camp,"  but  nothing  seems  to 
indicate  that  they  did  so  immediately  after  leaving  the  eggs.  On  the  contrary,  he 
says  a  little  before  that  his  men  had  robbed  the  nest  "  of  both  eggs  and  young,"  there- 
by indicating  that  the  young  ones  remain  in  the  nest  for  some  time  at  least. 

Finally  it  may  be  mentioned  that  observers  fail  to  state  whether  it  has  a  voice,  only 
saying  that  they  clatter  the  bills  like  storks.  The  flight  is  said  to  be  like  that  of  the 
marabou,  but  whether  that  means  that  it  flies  with  outstretched  neck  I  do  not  know. 
The  eggs  are  covered  with  a  chalky  layer,  as  are  those  of  the  adjutants. 

To  complete  the  picture  of  "  the  father  of  the  shoe,"  as  it  is  named  by  the  Arabs, 
we  give  the  following  description  of  the  coloration  :  Bill  yellow,  blotched  with  dark 
brown ;  legs  blackish  ;  orbits  pale  yellow ;  general  color  dusky  gray,  with  lighter  edg- 
ing ;  head,  neck,  and  breast  slaty,  —  the  feathers  of  the  latter  with  a  dark  stripe  along 
the  centime ;  rest  of  under  surface  much  paler  gray.  As  already  stated,  there  is  only 
one  species  known  (J?.  rex),  from  the  region  of  the  White  Nile,  in  eastern  Africa. 

Enough  has  been  said  under  the  head  of  the  foregoing  families  as  to  the  characters 
of  the  AKDEID^E,  so  that,  in  this  place,  it  will  only  be  necessary  to  mention  that  the 
family  is  the  most  numerous  in  species  of  those  constituting  the  order.  Herons  are 
found  all  over  the  world,  except  in  the  coldest  regions,  each  one  of  the  primary  zoo- 
geographical  divisions  having  a  fair  share,  though  North  America  is  poorest  and  South 
America  richest  in  that  respect.  We  recognize  three  sub-families,  —  the  bitterns, 
which  have  two  pairs  of  powder-down  patches  only;  the  true  herons,  which  have 
three ;  and  the  boat-bills,  with  four  pairs.  The  powder-downs,  though  present  also  in 
some  few  birds  belonging  to  other  orders,  are  very  characteristic  of  the  herons,  and 
many  are  the  speculations  which  have  been  indulged  in  to  find  out  their  use  to  the 
birds.  Some  have  thought  that  these  patches  of  dense,  clammy,  yellowish  down  may 
be  the  cause  of  the  herons  being  so  singularly  free  of  lice  and  vermin.  It  has  also 
been  hinted  at  that  the  old  tale  of  a  mysterious  light  emanating  from  the  heron's 
bosom  when  fishing  in  the  dark  might  have  some  foundation  of  fact,  and  that  the 
powder-down  might  be  the  seat  of  such  a  light-emitting  power. 

We  shall,  in  the  following,  give  some  extracts  of  a  most  excellent  account  by  Mr. 
W.  H.  Hudson  of  the  habits  of  some  South  American  herons ;  the  more  since,  as  he 
correctly  remarks,  there  is  such  a  sameness  in  the  way  of  life  of  these  birds  that  most 
of  what  can  be  said  about  one  species  will  equally  well  apply  to  others. 

"  Two  interesting  traits  of  the  heron  (and  they  have  a  necessary  connection)  are  its 
tireless  watchfulness  and  its  insatiable  voracity ;  for  these  characters  have  not,  I  think, 
been  exaggerated  even  by  the  most  sensational  of  ornithologists.  In  birds  of  other 
genera,  repletion  is  invariably  followed  by  a  period  of  listless  inactivity,  during  which 
no  food  is  taken  or  required.  But  the  heron  digests  his  food  so  rapidly  that,  however 
much  he  devours,  he  is  always  ready  to  gorge  again ;  consequently  he  is  not  benefited 
by  what  he  eats,  and  appears  in  the  same  state  of  semi-starvation  when  food  is  abun- 
dant as  in  times  of  scarcity.  An  old  naturalist  has  suggested  as  a  reason  for  this  that 
the  heron,  from  its  peculiar  manner  of  taking  its  prey,  requires  fair  weather  to  fish ; 


174  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

that  during  spells  of  bad  weather,  when  it  is  compelled  to  suffer  the  pangs  of  famine 
inactive,  it  contracts  a  meagre  consumptive  habit  of  body  which  subsequent  plenty 
cannot  remove.  A  pretty  theory;  but  it  will  not  hold  water:  for  in  this  region  spells 
of  bad  weather  are  brief  and  infrequent ;  moreover,  all  other  species  that  feed  at  the 
same  table  with  the  heron,  from  the  little  flitting  Ceryle  to  the  towering  flamingo, 
become  excessively  fat  at  certain  seasons,  and  are  at  all  times  so  healthy  and  vigorous 
that,  compared  with  them,  the  heron  is  but  the  ghost  of  a  bird.  In  no  extraneous  cir- 
cumstances, but  in  the  organization  of  the  bird  itself,  must  be  sought  the  cause  of  its 
anomalous  condition.  It  does  not  appear  to  possess  the  fat-elaborating  power;  conse- 
quently no  provision  is  made  for  a  rainy  day,  and  the  misery  of  the  bird  consists  in  its 
perpetual,  never-satisfied  craving  for  food. 

"The  heron  has  but  one  attitude, — motionless  watchfulness;  so  that,  when  not 
actually  on  the  wing  or  taking  the  few  desultory  steps  it  occasionally  ventures  on,  and 
in  whatever  situation  it  may  be  placed,  the  level  ground,  the  summit  of  a  tree,  or  in 
confinement,  it  is  seen  drawn  up,  motionless,  and  apparently  apathetic.  But  when  we 
remember  that  this  is  the  bird's  attitude  during  many  hours  of  the  night  and  day, 
when  it  stands  still  as  a  reed  in  the  water ;  that  in  such  a  posture  it  sees  every  shy 
and  swift  creature  that  glances  by  it,  and  darts  its  weapon  with  unerring  aim  and 
lightning  rapidity,  and  with  such  force  that  I  have  seen  one  drive  its  beak  quite 
through  the  body  of  a  fish  very  much  too  large  for  the  bird  to  swallow,  and  cased  in 
bony  armor,  it  is  impossible  not  to  think  that  it  is  observant  and  keenly  sensible  of 
everything  going  on  about  it." 

The  herons  are  remarkable  for  their  habits  of  perching  and  nesting  on  trees,  not- 
withstanding their  long  neck  and  legs,  and  their  'gressorial'  feet.  But  the  length 
and  the  low  position  of  the  hind  toe  enables  them  to  live  an  arboreal  life,  which  seems 
so  incongruous  with  the  rest  of  their  structure.  We  quote  again  from  Mr.  Hudson :  "  In 
the  variegated  heron  (Ardetta  involucris)  [a  bittern  inhabiting  southern  South  Amer- 
ica], the  least  of  the  tribe,  the  perching  faculty  probably  attains  its  greatest  perfection, 
and  is  combined  with  locomotion  in  a  unique  and  wonderful  manner.  This  little 
heron  frequents  beds  of  reeds  growing  in  rather  deep  water.  Very  seldom,  and  prob- 
ably only  accidentally,  does  it  visit  the  land ;  and  only  when  disturbed  does  it  rise 
above  the  reeds,  for  its  flight,  unlike  that  of  its  congeners,  is  of  the  feeblest ;  but  it 
lives  exclusively  amongst  the  reeds,  that,  smooth  as  a  polished  pipe-stem,  rise  verti- 
cally from  water  too  deep  for  the  bird  to  wade  in.  Yet  the  heron  goes  up  to  the 
summit  or  down  to  the  surface,  and  moves  freely  and  briskly  about  amongst  them, 
and  runs  in  a  straight  line  through  them  almost  as  rapidly  as  a  plover  runs  over  the 
bare  level  ground. 

"  When  driven  from  its  haunt,  the  bird  flies  eighty  or  a  hundred  yards  off,  and 
drops  again  amongst  the  rushes ;  it  is  difficult  to  flush  it  a  second  time,  but  a  third 
impossible.  And  a  very  curious  circumstance  is  that  it  also  seems  quite  impossible  to 
find  the  bird  in  the  spot  where  it  finally  settles.  This  I  attributed  to  the  slender 
figure  it  makes,  and  to  the  color  of  the  plumage  so  closely  resembling  that  of  the 
withering  yellow  and  spotted  reeds  always  to  be  found  amongst  the  green  ones ;  but 
I  did  not  know  for  many  years  that  the  bird  possessed  a  marvellous  instinct  that  made 
its  peculiar  conformation  and  imitative  color  far  more  advantageous  than  they  could 
be  of  themselves. 

"One  day  in  November,  1870,  when  out  shooting,  I  noticed  a  little  heron  stealing 
off  quickly  through  a  bed  of  rushes,  thirty  or  forty  yards  from  me ;  he  was  a  foot  or 


EUROPEAN   HERONS. 


1.  Xycticorax  nycticorax,  night-heron  ;    2.  ylrJea  cinerea,  common  heron  ;    3.  Artletta  minuta 

little  bittern  ;  Il<'r<><li<in  idlja,  egret. 


BITTERNS.  175 

so  above  the  ground,  and  went  so  rapidly  that  he  appeared  to  glide  through  the 
rushes  without  touching  them.  I  fired,  but  afterwards  ascertained  that  in  my  hurry  I 
missed  my  aim.  The  bird,  however,  disappeared  at  the  report ;  and  thinking  I  had 
killed  him,  I  went  to  the  spot.  It  was  a  small  isolated  bed  of  rushes  I  had  seen  him 
in ;  the  mud  below  and  for  some  distance  round  was  quite  bare  and  hard,  so  that  it 
would  have  been  impossible  for  the  bird  to  escape  without  being  perceived ;  and  yet, 
dead  or  alive,  he  was  not  to  be  found.  After  vainly  searching  and  re-searching 
through  the  rushes  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  I  gave  over  the  quest  in  great  disgust 
and  bewilderment,  and,  after  reloading,  was  just  turning  to  go,  when,  behold !  there 
stood  my  heron  as  a  reed,  not  more  than  eight  inches  from,  and  on  a  level  with,  my 
knees.  He  was  perched,  the  body  erect  and  the  point  of  the  tail  touching  the  reed 
grasped  by  its  feet ;  the  long,  slender,  tapering  neck  was  held  stiff,  straight,  and  verti- 
cally ;  and  the  head  and  beak,  instead  of  being  carried  obliquely,  were  also  pointing 
up.  There  was  not,  from  the  feet  to  the  tip  of  the  beak,  a  perceptible  curve  or 
inequality,  but  the  whole  was  the  figure  (the  exact  counterpart)  of  a  straight  tapering 
rush ;  the  loose  plumage  arranged  to  fill  inequalities,  the  wings  pressed  into  the 
hollow  sides,  made  it  impossible  to  see  where  the  body  ended  and  the  neck  began,  or 
to  distinguish  head  from  neck  or  beak  from  head.  This  was,  of  course,  a  front  view ; 
and  the  entire  under  surface  of  the  bird  was  thus  displayed,  all  of  a  uniform  dull 
yellow  like  that  of  a  faded  rush.  I  regarded  the  bird  wonderingly  for  some  time ;  but 
not  the  least  motion  did  it  make.  I  thought  it  was  wounded  or  paralyzed  with  fear, 
and,  placing  my  hand  on  the  point  of  its  beak,  forced  the  head  down  till  it  touched 
the  back ;  when  I  withdrew  my  hand,  up  flew  the  head,  like  a  steel  spring,  to  its  first 
position.  I  repeated  the  experiment  many  times  with  the  same  result,  the  very  eyes 
of  the  bird  appearing  all  the  time  rigid  and  unwinking  like  those  of  a  creature  in  a  fit. 
What  wonder  that  it  is  so  difficult  —  almost  impossible  —  to  discover  the  bird  in  such  an 
attitude !  But  how  happened  it  that  while  repeatedly  walking  round  the  bird  through 
the  rushes  I  had  not  caught  sight  of  the  striped  back  and  the  broad  dark-colored 
sides?  I  asked  myself  this  question,  and  stepped  round  to  get  a  side  view,  when, 
mircibile  dictit,  I  could  still  see  nothing  but  the  rush-like  front  of  the  bird !  His 
motions  on  the  perch  as  he  turned  slowly  or  quickly  round,  still  keeping  the  edge  of 
the  blade-like  body  before  me,  corresponded  so  exactly  with  my  own  that  I  almost 
doubted  that  I  had  not  moved  at  all.  No  sooner  had  I  seen  the  finishing  part  of  this 
marvellous  instinct  of  self-preservation  (this  last  act  making  the  whole  entire),  than 
such  a  degree  of  delight  and  admiration  possessed  me  as  I  have  never  before  expe- 
rienced during  my  researches,  much  as  I  have  conversed  with  wild  animals  in  the 
wilderment,  and  many  and  perfect  as  are  the  instances  of  adaptation  I  have  wit- 
nessed." 

The  uncouth  'booming'  of  the  bittern  is  a  mysterious  sound  of  which  most 
authors  only  speak  with  reservation  and  at  second  hand.  Mudie's  account  of  the 
"  savage  laughter  that  sounds  as  if  the  voices  of  a  bull  and  a  horse  were  combined  "  is 
often  quoted,  but  he  describes  it  as  being  produced  by  the  flying  bird.  This  "  is  evi- 
dently the  offspring  of  his  fine  imagination,"  as  Macgillvray  correctly  remarks, 
adding :  "  What  a  pleasant  thing  it  is  to  be  able  to  write  copiously  and  with  ease  on  a 
subject  about  which  one  knows  nothing ! "  But  we  have  better  evidence  that  the 
English  names  of  the  European  Botaurus  stellaris,  such  as  'mire-drum,' '  bitter-bump,' 
'  bog-bumper,'  only  faintly  express  the  roaring  ability  of  this  nocturnal  performer.  J. 
F.  Naumann  —  a  keener  and  trustworthier  observer  than  whom  was  never  born  —  asserts 


176 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


that  he  has  heard  the  bellowing  and  rumbling  of  the  male  bittern  innumerable  times, 
often  throughout  the  whole  night.  He  describes  the  sound  as  "#  prumb"  the  latter 
syllable  much  louder  than  the  former,  repeated  several  times.  He  sometimes  heard, 
when  he  succeeded  in  getting  close  enough,  a  low  sound  precede  the  bellow,  as  if  the 
surface  of  the  water  was  beaten  with  a  reed.  The  roar  sounds,  close  by,  nearly  as 
strong  as  the  bellow  of  an  ox  and  may  be  heard,  during  a  still  night,  at  a  distance  of 
from  three  to  four  miles,  according  to  circumstances.  Naumann  himself  was  never  so 


FIG.  85.  —  Anieomeya  goliath,  African  giant-heron. 

fortunate  as  to  see  the  bird  during  the  performance.  Count  Wodzicki,  however,  — 
also  known  as  an  excellent  observer,  —  was  more  successful,  and  describes  it  in  the  fol- 
lowing manner  :  "  The  artist  was  standing  on  both  legs,  with  the  body  horizontal,  and 
the  bill  in  the  water,  and  then  a  rumbling  began,  the  water  spouting  about  all  the  time. 
After  a  few  sounds  I  heard  the  'tl'  described  by  Naumann;  the  bird  lifted  the 
head,  threw  it  backwards,  put  it  again  rapidly  into  the  water,  producing  a  roar  that 
startled  me."  The  sound  of  the  American  bittern  (B.  lentiginosus)  is  described  as 


HERONS. 


177 


somewhat  different.  Dr.  Bachman,  in  a  letter  to  Audubon,  said  that  "  their  hoarse 
croakings,  as  if  their  throats  were  filled  with  water,  were  heard  on  every  side." 
Others  compare  it  with  the  sound  produced  by  driving  a  stake  in  boggy  soil,  hence 
the  name  '  stake-driver.'  Mr.  Samuels  renders  this  love-song  of  the  male  with  chunk-a- 
lunk-chunk)  qitank  chunk-a-lunk-chunk,  "almost  exactly  resembling  the  stroke  of  a 
mallet  on  a  stake." 


.law*  •  *' 


FIG.  86.  —  Herodias  alba,  egret. 

The  cuts  representing  species  of  this  family  have  been  selected  with  the  view  of 
illustrating  the  chief  forms  under  which  the  heron  type  appears.  The  first  one  is  a 
characteristic  reproduction  of  the  African  giant  heron  (Ardeomega  goliath),  the 
largest  species  of  the  tribe,  with  the  back  ashy,  head  and  under  side  chestnut,  and  the 
ornamental  plumes,  except  the  crest  of  the  head,  whitish.  It  is  nearly  related  to  the 
true  and  typical  herons,  the  interesting  dichromatism  of  which  we  have  mentioned  in 
VOL.  iv.  — 12 


178 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


the  introduction  (p.  7).  The  second  cut  shows  very  well  the  graceful  plumes  of  the 
egrets  (Herodias),  a  group  characterized,  besides,  by  slender  but  elegant  proportions 
and  the  dazzling  whiteness  of  the  plumage.  The  species  here  figured  is  H.  alba,  of 
nearly  cosmopolitan  range,  and  represented  on  our  continent  by  a  slight  race,  H.  alba 
egretta.  Similarly  white,  but  with  the  ornamental  feathers  of  the  head,  breast,  and 
back  of  a  rusty  Isabella  color,  is  the  buff -backed  cattle-egret  (JSubidcus  ibis),  which 
has  already  been  mentioned  as  the  bird  usually  shown  to  the  travelers  in  Egypt  as 


Fio.  87.  —  Cochlearius  cochlearius,  boat-bill. 

the  sacred  ibis  of  the  ancients.  In  its  rather  stout  build,  short  neck,  short  and  strong 
bill,  it  approaches  the  night-herons  (JVycticorax),  which,  besides,  are  easily  recognized 
by  the  extremely  lengthened  linear  and  compact  webbed  plumes  on  the  occiput. 

Two  authors,  each  holding  a  leading  position  as  ornithologist  in  their  respective 
countries,  in  1877  monographed  the  herons.  One  of  them  made  the  boat-bill  (Cochlea- 
rius, or  Cancroma)  a  sub-genus  under  the  genus  JVycticorax,  the  other  regarded  it  as 
constituting  a  separate  family,  equal  in  rank  to  the  Ardeidas.  It  will  be  seen  that  the 


STEGANOPODES.  179 

curious  original  of  the  accompanying  wood-cut,  the  South  American  boat-bill  (C. 
cochlearius)  is  the  object  of  considerable  diversity  of  opinion.  To  all  external 
appearance,  with  the  exception  of  the  remarkable  bill,  which  is  greatly  depressed  and 
dilated  laterally,  the  lateral  outline  much  bowed,  the  boat-bill  is  a  night-heron,  that  is, 
its  general  proportions,  size,  ornamental  feathers,  and  coloration  are  those  which  char- 
acterize the  night-herons.  But  while  it  resembles  a  night-heron,  and  originally  may 
have  sprung  from  the  same  stock,  it  is  modified  and  specialized  in  so  many  ways  and 
so  important  features,  besides  the  bill  and  the  consequent  alteration  of  the  skull,  that 
we  necessarily  must  regard  Mr.  Robert  Ridgway's  view  as  the  most  justifiable  of  the 
two  mentioned  above.  As  specializations  additional  to  the  strange  conformation  of 
the  beak  may  be  mentioned  that  the  boat-bill  has  lost  both  the  femoro-caudal  muscle 
and  the  feather  tufts  on  the  oil  gland,  and  that  it  has  acquired  a  fourth  pair  of 
powder-down  patches.  Grading  our  groups  on  a  somewhat  different  principle,  how- 
ever, we  include  the  two  species  of  boat-bills  (a  new  species  from  Central  America 
having  been  described  this  year  by  the  last-named  gentleman  as  Cochlearius  zeledoni) 
in  the  sub-family  CochleariinaB. 

At  first  sight  the  Cochlearius  seems  to  represent  a  pigmy  Balreniceps,  between  the 
legs  of  which  it  can  stand  upright  without  bending  its  neck,  and  the  view  of  their 
being  closely  related  has  also  been  urged  by  different  authorities  ;  but  we  cannot  help 
thinking  that  Professor  Reinhardt  was  right  when  he  opposed  Professor  W.  K.  Par- 
ker's opinion  to  that  effect,  for,  as  Reinhardt  remarks,  even  the  outward  likeness 
between  the  two  bills  is,  on  nearer  inspection,  by  no  means  so  great  as  would  appear 
at  first  sight.  The  bill  of  Cochlearius  is  remarkably  flattened,  and  not  so  much  calcu- 
lated for  great  strength  as  for  great  roominess ;  and  this  is  still  more  increased  by  the 
naked  dilatable  skin  between  the  branches  of  the  lower  jaw,  which  can  be  distended 
into  a  complete  pouch  or  bag  hanging  down  as  far  as  the  throat. 

ORDER  X.  — STEGANOPODES. 

Notwithstanding  the  shortness  of  the  legs  and  the  '  Steganopodous '  character  of  the 
toes,  —  that  is,  the  connection  of  all  four  toes  by  membranes, — the  birds  of  the  present 
order  are  unquestionably  nearly  related  to  the  Herodii.  Like  these,  they  are  desmo- 
gnathous,  and  lack  basipterygoid  processes;  "but  the  inner  edges  of  the  palatine  bones 
unite  for  a  much  greater  distance  behind  the  posterior  nasal  aperture,  and  a  median 
ridge  is  sent  down  from  the  line  of  junction  of  the  palatines."  Authors  have  been 
equally  unanimous  in  asserting  the  great  homogeneity  of  the  group,  until  Professor 
St.  G.  Mivart,  in  1877,  in  his  valuable  memoir,  "On  the  Axial  Skeleton  of  the  Pele- 
canidae,"  raised  doubts  as  to  the  propriety  of  referring  the  tropic-birds  and  frigate- 
birds  to  the  Steganopodes,  though  it  is  not  quite  correct  to  say  that, "  according  to  him, 
the  tropic-birds  are  wrongly  placed  with  this  order."  Here  are  his  own  words: 
"  Besides  \_Pelecanus,  Sida,  Phalacrocorax,  and  Plot-its'],  the  two  genera  Fregata  and 
Phaethon  are  usually  classed  with  them  to  contribute  to  the  group  of  the  Steganopodes. 
But,  from  the  point  of  view  here  adopted  (that  of  the  postcranial  part  of  the  axial 
skeleton  only),  I  have  found  it  impossible  to  detect  characters  which  seem  to  me  good 
and  sufficient  to  unite  such  Steganopodal  groups  together,  and  at  the  same  time  divide 
them  off  from  other  forms."  It  appears,  however,  that  in  the  above-mentioned  struc- 
ture of  the  palate  and  the  feet,  which  Mivart,  together  with  the  rest  of  the  cranium 
and  the  extremities,  intentionally  excluded  from  his  comparison,  there  are  characters 


180  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

"good  and  sufficient  to  unite  the  Steganopodal  group  together,  and  at  the  same  time 
mark  it  off  from  all  other  groups  of  birds." 

Another  thing  is,  that  Mivart  has  shown  that  the  four  supergenera,  included  in 
brackets  above,  are  more  intimately  related  inter  se  than  to  the  two  other  ones. 
These  two,  on  the  other  hand,  chiefly  agree  to  differ  from  the  former  four  in  negative 
points,  and  hence  their  exclusion  from  these  does  not  indicate  any  particular  mutual 
intimacy.  On  the  contrary,  the  tropic-birds  and  the  frigate-birds  are  as  different 
between  themselves  as  each  of  them  is  from  the  rest.  We  therefore  propose  to  dis- 
member the  order  in  three  superfamilies,  Pelecanoideae,  Fregatoidea3,  and  Phaethon- 
toideae,  an  arrangement  which  is  essentially  the  same  as  that  proposed  by  Professor 
Brandt  forty  years  ago. 

This  arrangement  needs  a  short  explanation.  There  will  be  found,  later  on,  a  few 
more  details  concerning  the  peculiar  arrangement  of  the  neck  vertebrae  of  the  first- 
mentioned  superfamily.  In  the  last  two  the  neck  is  normal,  and,  consequently,  they 
have  not  developed  as  off-shots  from  the  stem  of  the  Pelecanoideae.  The  extreme 
specialization  of  Fregata  in  regard  to  the  thigh  muscles,  A+,  can,  therefore,  not  be 
derived  from  the  Pelecanoideae,  notwithstanding  that  the  myological  formula  of  the 
latter,  AX+,  otherwise  would  allow  of  such  an  interpretation.  On  the  other  hand,  it 
is  even  more  plain  that  the  myological  formula,  AXY  -r,  of  the  tropic-bird  cannot 
directly  or  indirectly  be  derived  from  the  pelicans  or  the  frigate  bird,  nor,  indeed, 
the  latter  two  from  the  former.  We  are,  consequently,  compelled  to  assume  a 
common  ancestor  with  normal  arrangement  of  the  cervical  vertebrae  and  a  myological 
formula  consisting  of,  at  least,  AXY+. 

We  have  occasionally  had  opportunity  to  hear  people  ridicule  the  stress  laid  upon 
the  presence  or  absence  of  such  a  trifling  thing  as  a  small  muscle  of  the  leg  seems  to 
be.  In  some  instances  the  presence  or  absence,  considered  alone,  throws  no  light  upon 
the  manner  in  which  two  forms  have  developed,  and  in  other  cases  it  seems  to  the 
superficial  observer  to  have  no  systematic  importance,  —  for  instance,  when  a  species  has 
a  certain  muscle  which  is  wanting  in  a  closely  allied  form  of  the  same  genus ;  but 
even  then  it  is  of  considerable  interest,  since  it  shows  that  the  latter  has  developed 
out  of  the  former,  and  not  vice  versa.  The  above  example,  however,  derived  from 
the  present  order,  should  convince  even  the  most  superficial  observer  that  there  are 
cases  in  which  these  tiny  muscular  slips  play  a  most  important  role. 

We  have  discussed  the  distinctness  of  the  three  groups  here  proposed  only  on  the 
basis  off  a  few  characters,  since  want  of  space  prevents  us  from  going  further  into 
details ;  but  in  order  to  show  that  the  differences  are  rather  deep-rooted,  it  will  be  suf- 
ficient to  remind  one  of  the  fact  that  they  are  apparently  not  due  to  direct  teleological 
causes.  In  all  three  groups  there  are  excellent  flyers,  with  long  wings ;  but  one  of 
them  also  comprises  rather  short-winged  divers.  Similarity  in  habits  and  manner 
of  life  may  account  for  the  external  and  supei'ficial  resemblance  between  a  gannet  and 
a  tropic-bird,  but  we  know  of  no  difference  in  their  habits  sufficient  to  explain  the 
anatomical  diversities  alluded  to  above. 

In  addition  to  the  characters  common  to  all  the  members  of  the  group,  as  given 
at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter,  the  double  condition  of  the  pectoral  muscle  is  here 
described  in  Professor  Garrod's  words  :  — 

"  The  great  pectoral  muscle  is  composed  of  two  independent  layers,  —  a  superficial 
large  one,  arising  from  the  inferior  border  of  the  sternum,  its  carina,  and  from  the 
outer  border  of  the  furcula ;  and  a  deep  one  from  the  upper  two  thirds  of  the  deeper 


TROPIC-BIRDS.  181 

part  of  the  carina,  superficial  to  the  pectoralis  secundus,  and  from  the  symphysial 
half  of  the  outer  border  of  the  furcula.  The  superficial  layer  is  inserted  by  a  broad 
linear  attachment  to  the  pectoral  ridge  of  the  humerus,  whilst  the  deeper  layer  ends 
in  a  rounded  tendon."  According  to  Garrod,  this  arrangement  is  exactly  alike  in 
Plotus,  Phaethon,  Pelecanus,  /Sula,  and  also  in  Phalacrocorax,  though  not  so  easily 
recognized  in  the  latter.  The  birds  of  other  orders  which  show  a  similar  condition, 
are  the  American  vultures,  the  storks,  and  the  petrels. 

Professor  Huxley,  in  enumerating  the  characters  of  the  '  Dysporomorphae,'  as  he 
styled  this  order,  indicates  that  the  phalanges  of  the  anterior  toes  decrease  in  length 
from  the  basal  to  the  penultimate.  A  re-examination  of  the  gi-oup  has  convinced  me 
that  this  is  not  correct.  It  will  be  seen  from  the  figure,  further  on,  of  the  bones  of 
the  foot  of  Fregata,  that  the  ratio  of  the  phalanges  is  quite  different,  —  the  basal  ones 
of  the  second  and  third  toes  being  shorter  than  the  next  ones.  A  similar  ratio  is 
also  found  in  the  gannets,  especially  the  smaller  species,  and  likewise  in  the  darters. 

In  common  with  the  frigate-birds,  the  PHAETHONTOIDE  J5  have  a  compara- 
tively lai'ge  head,  mounted  on  a  short  and  thick  neck,  consisting  of  fewer  and  nor- 
mally articulated  vertebrae.  The  wings  are  long  and  pointed,  the  tail  cuneate,  with 
the  two  middle  feathers  extremely  lengthened.  The  feet  are  rather  small,  but  the 
webs  are  ample ;  they  are  totipalmate,  like  all  the  members  of  the  order,  —  that  is, 
even  the  first  toe  is  connected  with  the  next  one  by  a  membrane ;  and  in  this  particu- 
lar group  it  is  short,  and  turned  nearly  forwards.  Another  peculiarity  of  the  hind 
toe  is  that  it  articulates  with  the  metatarsus  considerably  above  the  level  of  the  other 
toes,  herein  differing  from  the  other  members  of  the  order.  The  claw  of  the  third 
toe  is  not  pectinated.  In  having  an  undivided  sheath,  without  any  groove  or  detached 
pieces,  the  bill  resembles  that  of  a  tern,  but  the  edges  are  serrated.  Like  the 
terns,  the  tropic-birds  have  pervious  nostrils,  therein  differing  considerably  from 
the  other  members  of  the  order,  in  some  of  which  the  external  openings  of  the  nares 
are  absolutely  closed  in  the  adult  birds ;  but  in  contradistinction  to  the  terns  and  gulls, 
the  tropic-birds  are  strongly  holorhinal.  Additional  osteological  characters  will  be 
mentioned  under  the  descriptions  of  the  other  groups,  though  we  may  remark  here 
that  the  hind  border  of  the  breast-bone  has  two  notches,  and,  consequently,  two  lateral 
processes  on  each  side,  somewhat  similar  to  the  condition  in  the  gulls. 

The  myological  peculiarities  are  described  thus  by  Gai'rod:  "Phaethon  possesses 
the  femoro-caudal  (small),  the  semitendinosus  (strong),  and  the  accessory  semitendi- 
nosus ;  the  ambiens,  the  accessory  femoro-caudal,  and  the  postacetabular  portion  of  the 
tensor  fasciae  are  absent.  In  this  bird  the  biceps  cruris  is  inserted  into  the  fibula-head 
directly,  without  passing  through  a  loop." 

Pterylographically  there  is  only  little  difference  between  the  present  super-family 
and  the  Pelecanoidea3,  but  the  structure  of  the  feathers  is  different,  they  being  more 
elastic  and  more  curved,  rather  resembling,  according  to  Nitzsch,  those  of  the  geese. 
The  skin  is  pneumatic,  similar  to  that  of  the  gannets,  and  each  oil-gland  has  three 
openings. 

The  tropic-birds  —  an  appropriate  name  for  these  intertropical  birds  —  are  also 
called  '  boatswains,'  for  the  same  reason  as  the  jaegers,  namely  the  extremely  elongated 
middle  tail-feathers.  In  their  general  aspect,  the  white  color  of  the  body,  and  the 
red  or  yellow  bills,  size,  etc.,  they  closely  imitate  the  gulls  or  terns ;  and  many  travel- 
ers have  described  their  habits  as  similar  to  the  latter,  but  the  resemblance  seems  to 
be  very  slight  and  very  superficial.  The  tropic-birds  are  very  oceanic,  and  are  often 


182 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


met  with  many  hundreds  of  miles  from  any  shore.  Their  flight  is  described  by  Pro- 
fessor Newton  as  not  resembling  that  of  any  sea-bird  with  which  he  is  acquainted,  its 
chief  peculiarity  consisting  in  the  regular  and  rather  rapid  strokes  of  the  wing,  with- 
out any  intermission,  as  far  as  he  could  see  ;  and  Mr.  C.  B.  Cory  expressly  says  that  it 
"  does  not  at  all  resemble  the  long,  easy  movements  of  the  gulls,  but  is  hurried  and 
rapid,  more  resembling  that  of  a  duck."  They  usually  breed  in  cracks  of  the  cliffs, 
on  the  ledges  of  rocks,  or  under  overhanging  boulders,  but  build  no  nest.  The  single 
egg,  rather  large  and  of  a  reddish-brown  color,  with  fine  markings,  is  said  to  be  good 
eating,  and  in  some  localities  large  quantities  are  gathered  for  food ;  hence  the  name 


FIG.  88.  —  Phdethnn  cethereus,  red-billed  tropic-bird. 

'  egg-bird '  in  the  Bahamas.  Also  the  long  and  stiff  central  tail-feathers  are  collected, 
especially  those  of  Phaethon  rubrlcauda,  in  which  they  are  red,  in  beautiful  contrast 
to  the  rest  of  the  plumage.  Mr.  Edward  Newton  describes  the  visit  to  a  breeding- 
place  of  this  species  on  Round  Island,  a  small  islet  close  by  Mauritius,  as  follows : 
"  Here  the  red-tailed  tropic-bird  breeds  in  very  large  numbers.  They  are  the  tamest 
birds  I  ever  saw,  and  do  not  know  what  fear  is.  They  never  attempt  to  leave  their 
single  egg  or  nestling  at  one's  approach,  but  merely  stick  out  their  feathers  and  scream, 
pecking  at  one's  legs  with  their  beaks.  It  is  the  fashion  on  the  island  for  visitors  to 
remove  the  old  bird  from  its  egg  by  a  slight  shove,  and  then  placing  the  foot  gently 


FRIGATE-BIRDS. 


183 


on  its  head,  to  draw  out  the  long  tail-feathers.  It  resents  this  insult  by  screaming  and 
snapping,  but  never  tries  to  escape  by  flying  or  shuffling  along  the  ground  ;  in  fact, 
like  all  birds  which  have  their  legs  placed  so  far  behind,  they  cannot  rise  off  a  flat 
surface,  but  require  a  drop  of  a  few  feet  to  give  them  an  impetus."  Where  rocks  are 
wanting,  however,  the  tropic-bird  breeds  in  trees.  The  same  gentleman,  during  a 
mountain  ascent  on  one  of  the  Seychelles,  observed  a  yellow-billed  tropic-bird  (P. 
flavirostris)  enter  a  hole  in  the  stump  of  a  dead  tree.  "  On  returning,"  he  says,  "  I 
made  for  it.  After  a  scramble  over  dead  wood  and  granite  boulders,  I  got  to  it.  The 
hole  was  about  fifteen  feet  from  the  ground,  and  my  man  soon  ascended,  not,  however, 
without  fears  on  my  part  that  the  rotten  old  stem  would  come  down  with  his  weight. 
Unfortunately  there  was  only  a  young  bird  inside  it.  This  I  took  home  and  endeav- 
ored to  rear,  but  it  only  lived  four  days."  The  young  is  cov- 
ered with  pure  white  down,  and  consequently  is  very  unlike  the 
downy  youngs  of  the  Laridas.  The  chick,  like  that  of  all  the 
members  of  the  order,  is  reared  in  the  nest,  or  rather  on  the  spot 
where  the  egg  was  hatched,  until  able  to  fly. 

Only  three  species  are  known,  —  the  two  above  mentioned, 
and  the  red-billed,  white-tailed  P.  cethereus,  which  is  the  species 
represented  in  our  wood-cut. 

In  Fig.  89  is  shown  one  of  the  more  obvious  characters  of  the 
FREGATOIDE^E,  namely,  the  remarkably  short  tarsus,  the  short- 
ness and  breadth  of  which  is  absolutely  unique  amongst  the  Euor- 
nithes.  It  is  only  equalled  by  the  corresponding  bone  of  the  pen- 
guins, in  which,  however,  the  three  component  metatarsals  are 
nearly  separated,  and  equally  well  developed.  On  the  whole,  the 
foot  of  the  frigate-bird  is  short,  and  abnormally  developed,  for 
the  "  webs  "  are  so  deeply  excised  that  they  hardly  deserve  their 
name,  and  the  tarsus  is  feathered  to  the  legs  and  feathered  to  the 
toes,  —  a  very  extraordinary  feature  in  a  "  water-bird,"  it  being,  in 
fact,  the  only  one  among  all  the  birds  so  designated  that  exhibits 
this  character.  The  abnormal  ratio  of  the  phalanges  of  the  middle 
toe  has  already  been  mentioned. 

The  wings  are  hardly  less  remarkable,  since  the  cubitus  is 
longer  than  the  upper  arm  bone  by  one  third  of  its  length ;  and 
as  the  humerus  itself  is  very  long,  the  stretch  of  the  wings  becomes  quite  excessive  in 
proportion  to  the  size  of  the  body.  In  regard  to  the  breast-bone  we  remark  that  the 
hind  border  is  described  as  truncate,  without  any  notches  or  lateral  processes.  Peculiar 
to  Fregata  is  also  the  fact  that  there  is  no  interval  between  the  lumbar  and  caudal  ver- 
tebrae, as  the  transverse  processes  are  continuously  developed  throughout  these  verte- 
bras. As  to  the  pelvis,  it  may  be  remarked  that  the  ilia  do  not  meet  together  medianly  in 
front  of  the  acetabula  at  all,  as  they  do  in  both  the  other  super-families.  The  caudal 
vertebrae  have  very  strong  transverse  processes,  and  the  external  tail  is  long  and  very 
forked.  In  many  other  external  characters  the  frigate-birds  show  affinities  to  the 
cormorants ;  for  instance,  in  the  shape  of  the  bill,  which  is  composed  of  several  pieces 
separated  by  grooves,  ending  in  a  strongly-hooked  nail,  in  the  naked  gular  pouch,  and 
also  in  the  pectination  of  the  claw  of  the  third  toe.  The  pterylosis  approaches  that  of 
the  cormorants,  but  is  peculiar  on  account  of  the  remarkable  sparse  arrangement  of  the 
contour  feathers. 


FIG.  89. — Leg  bones  of 
Fregata  aqu'ila,  from 
the  knee,  tb,  tibia  ; 
mts,  tarso-metatarsus. 


184  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

On  the  whole,  the  cormorants  seem  to  be  the  nearest  allies,  but,  as  already  noted,, 
the  differences  are  many  and  important.  In  regard  to  alleged  relationship  to  mem- 
bers of  other  orders,  it  may  suffice  to  mention  that  there  are  peculiai-ities  in  the  skele- 
ton and  the  myology  which  have  been  interpreted  as  indicating  affinity  to  the  petrels, 
—  theories  which  only  future  investigations  will  be  able  to  decide  upon. 

Only  one  family,  FREGATID^E,  and  one  genus,  Fregata,  consisting  of  two  species, 
compose  the  super-family,  which,  like  the  foregoing  one,  is  peculiar  to  the  inter- 
tropical  seas. 

The  description  of  the  extreme  length  of  the  wings  of  the  '  man-of-war  hawk,'  as 
they  are  often  called,  indicates  the  enormous  power  of  flight  of  the  '  hurricane  bird,' 
another  name  by  which  they  are'  known  to  the  sailors,  and  Audubon's  graphical 
account  is  only  one  of  the  many  enthusiastic  descriptions :  — 

"  The  frigate-pelican  is  possessed  of  a  power  of  flight  which  I  conceive  superior 
to  that  of  perhaps  any  other  bird.  However  swiftly  the  Cayenne  tern,  the  smaller 
gulls,  or  the  jaeger  move  on  wing,  it  seems  a  matter  of  mere  sport  to  it  to  overtake 
any  of  them.  The  goshawk,  the  peregrine,  and  the  gyrfalcon,  which  I  conceive  to- 
be  the  swiftest  of  our  hawks,  are  obliged  to  pursue  their  victim,  should  it  be  a  green- 
winged  teal  or  passenger-pigeon,  at  times  for  half  a  mile,  at  the  highest  pitch  of  then- 
speed,  before  they  can  secure  them.  The  bird  of  which  I  speak  comes  from  on  high 
with  the  velocity  of  a  meteor,  and  on  nearing  the  object  of  its  pursuit,  which  its  keen 
eye  has  spied  while  fishing  at  a  distance,  darts  on  either  side  to  cut  off  all  retreat,  and 
with  open  bill  forces  it  to  drop  or  disgorge  the  fish  which  it  has  just  caught.  See  him 
now !  Yonder,  over  the  waves,  leaps  the  brilliant  dolphin,  as  he  pursues  the  flying- 
fishes,  which  he  expects  to  seize  the  moment  they  drop  into  the  water.  The  frigate- 
bird,  who  has  marked  them,  closes  his  wings,  dives  towards  them,  and,  now  ascending, 
holds  one  of  the  tiny  things  across  his  bill.  Already  fifty  yards  above  the  sea,  he 
spies  a  porpoise  in  full  chase,  launches  towards  the  spot,  and  in  passing  seizes  the 
mullet  that  has  escaped  from  its  dreaded  foe.  I  observed  a  frigate-pelican  that  had 
forced  a  Cayenne  tei'n,  yet  in  sight,  to  drop  a  fish  which  the  broad-winged  warrior 
had  seized  as  it  fell.  This  fish  was  rather  large  for  the  tern,  and  might  probably  be 
about  eight  inches  in  length.  The  frigate-pelican  mounted  with  it  across  his  bill 
about  a  hundred  yards,  and  then,  tossing  it  up,  caught  it  as  it  fell,  but  not  in  the 
proper  manner.  He  therefore  dropped  it,  but  before  it  had  fallen  many  yards  caught 
it  again.  Still  it  was  not  in  a  good  position,  the  weight  of  the  head,  it  seemed, 
having  prevented  the  bird  from  seizing  it  by  that  part.  A  second  time  the  fish  was 
thrown  upward,  and  now,  at  last,  was  received  in  a  convenient  position  (that  is,  with 
its  head  downwards),  and  immediately  swallowed." 

Dr.  Bryant  visited  several  breeding-places  of  F.  aquila,  in  the  Bahamas.  In  one 
place  the  nests  were  on  the  bare  rock,  and  closely  grouped  together ;  in  another,  they 
were  built  upon  the  mangroves,  while  on  the  Seal  Island  they  were  placed  on  the  tops 
of  prickly-pear.  Mr.  G.  C.  Taylor  describes  his  visit  to  a  rookery  on  a  small  islet  on 
the  Pacific  coast  of  Honduras  as  follows :  — 

"At  a  distance  the  most  conspicuous  object  was  a  numerous  flight  of  frigate-birds 
soaring  over  the  island.  As  we  approached,  large  white  patches,  caused  by  the  drop- 
pings of  the  birds,  became  visible.  The  whole  island  was  appropriated  by  the  frigate- 
birds.  Nearly  every  tree  and  bush,  both  high  and  low,  was  Covered  with  birds  and 
their  nests.  The  latter  were  mostly  composed  of  a  few  sticks  laid  crossways,  hardly 
as  much  in  quantity  as  in  the  nest  of  the  ring-dove  (Columba palumbus) .  Each  nest 


PELICANS.  185 

contained  a  single  egg,  about  the  size  of  a  hen's-egg,  and  of  a  chalky  whiteness. 
Although  the  nests  were  upon  low  bushes,  still  they  were  placed  just  too  high  for  one 
to  reach  the  eggs  without  climbing.  The  difficulty  was  to  get  the  birds  off  their 
nests.  Shouting  had  little  or  no  effect;  and  even  the  report  of  a  gun  would  only 
rouse  a  few,  who  would  frequently  settle  again  on  the  bushes.  I  threw  some  stones 
among  them,  without  producing  much  result,  and  even  tried  to  poke  them  off  their 
seats  with  my  gun ;  but  they  merely  snapped  their  beaks  at  me  in  retaliation." 

According  to  Professor  Mivart,  the  PELECANOIDE^E  differ  from  the  two  fore- 
going super-families  in  possessing  a  greater  number  of  cervical  and  cervico-dorsal 
vertebrae,  viz.,  seventeen  to  twenty,  against  fifteen  only  in  the  latter.  But  the  most 
marked  feature  is,  perhaps,  the  peculiarity  in  the  eighth  or  ninth  cervical  vertebra,  by 
which  it  is  angularly  articulated  with  the  vertebra  in  front  and  behind.  By  this 
arrangement  is  caused  the  characteristic  kink  in  the  neck  of  these  birds,  which  may  be 
seen  plainly  in  the  wood-cuts  representing  the  darter  and  the  cormorant.  Indeed,  it 
is  literally  impossible  for  these  birds  to  carry  their  neck  straight.  This  angular  condi- 
tion of  the  neck  is  most  developed  in  the  darters ;  in  a  less  marked  degree  in  the 
cormorants,  and  still  less  so  in  the  gannets  and  pelicans,  though  observable  in  all. 

Other  distinctive  characters  of  the  skeleton  as  compared  with  the  tropic-birds  and 
frigate-birds  are  the  presence  of  one  to  three  distinct  sacral  vertebrae,  the  moderate 
size  of  the  lateral  acetabular  fossa,  and  the  presence  of  fully  or  nearly  completed 
haemal  arches  to  some  of  the  vertebrae ;  "  but  in  Fregata  and  Phaethon,  not  only  are 
there  none,  but  no  tendency  to  form  haemal  arches  is  exhibited."  The  hind  margin 
of  the  breast-bone  has  only  one  lateral  process  on  each  side. 

We  recognize  four  groups  of  equal  rank,  since  it  seems  "  difficult  to  unite  together 
any  two  of  them  to  the  exclusion  of  the  others."  Of  these  four  families  Professor 
Mivart  thinks  that  the  darters,  as  the  most  exceptional  and  differentiated  type,  should 
form  one  end  of  the  series,  to  be  begun  with  the  pelicans,  which  in  some  points,  at 
least,  appears  the  least  differentiated  and  most  generalized  form. 

Accordingly  we  commence  with  the  PELECANIDJE,  the  pelicans  proper,  the  appear- 
ance of  which,  with  the  enormous  pouch  suspended  between  the  branches  of  the  lower 
jaw,  is  so  familiar  to  everybody  that  we  feel  at  liberty  to  dispense  with  a  general 
description,  —  the  more  so,  as  the  accompanying  cut  will  revive  in  the  imagination  of 
our  reader  the  picture  of  this  grotesque  bird  if  some  details  should  have  faded  out  of 
the  memory. 

In  one  anatomical  feature,  at  least,  the  pelicans  stand  quite  isolated,  and  Huxley 
considered  it  to  be  so  important  that  upon  it  he  based  a  subdivision  of  the  order 
into  two  groups,  one  to  contain  the  pelicans,  the  other  embracing  all  the  other  '  Dys- 
poromorphae.'  Here  is  his  description  of  the  peculiarity:  "In  the  Pelecanidaa  the 
inferior  edge  of  the  ossified  interorbital  septum  rises  rapidly  forward,  so  as  to  leave  a 
space  at  the  base  of  the  skull,  which  is  filled  by  a  triangular  crest  formed  by  the  union 
of  the  greatly  developed  ascending  processes  of  the  palatines." 

One  external  character  only  shall  here  be  mentioned ;  viz.,  that  the  tail  consists  of 
twenty-four  rather  soft  rectrices,  a  feature  well  worth  noting,  since  in  all  the  other 
families  are  the  tail  feathers  very  stiff,  and  their  maximum  number  sixteen. 

Pelicans  are  found  in  the  New  World  as  well  as  in  the  eastern  hemisphere,  but 
they  are  confined  to  the  tropics,  and  the  warmer  portions  of  the  temperate  regions, 
though  a  single  species  or  two  may  breed  in  more  northern  localities  where  the  sum- 
mers are  warm. 


186 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


Such  a  species  is  our  North  American  white  pelican  (Pelecanus  erythrorhynchos), 
formerly  confounded  with  the  species  figured.  A  very  distinctive  and  remarkable 
feature,  however,  is  the  irregular  protuberance  on  the  culmen,  which  is  equally  devel- 
oped in  both  .sexes.  Mr.  Robert  Ridgway,  who,  in  1868,  during  a  visit  to  the  island 
in  Pyramid  Lake,  Nevada,  discovered  the  regular  shedding  of  this  horn,  or  '  centre- 


FIG.  90.  —  Pelecanus  onocrotalus,  European  white-pelican. 


board,'  as  it  was  appropriately  called  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighborhood,  describes 
it  as  follows:  "The  maxillary  excrescence  varies  greatly  both  in  size  and  shape. 
Frequently  it  consists  of  a  single  piece,  nearly  as  high  as  long,  its  vertical  outlines 
almost  parallel,  and  the  upper  outline  quite  regularly  convex,  the  largest  specimen  seen 
being  about  three  inches  high  by  as  many  in  length.  More  frequently,  however,  it  is 
very  irregular  in  shape,  usually  less  elevated,  and  not  infrequently  with  ragged  ante- 


PELICANS.  187 

rior,  or  even  posterior,  continuations.  This  excrescence,  which  is  assumed  gradually 
in  the  spring,  reaches  its  perfect  development  in  the  pairing  season,  and  is  dropped 
before  or  soon  after  the  young  are  hatched  ;  simultaneously  with  the  shedding  of  this 
appendage,  the  nuchal  crest  falls  off,  and  in  its  place  a  patch  of  short  brownish-gray 
feathers  appears ;  this  disappears  with  the  fall  moult,  when  the  occiput  is  entirely 
unadorned,  there  being  neither  crest  nor  colored  patch." 

Mr.  Ridgway  first  made  a  visit  to  the  island  in  July,  1867.  Thousands  of  pelicans, 
slumbering  on  the  beach,  were  stai'tled,  when  he  landed  with  his  party  in  the  even- 
ing, "  and  as  they  rose  into  the  air  the  noise  caused  by  their  confusion  was  so  great 
that  we  could  scarcely  hear  one  another's  voices.  Our  blankets  were  spread  upon  the 
higher  ground  some  distance  from  the  boat,  in  order  to  avoid  the  offensive  smell  of 
the  roosting-ground.  In  the  morning,  when  we  awoke,  the  whole  beach  about  fifty 
yards  from  us  was  covered  with  a  dense  crowd  of  these  gigantic  snow-white  creatures, 
who  scarcely  heeded  us  as  we  arose ;  as  we  approached  them,  however,  they  pushed 
one  another  awkwardly  into  the  water,  or  rose  heavily  and  confusedly  from  the 
ground,  and,  flying  some  distance  out  upon  the  lake,  alighted  on  the  water.  The 
majority  of  the  flock  remained  upon  the  water  only  a  short  time,  when  they  arose  and 
flew  —  divided  into  battalions  —  passing  over  us,  each  turning  its  head  and  looking 
down  upon  us  as  it  went  by."  At  that  time  none  of  the  many  thousands  possessed 
the  appendage.  Mr.  Ridgway  repaired  to  the  lake  again  in  May  of  the  following 
year,  when  he  found  the  pelicans  in  pairs,  and  provided  with  the  "conspicuous  promi- 
nence on  the  top  of  the  upper  mandible,  known  among  the  white  people  of  the  neigh- 
borhood as  the  '  centre-board,'  so  called  from  the  fancied  resemblance  to  the  centre- 
board of  a  sail-boat.  This  ornament  was  observable  on  quite  a  large  proportion  of 
the  birds,  and  was  conspicuous  at  a  considerable  distance.  At  this  season  both  sexes 
were  highly  colored,  the  naked  soft  skin  of  the  face  and  the  feet  being  fiery  orange 
red,  or  almost  blood-red,  instead  of  pale  ashy  straw  yellow,  as  in  all,  both  old  and 
young,  in  August. 

"  In  viewing  the  northern  shore  from  an  eminence,  it  was  noticed  that  the  narrow 
point,  which  extended  some  hundred  yards  or  more  beyond  the  main  beach,  was  liter- 
ally covered  with  a  dense  body  of  pelicans,  apparently  merely  resting,  as  many  of 
them  were  standing ;  however,  upon  proceeding  to  the  spot,  it  was  found  that  the 
ground  was  covered  with  nests,  upon  which  the  females  had  been  sitting,  each  one 
attended  by  her  mate,  who  stood  by  her  side.  The  nests  occupied  fully  one  half  the 
surface,  and  consisted  of  mere  heaps  of  gravel  and  sand  raked  into  a  pile  about  six  or 
eight  inches  high,  and  probably  twenty  wide  on  the  top,  which  was  only  slightly  hol- 
lowed. In  each  nest  we  found  one  egg,  and  never  more. 

"  Soon  the  number  of  birds  distinguished  by  the  '  centre-board '  daily  decreased, 
while,  to  account  for  this  phenomenon,  a  corresponding  number  of  cast-off  ones  was 
found  upon  the  ground.  Some  of  these  loosened  ornaments  had  been  but  recently 
dropped,  as  was  plainly  shown  by  their  freshness,  while  others,  which  had  been  cast 
for  some  time,  were  dry  and  warped  by  the  sun.  Towards  the  last  of  the  month  no 
birds  possessing  this  excrescence  were  to  be  seen,  but  the  appendages  themselves 
were  scattered  so  numerously  over  the  ground  that  a  bushel  could  have  been  gathered 
in  a  short  time,  though  upon  our  first  arrival  on  the  island  not  one  was  to  be  seen." 

Mr.  D.  G.  Elliot  describes  them  in  their  winter  haunts  as  follows :  "  On  the  south- 
ern coast  of  the  United  States  they  are  very  abundant,  and  I  have  witnessed  them  in 
winter  on  the  sea-beach  of  Florida,  standing  close  together  in  long  rows  of  many  hun- 


188  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

dreds  of  individuals,  enjoying  a  siesta  after  fishing.  This  species  does  not  plunge 
into  the  water  after  its  prey,  as  is  the  custom  of  its  relative,  the  P.  fuscus,  but  swims 
along,  beating  the  surface  of  the  water  with  its  wings,  and  scooping  up  great  numbers 
of  fish  at  once.  When  raising  the  bill  from  the  water,  the  point  is  held  downwards 
until  all  the  water  has  been  allowed  to  run  out  from  the  sac,  and  then  the  small  fish 
contained  in  the  skinny  bag  are  devoured  at  leisure.  Sometimes  so  many  fish,  or  such 
large  ones,  are  obtained  that  the  sac  hangs  down  nearly  to  the  ground,  it  is  so  very 
elastic ;  while  at  other  times,  when  empty,  it  is  drawn  up  between  the  crura  of  the 
lower  mandible.  When  on  the  wing,  the  head  is  drawn  in  close  to  the  shoulders,  the 
webbed  feet  extended  behind.  I  have  never  heard  them  utter  any  sound  as  they  thus 
proceeded." 

About  a  dozen  species  or  forms  of  pelicans  are  known.  All  of  them  have  the 
region  between  the  eye  and  the  bill  bare  of  feathers,  except  the  Australian  species,  the 
spectacled  pelican  (P.  conspicillattts),  which  has  only  a  naked  ring  round  the  eyes,  like 
spectacles  (conspicilla'),  —  hence  the  names. 

Next  come  the  gannets  or  boobies,  the  SULID^E,  the  typical  species  of  which  is 
beautifully  figured  in  the  accompanying  cut.  We  remark  at  once  that  the  bill  termi- 
nates rather  pointedly,  the  '  nail '  only  being  slightly  bent,  and  not  hooked  over  the 
tip  of  the  lower  mandible,  as  in  both  pelicans  and  cormorants.  We  have  already 
mentioned  the  abnormal  ratio  of  the  phalanges  of  the  toes.  The  wings  are  long  and 
strong,  and  the  birds  are  consequently  excellent  flyers,  which  secure  their  prey,  consist- 
ing of  fishes,  by  plunging  headlong  into  the  water,  with  a  velocity  that  makes  the 
spray  rise  several  feet.  In  order  to  offer  the  minimum  of  opposition  in  the  bird's 
diving  progress,  the  sternal  apparatus  has  been  peculiarly  modified.  The  breast-bone 
itself  is  unusually  long  for  a  bird  of  this  order,  being  nearly  twice  as  long  as  it  is 
broad,  and  the  coracoids,  as  pointed  out  by  John  Flower,  are  articulated  in  a  direction 
nearly  parallel  with  the  axis  of  the  breast-bone,  and  not,  as  in  most  birds,  at  nearly 
right  angles  to  it,  an  arrangement  differing  widely  from  that  in  the  cormorants.  Like 
the  other  great  flyers  of  the  order,  the  gannets  possess  a  "  system  of  subcutaneous  air- 
cells  which  pervade  almost  the  whole  surface  of  the  body,  and  are  capable  of  volun- 
tary inflation  or  exhaustion,"  already  referred  to  while  describing  a  similar  peculiarity 
in  the  screamers. 

'  Sula '  is  an  old  Norse  word,  meaning  a  swallow,  a»d  the  gannet  is,  in  the  Scandina- 
vian languages,  known  as  the  '  hav-sula,'  or  sea-swallow,  probably  because  of  its  pow- 
erful flight.  One  of  the  popular  English  names  of  the  bird,  —  the  '  solan  goose,'  - 
is  evidently  related,  and  probably  directly  derived  from  the  Norse  word,  and  would 
consequently  mean  '  swallow-goose.'  Other  names  bestowed  upon  these  birds  are 
'  gentleman,'  or  '  Jan  van  Gent.'  Macgillivray  describes  its  flight  thus :  "  In  launch- 
ing from  the  cliffs,  they  frequently  utter  a  single  plaintive  cry,  perform  a  curve  having 
its  concavity  upwards,  then  shake  the  tail,  frequently  the  whole  plumage,  draw  the 
feet  backwards,  placing  them  close  under  the  tail  on  each  side,  and  cover  them  with 
the  feathers.  In  flying,  the  body,  tail,  neck,  and  bill  are  nearly  in  a  straight  line  ; 
the  wings  extended,  and  never  brought  close  to  the  body,  and  they  move  by  regular 
flappings,  alternating  with  regular  sailings."  It  is  interesting  to  remark  that  they  fly 
with  outstretched  necks,  as  do  the  cormorants,  thus  presenting  a  similar  difference 
from  the  pelicans,  as  do  the  storks  and  ibises  from  the  herons. 

The  food  of  the  gannet  consists  chiefly  of  herrings,  and  having,  like  the  pelicans, 
a  very  dilatable  oesophagus,  it  is  capable  of  swallowing  fish  of  considerable  size. 


PELICANS. 


189 


Being  without  a  gular  pouch,  it  feeds  its  young  by  disgorging,  and  Macgillivray 
assures  us  that  it  never  carries  fish  to  the  rock  where  it  breeds,  in  its  bill. 

The  solan  goose  breeds  in  large  colonies  on  small  islands  and  rocks  in  the  North 
Atlantic  Ocean ;  for  instance,  on  the  Bass  Rock  in  Scotland,  hence  the  specific  name. 
This  rookery  has  been  described  and  depicted  so  often  and  elaborately  by  everybody 
who  ever  wrote  of  the  natural  history  of  this  bird,  that  it  would  be  trivial  to  repeat 


FIG.  91.  —  Sula  bassana,  gannet. 

it  here.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  Macgillivray,  in  1831,  estimated  their  number  on  that 
celebrated  rock  to  be  about  twenty  thousand,  and  that  Dr.  Cunningham,  thirty-one 
years  afterwards,  found  no  decrease.  Much  larger  is  the  colony  on  Gannet  Rock,  in 
the  Gulf  of  Saint  Lawrence ;  for  Dr.  Bryant,  in  describing  a  visit  to  that  island,  says : 
"  Their  number  on  the  summit  could  be  very  easily  and  accurately  determined  by 
measuring  the  surface  occupied  by  them ;  by  a  rough  computation  I  made  it  to  be 
about  fifty  thousand  pairs,  and  probably  half  as  many  more  breed  on  the  remaining 


190  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

portion  of  the  rock,  and  on  the  Little  Bird."  The  nest  is  usually  built  of  grass  or 
sea-weeds,  which  the  birds  tear  off  with  their  sharp  beaks,  and  a  single  egg  of  a  chalky 
whiteness,  but  usually  stained  and  soiled,  is  deposited,  from  which  is  hatched  a  naked 
slaty-blue  chick,  soon  to  be  covered  with  snow-white  down.  The  adults  are  white, 
head  and  neck  above  washed  with  buff,  bill  bluish-gray,  feet  slate-color  with  light 
green  stripes,  indicating  the  course  of  the  tendons ;  eye  yellow.  The  immature  birds 
are  dusky,  speckled  all  over  with  white  spots. 

A  few  allied  species  inhabit  the  tropical  seas  of  the  eastern  hemisphere,  and  a 
group  of  smaller,  more  or  less  dusky-colored  gannets  are  entirely  inter-tropical.  In 
general  habits  they  differ  but  little  from  the  typical  species,  and  altogether  there  are 
at  present  hardly  ten  different  forms.  The  fact  that  fossil  Sulidae  have  been  found  in 
France  in  miocene  fresh-water  deposits  indicates,  however,  that  this  family  formerly 
was  wider  distributed  and  richer  in  forms.  A  miocene  Sula  is  also  known  from  North 
Carolina. 

The  two  following  families  are  probably  more  closely  related  inter  se  than  they  are 
to  any  of  the  foregoing.  The  following  are  a  few  characters  which  the  cormorants 
and  the  darters  have  in  common,  and  in  which  they  differ  from  pelicans  and  gannets: 
They  have^  twenty  vertebrae  in  the  neck,  against  seventeen  to  eighteen;  the  ninth 
vertebra  is  the  first  one  pressed  back  preaxially,  and  not  the  eighth ;  the  twentieth  to 
twenty-fourth  vertebra?  in  the  cormorants,  and  the  twenty-second  to  twenty-fifth 
vertebra?  in  the  darters,  are  opisthocoelous,  while  none  have^  that  character  in  the 
pelicans  and  gannets ;  the  latter  possess  a  spinal  feather-space,  which  the  former  have 
not,  but  these  have  an  occipital  style  unknown  in  the  others.  This  occipital  style  is  a 
triangular,  elongated  bone,  articulating  with  the  tubercle  on  the  middle  of  the  upper 
edge  of  the  occipital  bone.  The  object  of  this  process  is  to  afford  surface  for  the 
insertion  of  "  the  superficial  temporal  muscles  meeting  behind  the  skull  along  the 
median  raphe,  which  becomes  ossified  to  form  the  above-mentioned  style  in  the  adult 
bird."  A  myological  feature,  which  is  not  shared  by  the  two  foregoing  families,  is 
that  the  biceps  muscle  of  the  arm  sends  a  fleshy  slip  to  the  middle  of  the  patagial 
tendon  of  the  tensor  patagii  longus.  Finally  may  be  mentioned  the  very  backward 
position  of  the  hind  limbs,  which  force  the  cormorants  and  darters  to  carry  their  body 
more  erect  than  the  other  members  of  the  order. 

The  cormorants,  PHALACROCORACID^E,  are  readily  distinguished  from  other  Stegan- 
opods  by  the  combination  of  a  strongly  hooked  bill,  in  shape  and  structure  like  that 
of  the  frigate-bird,  —  long  neck,  short  wings,  and  rather  long,  rounded  tail.  The 
head  is  often  crested,  and  head  and  neck  frequently  adorned  with  thin  filamentous 
plumes,  which  are  assumed  towards  the  pairing  season,  and  disappear  after  the 
breeding. 

We  regard  this  family  as  the  central  one  of  the  order,  hence  the  negative  nature 
of  the  characters  including  the  anatomical  features,  the  status  of  which  is  best  found 
by  consulting  the  diagnoses  of  the  other  families.  Here  shall  only  be  mentioned  the 
peculiarity  of  the  ambiens  muscle  in  passing  through  the  substance  of  the  large  tri- 
angular patella  in  a  bony  canal. 

The  cormorants  form  a  very  homogeneous  group  of  nearly  forty  existing  forms, 
and  even  the  tertiary  cormorants  seem  to  be  very  closely  allied  to  the  typical  species 
of  the  present  day,  indicating  that  the  group  has  assumed  its  peculiarities  at  quite  a 
distant  period. 

On   account   of  this  uniformity,  nobody  who  ever  saw  a  cormorant  will  be  in 


PELICANS.  191 

doubt  of  the  true  position  of  any  of  the  members  he  might  come  across,  and  conse- 
quently the  accompanying  figure,  although  representing  a  now  probably  extinct 
species,  will  serve  as  well  for  illustrating  the  structure  of  the  existing  birds.  These, 
which  are  distributed  all  over  the  globe,  except  the  very  Arctic  regions,  are  generally 
of  a  blackish  color,  with  more  or  less  bronzy  reflections,  and  the  naked  face  usually 
brightly  colored,  but  some  species,  especially  from  the  Australian  seas,  have  the  whole 
under  surface  white.  New  Zealand  is  especially  rich  in  shags,  as  these  birds  are  also 
called,  having  not  less  than  thirteen  species,  amongst  these  the  curiously  colored 
spotted  shag  (Phalacrocorax  punctatus)  peculiar  to  that  colony;  it  is  beautifully 
brownish  ash  above,  each  feather  with  a  velvety  black  spot  at  the  end ;  the  under  side 
is  leaden  gray ;  head  and  neck  blackish,  with  a  broad  white  band  along  the  sides ;  the 
legs  are  flesh-colored;  the  eyes,  like  those  of  most  cormorants,  green. 

The  cormorants  are  very  sociable,  and  are  usually  found  in  great  flocks  all  the  year 
round.  Another  feature  of  their  character  is  their  inquisitiveness.  I  well  remember 
that  afternoon  when  we  left  Copper  Island,  steering  for  the  island  where  the  celebrated 
navigator,  Bering,  died  after  having  been  shipwrecked.  I  stood  with  Captain  Sand- 
mann  on  the  deck  when  we  were  doubling  the  northwest  cape  of  the  former  island. 
Flock  after  flock  of  violet-green  shags  (P.  pelagicus)  came  up  to  the  steamer,  veered 
round,  then  passed  over  the  vessel  behind  the  smokestack,  bending  and  stretching 
their  long  necks  in  the  utmost  curiosity,  and,  as  if  they  had  not  seen  all  they  wanted, 
some  of  them  would  return  a  second  time.  This  lasted  as  long  as  we  could  see  the 
cape.  As  I  expressed  my  surprise  at  the  enormous  number,  the  captain  replied  that 
the  sight  now  was  nothing  against  what  it  used  to  be.  The  shags  were,  until  a  few 
years  previous,  so  abundant  at  this  point  that  they  served  as  a  conspicuous  landmark, 
which  could  be  relied  upon  even  in  the  thickest  fog.  But  one  winter  the  majority  of 
them  died  by  an  epidemic  disease.  The  dead  corpses  covered  the  beaches  all  around 
the  islands,  and  the  natives  were  much  agitated  by  the  prospect  of  these  birds  becom- 
ing entirely  extinct,  since  they  form  their  main  source  of  fresh  meat  during  the  long 
winter.  A  few  survived,  however,  and  their  number  increased  yearly. 

This  incident  recalls  the  fate  that  has  befallen  the  spectacled,  or  Pallas's,  cormo- 
rant (P.  perspicillatus),  which,  not  more  than  thirty  years  ago,  inhabited  the  neigh- 
boring Bering  Island,  while  now  not  a  single  locality  is  known  where  this  large  and 
conspicuous  shag  may  still  survive ;  in  fact  there  are  no  authentic  records  of  it  having 
ever  been  found  outside  of  the  island  named.  Two  of  the  specimens  in  museums  are 
said  to  have  come  from  Sitka,  but  they  were  not  collected  there,  and  are  probably 
from  Bering  Island.  When,  in  1882-'83,  I  visited  that  locality,  I  made  all  possible 
efforts  to  obtain  specimens,  but  all  I  could  learn  of  it  was  that  the  last  one  was  killed 
about  a  generation  ago.  We  have  therefore  taken  pains  to  secure  a  most  excellent 
illustration  of  one  of  the  rarest  birds  in  collections.  For,  while  we  know  of  more  than 
seventy  specimens  of  the  great  auk,  and  thirty  of  the  Labrador  duck,  hardly  more 
than  three  spectacled  cormorants  exist  in  European  museums,  and  none  in  this  coun- 
try. It  would  be  well  worth  the  while  to  make  a  thorough  search  all  over  the  unin- 
habited rocky  islets  of  the  Aleutian  chain,  as  a  few  specimens,  should  they  still  exist 
in  some  out-of-the-way  place,  would  amply  repay  the  trouble  and  expense. 

That  the  Chinese  fishermen  trained  cormorants  to  catch  fish  for  them  was  known 
long  ago.  Subsequently  the  stories  were  more  or  less  discredited.  We  shall  there- 
fore transcribe  the  following  authentic  account  from  the  '  Special  Catalogue  of  the 
Ningpo  Collection  in  the  International  Fishery-Exhibition  at  Berlin : ' — 


192 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


"  Many  are  the  ways  used  in  this  province  for  catching  fish  of  all  kinds  in  the 
rivers,  lakes,  and  canals;  but  none  of  them  are  more  curious  than  the  cormorant- 
fishing,  which  may  be  seen  everywhere  about  Ningpo.  Certain  places  are  noted  for 
the  excellence  of  the  birds  which  are  bred  and  trained  there  ;  amongst  these  we  may 
name  Fenghan  and  Shaohsing. 

"  The  most  celebrated  place,  however,  is  a  small  town  called  Tanghsichen,  fifty  li 
northwest  of  Hangchow,  the  people  of  which  are  currently  believed  to  possess  a  secret 
in  cormorant-rearing  which  gives  them  special  success. 

"  The  cormorant's  book  name  is  Lu  tzu,  and  the  common  name  is  Yu  ying  ('  fish- 
hawk'),  or  Yaya(-  fish-crow'). 
"  The  females  lay  early  from 
three  to  nine  eggs,  in  the  first 
and  eighth  moons.  The  color 
of  the  eggs  is  green,  but  it  is 
much  covered  with  white 
chalk;  their  size  is  that  of 
ducks'  eggs.  The  white  inside 
is  slightly  green,  and  the  eggs 
are  never  eaten  on  account  of 
their  strong  flavor. 

"The  eggs  of  the  first  sea- 
son (first  moon)  are  the  only 
ones  retained  for  hatching. 
Towai'ds  the  beginning  of  the 
second  moon  they  are  given 
to  the  hens  to  hatch,  as  the 
female  cormorant  is  a  careless 
mother.  The  young  break 
their  shell  after  a  month's 
incubation.  When  new-born 
they  cannot  stand  on  their 
legs,  and  are  very  sensitive  to 
cold.  They  are  therefore  taken 
away  from  the  hen,  placed  in 
baskets  filled  with  cotton  wool, 
and  kept  in  a  warm  place. 
The  eggs  of  the  second  season 
are  not  used,  the  weather  be- 
ing too  cold ;  they  are  given  away  to  children  and  beggars. 

"  The  young  birds  are  at  first  fed  with  a  mixture,  in  equal  parts,  of  beancurd  and 
raw  eel's  flesh  cut  fine.  If  eels  are  not  procurable,  the  flesh  of  the  Hei  yii  (Ophio- 
cephalus  niger)  is  used  instead,  in  the  form  of  small  pills.  At  the  end  of  a  month 
the  down  begins  to  be  covered  by  the  larger  feathers,  and  the  quantity  of  fish-flesh 
given  to  them  is  increased,  while  that  of  beancurd  is  reduced.  A  second  month 
elapses,  and  the  young  birds,  having  grown  to  double  their  original  size,  are  fit  for  the 
market ;  a  male  fetches  $1  or  $2,  and  a  female  half  as  much. 

"  The  birds  are  now  fed  with  young  fish  thrown  to  them.  When  they  have 
attained  their  full  size,  a  string  is  tied  to  one  leg,  the  other  end  of  it  being  fastened  to 


FIG.  92.  —  Phalacrocorax  perspicillatus,  Pallas'  cormorant. 


PELICANS.  193 

the  bank  of  a  pond  or  canal.  They  are  then  made  to  go  into  the  water,  the  trainer 
whistling  a  peculiar  call  and  using  a  bamboo  to  force  them.  Small  fish  are  thrown  to 
them,  upon  which  they  pounce  greedily,  as  they  have  been  kept  on  short  allowance 
of  food.  They  are  now  called  back  by  a  different  whistle-call,  and  forced  to  obey  by 
means  of  the  string ;  as  they  reach  the  shore  more  fish  is  given  them.  This  teaching 
having  been  gone  through  daily  for  a  month,  another  four  or  five  weeks  are  spent  in 
training  the  birds  from  a  boat;  at  the  end  of  this  period  the  string  is  generally  dis- 
pensed with.  When  old  and  well-trained  cormorants  are  made  to  accompany  the 
young  ones,  the  time  required  in  training  is  reduced  to  one  half.  Birds  not  properly 
trained  after  all  the  trouble  thus  taken  are  pixmounced  stupid  and  not  fit  for  use. 

"  The  teaching  being  completed,  the  cormorants  are  fed  sparingly  every  morning 
with  fish.  A  small  ring  of  hemp  is  tied  around  their  necks  to  prevent  them  swallow- 
ing large  fish,  and  they  are  taken  on  board  the  small  punt  called  '  cormorant-boat,'  to 
the  number  of  ten  or  twelve.  They  are  now  as  docile  as  dogs,  and  sit  perched  on  the 
side  of  the  boat  until  they  are  sent  into  the  water  by  a  mere  whistle  from  their 
master.  They  dive  after  fish,  and  bring  their  prizes  to  the  boat,  firmly  held  in  their 
hooked  beaks.  When  a  fish  is  too  large  for  one  bird,  three  or  more  join  their  forces 
and  capture  it  together.  Sometimes  the  fisherman  signals  them  to  dive  by  striking 
the  water  with  a  long  bamboo.  If  any  cormorant  is  inclined  to  be  disobedient,  his 
legs  are  connected  by  a  short  piece  of  string ;  this  forms  a  loop,  by  which  the  bird 
may  at  any  moment  be  brought  on  board,  nolens  volens,  with  a  long  bamboo  hook. 

"After  fishing  two  or  three  hours  the  birds  are  allowed  to  come  on  board  and  rest. 
At  the  end  of  the  day  the  hempen  ring  is  loosened  or  removed  altogether,  and  they  are 
either  allowed  to  fish  for  themselves,  or  are  fed  by  the  hand  of  their  master.  Seizing 
the  birds  one  after  another  by  the  upper  mandible,  the  fisherman  thrusts  into  their 
throats  a  handful  of  small  fish  and  a  ball  of  beancurd  as  large  as  his  fist,  the  ingurgi- 
tation  of  which  he  helps  with  the  other  hand  by  stroking  the  neck  of  the  bird,  who 
seems  to  enjoy  it,  as  he  promptly  returns  for  a  second  supply.  The  entire  scene  is 
most  ludicrous.  At  night  the  birds  are  brought  home  and  caged.  A  cormorant 
holds  out  for  five  years,  at  the  end  of  which  time  these  birds  lose  their  feathers  and 
soon  after  die.  The  females,  being  weaker  than  the  males,  only  catch  small  fish, 
hence  their  lower  value.  Very  good  birds  reach  a  value  of  Fls.  10  a  pair,  a  well- 
trained  male  being  worth  $6  or  $7.  The  females  lay  when  one  year  old." 

No  one  who  is  familiar  with  the  look  of  the  cormorant  can  fail  to  appreciate  the  gen- 
eral resemblance  of  the  darter  as  this  bird  is  depicted  in  the  accompanying  cut,  not  only 
in  the  way  it  sits  up,  but  also  in  several  features  of  form  and  structure.  On  the  whole  it 
makes  the  impression  of  an  exaggerated  cormorant.  The  small  head  is  still  smaller,  the 
neck  still  longer  and  narrower,  the  'kink'  still  more  angular,  the  tail  still  more  elon- 
gated. The  bill  is  more  after  the  fashion  of  a  heron  than  a  cormorant,  being  straight, 
compressed,  pointed,  without  nail,  lateral  groove,  but  serrated  along  the  cutting  edges. 
However,  were  it  not  for  the  many  important  anatomical  features,  the  ANHINGID^E  would 
have  to  be  merged  into  the  family  of  the  cormorants.  Having  several  times  alluded  to 
the  osteological  characters  of  the  darters,  the  only  thing  to  be  mentioned  here  is,  that 
the  occipital  style  in  Anhinga  (or  Plotus)  anhinya  is  considerably  smaller  than  in  the 
cormorants,  while  in  A.  levaillanti  the  medium  raphe  separating  the  temporal  muscles 
back  of  the  skull  is  only  fibrous,  and  not  ossified,  even  in  adult  specimens,  thus  clearly 
indicating  the  nature  and  origin  of  that  bone.  The  muscular  arrangement  in  the  neck 
is  very  peculiar  on  account  of  the  excessive  development  of  the  long  neck-muscles  in 
VOL.  iv.  — 13 


194 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


their  lower  almost  inter-thoracic  portion,  and  their  sudden  concentration  into  the  lono- 
and  thin  tendons  which  run  up  the  neck.  The  kink  of  the  neck  makes  necessary  a 
special  arrangement  to  prevent  the  tendon  which  runs  along  the  posterior  surface  of 
the  neck  from  breaking  away  from  the  vertebral  column  when  the  muscle  with  which 
it  is  associated  contracts,  and  therefore  a  sling-band  is  found  attached  to  the  ninth 
vertebra,  through  which  the  tendon  passes,  acting  exactly  in  the  same  way  as  the 
well-known  sling-band  in  the  knee  region. 


FIG.  93.  —  Anhinga  levaillanti,  African  darter. 

The  alimentary  canal  of  the  darters  is  extremely  peculiar,  and  has  partly  been 
described  in  the  introduction  to  this  volume  (p.  15).  We  may  here  add  that  the 
African  species  has  two  small  caeca,  while  the  American  has  only  one.  In  both  the 
tongue  is  obsolete  as  an  independent  organ.  It  is  very  small  in  all  Steganopods,  but 
in  the  others  it  is  free  at  its  anterior  extremity,  which  is  not  the  case  in  the  darters, 
the  tongue  of  which  is  only  indicated  by  a  longitudinal  groove  and  a  slight  transverse 
ridge  behind. 


DARTERS.  195 

The  darters  have  only  one  carotid,  though  this  character  is  not  peculiar  j  for  while 
nearly  all  the  other  Steganopods  have  two,  there  is  only  one  in  two  species  of  pelican 
and  one  gannet. 

The  pterylosis  of  the  darter  is  veiy  peculiar,  and  Nitzsch  compares  it  with  that  of 
the  penguins,  Inasmuch  as  the  contour-feathers,  which  are  small  and  soft,  cover  the 
body  nearly  uniformly,  all  spaces  being  wanting  except  the  lateral  spaces  of  the  trunk 
and  a  narrow  inferior  space. 

Four  very  distinct  species,  although  of  very  similar  appearance,  are  known,  all 
from  the  tropics  or  warmer  temperate  regions.  One  is  American,  one  from  India  and 
southeastern  Asia,  one  from  Australia,  and  one  from  Africa,  a  distribution  of  the  same 
category  as  that  of  the  Heliornithida?,  Jacanida?,  Rostratula,  etc. 

In  the  following  notes  on  the  habits  of  the  American  species,  by  Dr.  Brewer,  are 
found  the  explanations  of  the  two  common  names  by  which  the  bird  is  known, 
namely,  'darter,'  and  'snake-bird,'  the  South  American  '•Anhingaj  of  Portuguese 
origin,  having  the  same  meaning  as  the  latter.  Dr.  Brewer  says  :  "  It  lives  principally 
upon  fish,  which  it  seizes  by  rapidly  darting  upon  them  with  its  sharply-pointed  and 
slightly-toothed  beak.  In  this  movement  its  neck,  which  is  very  long,  is  thrust  for- 
ward with  the  force  of  a  spring,  aided  by  the  muscles  that  are  large  and  well  devel- 
oped in  the  lower  and  anterior  portion  of  the  neck.  This  is  said  to  be  the  very  first 
among  fresh-water  divers,  disappearing  beneath  the  surface  with  the  quickness  of 
thought,  leaving  scarcely  a  ripple  on  the  spot,  and  reappearing,  perhaps,  with  its  head 
only  above  the  water  for  a  moment,  at  a  place  several  hundred  yards  distant.  If  hit, 
and  only  wounded,  this  bird  readily  baffles  all  the  endeavors  of  the  sportsman  to 
secure  it.  When  swimming,  and  unmolested,  it  is  buoyant,  and  moves  with  its  whole 
body  above  the  water ;  but  when  in  danger  it  sinks  its  body,  leaving  only  the  head 
and  neck  out  of  the  water,  presenting  the  appearance  of  a  portion  of  a  large  snake." 

Dr.  Jerdon's  account  of  the  Indian  species  (A.  melanogaster)  indicates  a  cormo- 
rant-like feature  in  the  habits  of  the  darter  well  worth  mentioning.  He  says  that  they 
hunt  singly  in  general,  or  in  scattered  parties,  but  often  roost  in  company,  both  at 
night  and  in  the  middle  of  the  day,  when  numbers  may  be  seen  perched  on  the  trees 
overhanging  some  tank  or  river.  After  feeding  for  some  time,  they  perch  on  the 
boughs  of  a  tree,  or  on  a  pole  or  stone,  and  spread  their  wings  out  to  dry,  as  the 
cormorants  do. 

The  darters,  like  the  cormorants,  lay  four  eggs,  —  light  blue,  with  a  white  chalky 
covering ;  in  fact,  typical  cormorant  eggs,  and  greatly  different  from  the  single  egg  of 
the  tropic-bird,  which  seems  to  resemble  the  eggs  of  the  petrels. 

LEONHAKD  STEJNEGER. 


196  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


ORDER  XI.  —  OPISTHOCOMI. 

The  extraordinary  bird,  Opisthocomus  cristatus,  which  is  the  sole  species  of  the 
family  OPISTHOCOMID^E,  has  been  for  a  long  time  a  complete  puzzle  to  naturalists,  as 
it  seemed  to  combine  within  itself  characters  of  so  many  groups,  that  it  was  almost 
impossible  to  decide  where  it  should  be  referred,  and  therefore  by  various  writers  it 
has  been  assigned  from  one  family  to  another,  until  there  appeared  to  be  no  resting- 
place  for  it  anywhere.  Of  late  years,  however,  several  entire  specimens  having  been 
obtained  preserved  in  spirits,  its  myological  and  osteological  structures  have  been 
thoroughly  studied  by  several  fully  competent  naturalists,  and  the  general  verdict  is, 
that,  while  allied  to  several,  it  belongs  to  none  of  the  other  groups  of  birds,  but  consti- 
tutes a  distinct  order  and  family,  of  which  it  is  the  only  known  representative.  Out- 
wardly it  is  not  an  ungraceful  looking  bird ;  having  the  upper  part  of  the  body  dark 
brown,  with  a  white  streak  upon  the  feathers  of  the  hind  part  of  the  neck ;  head  cov- 
ered with  a  long  loose  crest,  and  a  bare  skin  around  the  eye.  Two  white  bars  cross 
the  wing,  formed  of  the  tips  of  the  wing  coverts.  Throat  and  breast  deep  fawn,  belly 
and  crissum  rufous.  Tail  long  and  colored  like  the  back,  the  feathers  tipped  with 
brownish  white.  Its  pterylosis,  or  feather-tracts,  presents,  among  others,  some  of  the 
following  characteristics :  There  are  no  lateral  neck-spaces.  The  inferior  tract 
beginning  at  the  bottom  of  the  neck  runs  in  two  broad  bands  to  the  keel  of  the  ster- 
num, where  they  narrow,  and  pass  on  —  growing  gradually  narrower  —  to  the  anus, 
terminating  in  only  two  feathers  in  width.  The  dorsal  tract  divides  between  the 
shoulders  into  two  limbs,  and  becomes  broader  from  the  caudal  pit  onwards,  enclosing 
the  oil  gland,  which  has  a  circlet  of  feathers  at  the  tip.  The  skeleton  has  many  pecu- 
liarities, among  which  the  following  may  be  mentioned :  The  antepenultimate  dorsal 
vertebra  is  free ;  the  six  or  seven  hindermost  cervical  vei'tebras  only  have  very  weak 
median  inferior  crests,  and  the  inferior  faces  of  the  centra  of  the  dorsal  vertebra  are 
flattened  and  without  crests.  The  sternum  is  unique,  the  lateral  edges  are  nearly 
parallel  for  two  thirds  its  length,  then  diverge  so  that  it  is  wider  posteriorly  than  an- 
teriorly. The  posterior  edge  has  two  notches  on  either  side,  the  outer  pair  possibly 
foramina,  the  inner  pair  deeper,  but  not  extending  a  sixth  of  the  sternum's  length. 
The  keel  is  very  small  and  cut  away  in  front,  and  has  a  prominent  tubercle  at  its 
distal  extremity  (carina  sterni),  with  a  somewhat  flattened  surface,  and  separating  the 
fibres  of  the  pectoral  muscles  at  this  point.  This  expansion  of  the  sternum  is  covered 
by  the  bare  skin,  and  can  be  readily  seen  when  the  bird  is  picked.  The  sternal  ribs 
are  attached  to  the  anterior  half  of  the  lateral  margin.  The  coracoids  are  anchylosed 
with  the  clavicles ;  the  f urcula  is  very  short,  and  it  is  so  completely  anchylosed  with 
the  coracoids  as  to  leave  no  trace  of  their  distinctness ;  and  inferiorly  the  straight 
hypocleidium  is  completely  anchylosed  with  the  manubrium.  The  pelvis  is  without 
any  ilio-pectineal  process,  and  the  ilio-sacral  fossas  are  completely  roofed  by  bone. 
The  skull  has  no  basipterygoid  processes ;  the  vomer  is  slender  and  compressed,  and 
the  maxillo-palatines  are  ill-developed.  The  transverse  hinge  of  the  rostrum  lies 
behind  the  lachrymals,  which  are  coalesced  with  the  nasals  and  form  part  of  the 
rostrum.  The  crop  is  enormous,  occupying  all  the  upper  part  of  the  chest,  and  by  its 
great  size,  distorts  the  furcula  and  sternum,  and  entirely  conceals  the  superior  and 
anterior  halves  of  the  pectoral  muscles,  and,  when  it  is  removed,  the  upper  halves  of 
the  pectorals  are  seen  to  form  a  deep  cavity  in  which  the  crop  is  placed.  The  above 


GALLINM.  197 

somewhat  technical  description  is  rendered  necessary  from  the  very  peculiar  position 
this  species  assumes  among  birds,  and  although  it  may  be  deemed  '  dry  reading '  it  may 
be  permitted  in  view  of  the  explanation  needed  why  the  hoatzin,  as  it  is  called, 
should  constitute  an  order  by  itself.  Not  much  is  known  of  the  economy  and  habits 
of  this  species.  It  is  a  native  of  Guiana  and  the  country  watered  by  the  Amazon.  It 
abounds  on  the  low  shores  of  that  river,  and  about  the  lakes,  goes  in  small  flocks  of 
from  ten  to  twenty  individuals,  and  feeds  on  the  leaves  of  the  Arum  arboreum,  which 
give  to  it  a  very  disagreeable  odor.  Its  flight  is  slow  and  heavy,  and  it  is  not  seen  on 
the  ground  nor  on  high  trees,  but  remains  upon  the  branches  of  the  arum.  The 
nest  is  composed  of  sticks  loosely  laid  together,  and  placed  on  low  bushes  near  water. 
On  April  14, 1884,  Mr.  E.  A.  Brigham,  in  a  paper  read  before  the  Chicago  Academy 
of  Sciences,  gave  an  account  of  a  remarkable  discovery  made  by  him  regarding  this 
curious  bird,  which  would  seem  to  show  that,  for  a  period  after  issuing  from  the  egg^ 
it  might  be  considered  as  almost  belonging  to  the  quadrupeds.  The  following  ex- 
tract contains  the  pith  of  his  announcement.  "  While  making  embryological  studies  in 
the  interior  of  the  great  island  of  Marajo,  on  the  small  river  Anabiju,  I  discovered 
the  quadruped  bird.  After  examining  many  specimens  of  various  ages,  I  found  that 
from  what  corresponds  to  about  the  embryonic  state  of  development  of  the  common 
fowl  at  the  tenth  day  of  incubation,  the  fore  feet  showed  their  characters  unmistak- 
ably throughout  their  egg-development,  and  to  a  period  of  several  days  after  hatching 
the  fore  feet,  toes,  and  claws  held  their  characters  as  such,  as  unmistakably  as  those 
parts  of  the  posterior  members.  Later  a  progressive  modification  manifested  itself  by 
reducing  the  digits,  exfoliating  the  claws,  and  developing  these  anterior  members  into 
those  characteristic  of  a  bird.  There  is,  among  the  higher  vertebrate  animals  so  far 
as  I  know,  no  other  example  of  post-natal  metamorphosis  in  such  fundamental  organs 
to  anything  like  this  extent.  The  law  enunciated  by  Von  Baer  —  that  the  phyloge- 
netic  development  is  represented  in  the  ontogenetic  —  has  a  wide  expression  here. 
An  important  ancestral  feature  is  persistent  beyond  the  egg  or  parental  development. 
The  animal,  progressing  in  its  embryonic  course,  passes  into  its  reptilian  ancestral  type, 
and  before  its  evolution  has  carried  it  through  this,  its  reptilian  phase,  it  emerges 
from  the  egg.  Thus  from  an  egg  laid  by  a  two-footed,  two-winged  bird  hatches  a 
quadruped  animal.  For  several  days  after  hatching  it  retains  its  quadruped  charac- 
acter,  then,  in  the  open  air  and  sinMight,  one  pair  of  legs  evolves  into  wings.  Front 
legs  are  purposeless  in  a  bird."  A  confirmation  of  these  statements  is  greatly  to  be 
desired. 

ORDER  XII.  —  GALLING. 

This  great  division  of  the  class  Aves,  sometimes  designated  as  Rasores,  from  the 
habit  indulged  in  by  its  members  of  scratching  the  earth  when  searching  for  food,  is 
composed  of  two  sub-orders  and  four  families,  viz.,  Tetraonidas,  Phasianidoe,  Megapodi- 
dae,  and  Cracidae,  containing  among  them  between  three  and  four  hundred  species. 
The  sub-orders  are  called  respectively  the  Alectoropodous  Gallinaa,  those  having  feet 
like  a  fowl,  containing  the  first  two  families,  and  the  Peristeropodous  Gallinae,  or 
those  with  feet  like  a  pigeon,  which  includes  the  last  two  families.  The  two  sub- 
orders compose  the  group  known  to  naturalists  as  Alectoromorpha?. 

The  order  Gallinaa  contains  within  it  those  species  of  birds  which  are  most  impor- 
tant and  valuable  to  mankind,  affording  food  to  multitudes  of  people,  and  which  are 


198  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

the  source  of  all  the  domesticated  poultry  throughout  the  world.  As  a  general  rule, 
they  are  birds  with  stout  legs  and  feet,  rather  small  heads  with  curved  bills,  the  nostrils 
placed  in  a  membrane  covered  by  a  scale,  moderately  long  necks,  and  heavy  bodies 
with  short, rounded  wings.  The  tarsi  of  the  males  are  frequently  armed  with  one  or 
more  spurs,  and  in  some  species  this  weapon  is  present  on  the  legs  of  the  female  also. 
In  the  pigeon-footed  families  the  hind  toe,  or  hallux,  is  on  the  same  plane  as  the  three 
others,  which  are  directed  forwards ;  but  the  fowl-footed  have  the  hallux  usually  very 
small  and  raised,  sometimes  barely  touching  the  ground.  The  sternum  has  a  double 
bifurcation  on  each  side,  the  fissures  wide  and  deep,  and  provides  but  little  space  for 
the  attachment  of  the  pectoi'al  muscles.  These  last  are,  however,  well  developed, 
giving  the  plump  appearance  characteristic  of  these  birds.  The  tail  is  frequently 
short,  of  various  shapes, -but  in  the  Phasianidae  it  is  sometimes  lengthened  to  an  extra- 
ordinary degree.  The  flight  is  labored,  but  rapid,  and  not  often  extended  to  any  con- 
siderable distance.  The  oesophagus  is  dilated  and  forms  what  is  called  the  crop, 
which  receives  and  moistens  the  food.  The  gizzard  is  very  strong,  having  a  thick  and 
hard  interior  wall,  and,  in  order  to  assist  in  grinding  the  food,  the  birds  are  accustomed 
to  swallow  small  stones,  etc.  The  caeca  are  frequently  highly  developed.  The  spe- 
cies of  this  order  lay  numerous  eggs,  and  the  young  are  at  first  covered  with  down, 
and  are  able  to  run  and  feed  from  the  moment  of  birth. 


SUB-ORDER  I.  —  GALLINJE  ALECTOROPODES. 

The  family  TETRAONID.E  is  composed  of  the  quails,  partridges,  and  grouse,  and  is 
represented  in  almost  every  part  of  the  world.  It  has  been  divided  by  naturalists 
into  various  sub-families,  but  three  would  seem  to  be  sufficient  for  all  the  species. 
These  are  Perdicinae,  Odontophorinae,  and  Tetraoninae.  They  differ  very  considerably 
from  each  other.  The  first  is  a  very  extensive  group,  comprising  among  its  species 
the  smallest  met  with  among  the  Galling.  It  is  exclusively  an  Old  World  group,  no 
representative  having  been  obtained  in  the  western  hemisphere.  The  Odontophorinae, 
on  the  other  hand,  are  only  found  in  the  New  World,  and  are  known  as  the  American 
partridges,  differing  from  those  of  the  eastern  hemisphere,  among  other  characters,  by 
having  the  mandible  notched  on  either  side.  The  members  of  the  third  sub-family, 
Tetraoninae,  are  inhabitants  of  both  hemispheres,  one  species  being  found  through  the 
Arctic  regions  of  the  world.  They  are  large  birds,  distinguished  from  the  rest  of 
the  family  by  having  the  legs  and  feet  densely  feathered ;  in  one  genus,  however, 
(Bonasa)  the  feathers  extend  only  to  the  knee.  They  have  heavy,  plump  bodies,  with 
short  tails,  and  generally  a  plumage  of  contrasting  colors  suitable  for  concealing  them 
among  the  herbage  in  which  they  dwell. 

Of  the  Perdicinae,  the  genus  Coturinx  has  representatives  in  most  of  the  countries 
of  the  Old  World,  the  familiar  C.  communis,  or  migratory-quail,  being  its  best  known 
species.  This  little  bird  travels  in  great  bodies,  mainly  at  night,  from  its  winter 
homes,  generally  in  the  southern  portions  of  its  habitats,  to  the  localities  selected  for 
its  breeding-places,  returning  again,  as  the  seasons  revolve,  to  Avarmer  climes.  It  feeds 
mainly  on  grass,  seeds,  grain,  and  insects  of  various  kinds,  and  is  rarely  seen  save 
when  flushed  by  man  or  dog.  During  its  migrations,  great  bodies  of  water,  like  the 
Mediterranean,  are  crossed,  and  sometimes,  after  such  long  flights,  the  birds  become 
so  exhausted  as  to  permit  themselves  to  be  picked  up  by  the  hand  on  first  reaching 


Turnix  sylvatica,  torillo. 


Coturnix  comnmnis,  migrating  ([ii.iil. 


QUAILS. 


199 


the  land.  The  female  lays  from  eight  to  twelve  eggs.  About  six  species  are  gener- 
ally included  by  ornithologists  in  this  genus;  one,  C.  delegoryuei,  from  Africa; 
C.  coromandelica,  from  India,  known  as  the  rain-quail ;  C. pectoralis,  from  Australia; 
C.  novce-zelandioB)  as  its  name  implies,  from  New  Zealand ;  C.  caineana,  from  China, 
and  C.  communis.  They  are  all  similar  in  size  and  appearance,  and  a  description  of 
the  habits  of  one  species  would  practically  answer  for  all. 

Australia  possesses  a  genus  of  quails  peculiar  to  itself, —  Synoicus,  —  containing 
four  species.  They  vary  in  length  from  six  and  one  half  to  eight  and  one  half  inches ; 
of  a  dark-brown  color  on  the  back,  transversely  barred  with  gray,  black,  and  chestnut; 
the  under  surface  grayish-buff  or  gray,  with  black  zig-zag  markings.  These,  like  the 
species  of  quail  generally,  migrate  but  slightly,  if  at  all,  and  keep  in  coveys,  flying  but 
a  short  distance  after  being  flushed. 


FIG.  94. —  Rollulus  roitlroul,  red-crested  wood-quails. 

The  bush-quails  are  contained  in  the  genera  Perdicula,  Ophrysia,  and  Microperdix, 
represented  by  about  six  species.  They  are  distributed  throughout  various  portions 
of  India  in  the  thick  jungles  and  bushy  tracts,  keeping  in  coveys  usually  of  from  six 
to  ten  individuals,  lie  very  close,  and  fly  but  a  short  distance  when  disturbed,  and  live 
from  the  level  of  the  sea  to  eight  thousand  feet  of  elevation.  One  species,  Perdicula 
raaltenii,  appears  to  be  restricted  to  the  island  of  Timor. 

The  painted-quails  are  a  group  of  very  small  birds  (one  species,  E.  minima,  from 
Celebes,  being  the  smallest  game-bird  known),  and  have  been  gathered  together  into 
a  separate  genus,  —  Excalf actor  ia.  They  are  very  pretty  birds,  the  sexes  being  quite 
dissimilar  in  plumage,  and  are  residents  of  various  parts  of  India,  Malay  Peninsula, 
Ceylon,  China,  Celebes,  Philippines,  Australia,  New  Guinea,  the  Duke  of  York  Islands, 
and  west  Africa.  The  best  known,  E.  chinensis,  the  blue-breasted  quail,  is  an 


200  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

extremely  pretty  species,  the  male  being  olive-brown  above,  barred  with  black ;  fore- 
head, lores,  cheeks,  ear-coverts,  and  breast  dark  purple-gray ;  chin  and  throat  black, 
enclosing  from  the  base  of  the  mandible  a  white  triangular  patch ;  lower  part  of  throat 
white  edged  with  black ;  middle  of  abdomen,  vent,  and  under  tail-coverts  deep  chest- 
nut; bill  black,  legs  bright  yellow,  length  about  five  inches.  The  female  has  a 
whitish  chin  with  a  rufous  throat,  the  upper  plumage  generally  dark  brown  and  black 
with  buff  stripes  on  each  feather,  lower  parts  buff,  with  black  cross-bars  on  the  flanks. 
Hume  says  in  India  they  are  found  singly  or  in  pairs,  and  not  in  coveys,  except  just 
after  the  breeding  season,  when  the  old  birds  and  their  young  are  together.  Swampy 
grass  lands  or  meadows  are  their  chief  haunts ;  they  fly  swiftly  and  straight  for  about 
seventy  yards,  and  not  more  than  a  foot  above  the  tops  of  the  grass.  They  feed  on 
grass  seeds,  lay  about  six  olive  brown  eggs  speckled  with  reddish  brown,  and  probably 
breed  twice  a  year. 

The  genus  Rolluhis  contains  but  two  species,  inhabiting  Malacca,  Sumatra,  and 
Borneo,  one,  R.  roulroul,  penetrating  into  southern  Tenasserim.  Some  ornithologists 
divide  the  species  into  distinct  genera,  placing  R.  niger  in  the  genus  Melanoperdix. 
The  red-crested  wood-quail,  as  the  R.  roulroid  is  called,  is  a  very  beautiful  species 
with  a  rich  green  plumage,  and  a  long,  red,  hairy  crest  upon  the  back  part  of  the  head 
It  is  a  forest-loving  bird,  ranging  from  the  sea-level  to  a  height  of  about  four  thousand 
feet,  goes  in  small  flocks  of  seven  or  eight  individuals,  lives  on  seeds,  berries,  insects, 
etc.,  and  rarely  comes  into  the  open  country.  It  is  quick  in  its  movements,  and  has  a 
soft,  mellow  whistle.  The  female  has  a  lighter  colored  plumage,  and  is  without  the 
red  crest.  This  species  is  noted  for  having  the  hind  claw  almost  obsolete.  A  very 
beautiful  bird  allied  to  the  last  and  called  Hcematortyx  sangmniceps,  is  also  a  native 
of  Borneo.  The  general  color  is  dark  brown,  with  the  top  of  the  head,  crest,  and  face 
crimson,  throat,  neck,  and  breast  deep  chestnut,  under  tail-coverts  black,  lengthened 
ones  crimson. 

With  the  genus  Perdix  commences  the  true  partridges,  of  which  P.  cinerea,  the 
gray-partridge  of  Europe,  is  the  most  familiarly  known.  Five  species  may  be  included 
in  Perdix, 'viz.,  the  one  mentioned,  P.  barbata  of  eastern  Asia,  P.  robusta,  Altai 
mountains,  P.  hodgsonice,  Thibet  (sometimes  placed  in  the  genus  Sacfa),  and  P.  mada- 
gascariensis,  of  Madagascar,  by  some  placed  in  the  genus  Magaroperdix.  These  are 
all  fine  large  birds,  affording  sport  and  food  to  many  people.  The  sexes  are  very 
much  alike  in  plumage.  The  gray-partridge  would  be  a  valuable  addition  to  the  game 
birds  of  any  land.  The  female  lays  from  eight  to  twenty-four  eggs,  the  flesh  is  plump 
and  well  flavored,  and  the  bird  is  not  of  a  particularly  delicate  constitution.  Some- 
times, when  food  is  scarce,  this  species  will  leave  a  district  it  has  been  frequenting,  and 
pack  in  flocks  of  a  hundred  or  more,  as  the  pinnated  grouse  are  in  the  habit  of  doing, 
and  then  the  birds  are  very  wild  and  difficult  of  approach.  The  flight  of  the  gray 
partridge  is  swift  and  sometimes  protracted,  and  it  rises  with  a  loud  whirring  sound. 
The  Thibetan  partridge,  P.  hodgsonice,  apparently  is  accustomed  to  live  at  great  eleva- 
tions (it  having  been  met  with  at  a  height  varying  from  sixteen  to  eighteen  thousand 
feet),  on  desolate  ground  having  no  grass  nor  bushes,  but  only  patches  of  mossy  herb- 
age. Yet  at  this  great  height  a  nest  and  eggs  were  discovered ;  the  nest  a  mere 
indentation  in  the  ground,  the  eggs  pale  drab  in  color,  tinged  with  reddish  brown  at 
the  ends,  and  ten  to  fifteen  in  number.  Two  very  pretty  species  of  a  general  rich 
buff-brown  color,  with  gray  crowns  and  cheeks ;  forehead  and  line  over  the  eye  black, 
and  breasts  vinous  fawn,  have  been  placed  in  the  genus  Ammoperdix.  They  frequent 


PARTRIDGES. 


201 


rocky  ground  and  ravines,  are  very  gentle,  and  feed  on  seeds  and  such  herbage  as 
grows  in  the  localities  they  inhabit.  One  species,  A.  bonhami,  is  found  in  India, 
Afghanistan,  Persia,  and  Beluchistan,  while  the  other,  A.  heyi,  is  a  native  of  western 
Arabia,  the  Sinaitic  Peninsula,  Egypt,  Nubia,  and  Palestine.  A  partridge  from  west 
Africa,  of  a  general  earthen-brown  plumage,  closely  allied  to  the  birds  of  the  genera 
Perdix  and  Ammoperdix,  has  been  separated  by  Swainson  as  a  sub-genus,  and  called 
Ptilopachus  ventralis.  The  two  lateral  toes  are  nearly  equal  in  length ;  the  tail  is 
much  developed,  and  the  nostrils  occupy  almost  one  half  the  length  of  the  mandible. 
The  shafts  of  the  feathers  on  the  back  and  rump  are  thickened  as  in  the  pigeons. 
The  single  species  is  the  only  representative  of  the  genus. 


u 


FIG.  U5. —  Caccabis  rubra,  red-legged  partridge. 

Thirteen  or  fourteen  species  are  included  in  the  genus  Aborophila,  or  hill-par- 
tridges, the  greater  portion  (nine)  being  found  in  India  and  Burmah  and  the  Malay 
Peninsula,  two  are  found  in  Java,  one  in  Sumatra,  one  in  the  island  of  Formosa,  and 
one  in  the  Philippines.  They  are  forest-loving  birds,  live  in  mountainous  districts  in 
the  densest  thickets,  go  in  coveys,  and  have  a  whistling  call.  The  sexes  differ  slightly 
in  plumage.  The  Formosan  bird  has  been  separated  under  the  generic  title,  Oreo- 
perdix,  and  has  a  bare,  bright-red  throat  in  the  breeding  season. 

The  red-legged  partridges,  together  with  the  species  of  Ammoperdix^  have  been  con- 
sidered by  some  writers  as  worthy  of  constituting  a  sub-family  of  the  Perdicidae,  but 
while  perhaps  not  quite  entitled  to  that  distinction,  they  do  nevertheless  form  a  well- 
marked  group.  The  species  have  a  wide  range  and  are  spread  over  temperate  Europe, 


202  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

western  and  central  Asia,  Madeira,  the  Canary  Islands,  and  A9ores.  The  genus  Cac- 
cabis  contains  about  six  species,  with  an  unraottled  plumage,  with  bright-colored 
bands  on  the  flanks,  and  a  general  ashy  and  buff  coloring,  admirably  adapted  to  con- 
ceal the  birds  in  the  rocky  grounds  they  frequent.  As  a  rule  they  are  not  very  good 
eating,  being  dry  and  not  very  tender,  although  the  young,  when  kept  for  a  time  and 
properly  cooked,  are  said  to  be  very  good.  They  are  extremely  pugnacious,  and  it  is 
stated  that  in  former  ages  they  were  kept  tame  for  fighting,  as  game-cocks  were,  and 
that  the  Emperor  Alexander  Severus  was  very  fond  of  this  sport.  They  are  hardy 
birds,  braving  extremes  of  heat  and  cold,  and  in  Persia  are  found  in  the  Elburz  moun- 
tains, at  10,000  feet  elevation.  They  do  not  lie  well  to  the  dog,  but  run  swiftly,  and 
take  flight  when  out  of  range  of  the  gun,  and  consequently  are  not  favorites  with  sports- 
men. In  fact,  as  game-birds,  they  have  little  to  recommend  them  beside  their  hand- 
some appearance.  The  nest  is  merely  a  hole  scratched  in  the  ground,  and  the  number 
of  eggs  varies  from  nine  to  as  many  as  twenty-four.  The  red-legs  are  noisy  birds, 
calling  mostly  in  the  morning  and  evening ;  and  when  a  covey  is  scattered,  each  indi- 
vidual, says  Hume,  proclaims  his  own  and  inquires  his  fellows'  whereabouts.  The 
tone  varies.  First  he  says,  "  I  'm  here,"  then  he  asks  "  Who 's  dead  ?  "  and  when  he 
is  informed  of  the  decease  of  some  favorite  relative,  or  perhaps  his  eldest  son,  he  re- 
sponds, "  Oh  lor !  oh  lor ! "  in  quite  a  mournful  tone.  The  various  species  feed  on 
grain,  seeds,  insects,  caterpillars,  etc.,  and  also  on  tender  shoots. 

The  splendid  birds  known  by  the  trivial  name  of  snow-cocks  or  snow-pheasants, 
are  dwellers,  as  their  name  implies,  of  high  elevations  on  the  gigantic  mountains  of  the 
Himmalehs,  and  of  the  Altai,  also  in  the  Caucasus  range.  They  are  met  with  in  Asia 
Minor,  Armenia,  Kurdistan,  and  Persia,  while  one  species,  the  S.  thibetanus,  is  found 
not  only  in  Thibet  proper,  but  also  in  the  mountains  of  western  China.  They  range 
at  from  6  to  18,000  feet  in  elevation,  descending  to  the  lower  heights  in  winter  after 
heavy  snow.  They  are  large  birds  and  extremely  shy,  go  in  packs  occasionally  of 
twenty  to  thirty  individuals,  though  five  to  ten  is  the  more  usual  number.  In  summer 
generally  but  a  pair  are  found  together.  When  feeding,  a  sentinel  is  always  posted 
on  some  commanding  spot  to  give  notice  of  any  danger,  and  as  they  resort  to  the 
rocks  and  never  enter  forest  or  long  grass,  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  approach  them 
or  take  them  unawares.  They  breed  early  in  the  spring,  and  the  young  are  very  skil- 
ful in  hiding  among  the  stones.  The  number  of  eggs  laid  is  from  six  to  nine,  of  pale 
olive  color,  with  light  or  dark  red  spots.  The  nests  are  hollows  scraped  in  the  earth, 
and  lined  with  grass  and  a  few  feathers  or  green  fir-needles.  The  sexes  differ  slightly 
in  plumage,  mainly  about  the  head  and  breast.  In  size  they  vary  from  a  length  of 
nineteen  to  twenty-nine  inches,  and  in  weight  from  three  to  six  and  a  half  pounds. 
The  genus  Lerwa  contains  only  one  species,  the  L.  nivicola,  known  as  the  snow- 
partridge,  which  ranges  for  a  thousand  miles  along  the  Himmalehs,  and  into  Thibet 
and  western  China.  In  winter  it  descends  to  an  elevation  of  7,000  feet,  its  summer 
abodes  being  at  from  10,000  to  14,000.  In  habits  and  haunts  this  bird  much  resembles 
the  snow-cocks,  but  it  prefers  a  mossy  vegetation  to  that  of  a  grassy  character.  It  is 
generally  very  tame  and  will  permit  one  to  approach  quite  near,  when  it  utters  a 
harsh  whistle,  but  it  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  distinguish  the  bird  from  its  surround- 
ings if  it  remains  motionless.  It  breeds  near  the  snow-line,  and  the  eggs  are  stated  to 
be  large,  dull  white  and  freckled  all  over  with  reddish  brown.  It  is  a  handsome  bird, 
the  whole  plumage  being  minutely  barred  with  black  or  buffy  white,  and  tinged  with 
chestnut  on  the  side  of  the  neck.  The  chin  is  grayish,  throat,  breast,  and  upper  part 


FRANCOLINS.  203 

of  abdomen  deep  chestnut  red,  with'  dashes  of  buff  on  the  flanks.  Tail  dusky,  with 
bars  speckled  with  gray  and  rufous.  The  male  has  short  spurs,  and  weighs  from  six- 
teen to  twenty-two  ounces. 

The  bamboo-partridges,  so-called  from  their  habit  of  haunting  dense  grass  or 
bamboo  jungle,  are  four  in  number,  and  compose  the  genus  .Bambusicola.  They 
differ  from  all  the  other  species  of  this  family  which  have  thus  far  preceded  them, 
save  L.  nivicola,  by  the  presence  of  sharp  spurs  on  the  tarsi  of  the  males.  They  are 
rather  large  birds,  of  a  reddish-brown  plumage.  Two  species  are  found  in  China,  one 
in  Burma  and  one  in  Borneo.  Allied  to  these  is  Caloperdix  octulens,  a  very  handsome 
gamey-looking  partridge,  the  male  not  infrequently  having  double  spurs.  It  is  a  rare 
species,  and  but  little  is  known  of  its  habits,  for  its  chosen  abode  is  the  dense  and 
primeval  forests  of  the  Malay  Peninsula,  through  which  wild  elephants  and  buffaloes 
make  the  only  paths.  The  head,  neck,  and  undeY  parts  are  bright  rufous,  flanks  barred 
with  black.  Mantle  black,  feathers  edged  with  white,  back  and  upper  tail-coverts 
black,  with  V-shaped  marks  of  bright  rufous.  Wings  reddish-brown  or  grayish, 
each  feather  with  a  black  spot  near  the  tip.  Its  length  is  about  eleven  inches,  its 
weight  half  a  pound. 

The  francolins  constitute  a  very  extensive  group,  having  rather  lengthened  bills  and 
tails,  and  generally  a  rich  plumage  of  contrasted  colors.  The  rather  restricted  genus 
Francolinus  (of  which  F.  vulgaris  is  the  most  familiar  species)  is  Asiatic,  and  con- 
tains but  three  species.  At  one  time  an  inhabitant  of  Europe,  the  common  francolin 
is  now  quite  extinct  on  that  continent,  but  is  still  found  on  the  island  of  Cyprus ;  but 
in  Asia  Minor,  Palestine,  and  throughout  northern  India,  Armenia,  Persia,  and  Belu- 
chistan  it  is  quite  plentiful.  The  male  is  a  bird  of  very  handsome  plumage,  with 
the  sides  of  head,  cheeks,  throat,  and  lower  parts  deep  black;  crown  brown  with 
black  spots ;  a  broad  chestnut  collar  round  the  neck.  Breast  and  flanks  spotted  with 
white,  and  the  abdomen,  which  is  rufous,  is  barred  with  the  same.  A  line  of  white 
under  the  eye.  Back  and  wing-coverts  blackish-brown ;  rump  and  upper  tail-coverts 
black  barred  with  white;  under  tail-coverts  chestnut  tipped  with  white;  tail  black 
and  broadly  barred  with  white ;  legs  reddish  orange,  and  have  a  short  blunt  spur. 
This  is  a  favorite  game-bird  with  sportsmen,  is  strong  on  the  wing,  flying  very  steadily, 
lies  very  closely  to  a  dog,  perhaps  too  closely,  and  its  flesh  is  very  fair  food.  It  fre- 
quents meadows,  cultivated  fields,  patches  of  herbage,  and  jungle.  When  flushed,  it 
springs  perpendicularly  into  the  air  to  the  height  of  perhaps  three  feet,  before  taking 
its  line  of  flight.  They  do  not  go  in  coveys,  but  keep  in  pairs,  although  many  pairs 
may  be  in  close  proximity  to  each  other,  and  are  monogamous.  At  earliest  dawn, 
wherever  these  birds  are  present,  their  clear  call  rings  out  on  the  morning  air  with 
a  "  Be  quick,  pay  your  debts,"  sort  of  a  exclamation,  and  this  habit  frequently  leads  to 
the  discovery  of  their  place  of  refuge,  and  to  their  ultimate  destruction.  The  usual 
number  of  eggs  to  a  nest  is  from  six  to  ten,  of  a  dull  greenish-white  color,  and  the 
nest  is  generally  a  depression  in  the  ground  at  the  foot  of  some  grassy  tuft,  and  par- 
tially lined  with  roots  and  grasses.  The  common  francolin  varies  greatly  in  size 
among  individuals,  those  from  Asia  Minor  being  generally  the  largest.  Like  many 
other  species  of  game-birds,  old  or  barren  hens  sometimes  assume  the  male  plumage, 
and  albinos  are  not  uncommon.  The  other  species  of  this  genus  are  F.  pictus  oi 
central  and  southern  India,  and  F.  chinensis  of  Pegu,  India,  and  southern  China. 

The  remaining  portion  of  the  group  of  francolins  are  African,  and  about  thirty  in 
number.  They  have  been  divided  into  four  genera  or  sub-genera —  Clamator,  Sclerop- 


£04  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

tera,  Pternistes,  and  Chcetopus.  They  are  large  birds,  sometimes  called  pheasants,  and 
are  very  abundant  in  different  portions  of  the  '  Dark  Continent.'  In  habits  they  resemble 
the  common  francolin,  prefer  running  to  flying,  and  feed  during  the  morning  and 
evening  on  grain,  insects,  and  bulbs,  which  last  they  dig  up  with  their  powerful  bills. 
The  males  and  old  females  are  armed  with  spurs  on  the  tarsi,  and,  when  disturbed,  the 
species  will  frequently  take  refuge  in  trees,  where  they  also  roost.  They  appear  at 
times  to  be  migratory,  caused  possibly  by  the  abundance  or  scarcity  of  food  or  water 
in  certain  localities.  They  are  very  noisy  birds,  and  in  one  species,  S.  adspersa,  the 
voice  can  be  heard  at  a  great  distance,  the  notes  uttered  reseinbliiig  a  succession  of 
hysterical  laughs. 

A  genus  of  gray  partridges,  styled  Ortygornis,  containing  but  two  species,  is  found 
in  India  and  Ceylon.  They  are  birds  of  the  lowlands,  one  of  the  species,  0.  gularis^ 
having  been  met  with  as  high  as  four  thousand  feet,  and  O.  pondicerianus  at  five 
thousand  feet,  which  in  that  land  of  gigantic  peaks  is  but  the  summit  of  a  hill.  The 
individual  of  the  last-named  species  was  deemed,  however,  but  a  straggler,  and  was 
evidently  above  his  range.  The  flesh  is  said  to  be  hard,  dry,  and  insipid,  hardly  worth 
eating,  cook  it  as  you  may.  These  species  are  extremely  pugnacious,  and  are  kept  by 
the  natives  for  fighting,  as  partridge  combats  are  one  of  their  chief  amusements.  The 
0.  gularis,  whose  trivial  name  is  the  swamp-partridge,  affects,  as  its  name  implies, 
marshy  lands  and  banks  of  rivers,  jungle,  thickets,  and  reed-beds,  but  always  near  water. 
When  flushed,  it  rises  with  a  loud  whirr,  and  a  shrill  cackle,  but  does  not  fly  far,  and 
if  not  bagged  can  only  with  great  difficulty  be  forced  to  take  wing  again.  They  are 
wary  and  difficult  of  approach,  one  of  their  number  being  generally  posted  as  a  sentinel 
on  the  top  of  a  bush,  and  they  keep  together  in  small  parties  or  in  pairs.  The  males  are 
heavily  spurred,  sometimes  having  two  spurs  on  each  leg,  and  it  is  stated  that  every 
one  examined  will  be  marked  with  scars  from  wounds  obtained  in  fighting.  The  nest 

O  O 

is  placed  on  the  ground,  and  the  eggs  number  about  five.  The  O.  pondicerianus 
breeds  twice  a  year,  laying  seven  to  nine  white  eggs  tinged  more  or  less  in  depth  with 
a  light  coffee-color.  These  birds  weigh  from  nine  to  twelve  ounces  and  are  from 
eleven  to  fifteen  inches  in  length. 

A  rather  curious  partridge  with  a  very  long  bill  is  found  in  Malacca,  Sumatra,  and 
Borneo,  and  is  known  to  naturalists  as  Rhizotliera  longirostris.  It  is  about  a  foot  in 
length,  and  the  bill  is  as  powerful  as  that  of  a  peacock.  It  has  the  throat,  sides  of 
the  head,  upper  part  of  neck,  belly,  and  flanks  rufous  yellow;  top  of  head  and  back 
chestnut  brown  with  large  black  spots ;  lower  part  of  neck  and  breast  leaden  gray ; 
rump  and  upper  tail-coverts  are  rufous,  crossed  with  fine  zigzag  lines  of  a  darker  hue, 
and  in  the  centre  and  near  the  end  of  each  feather  is  a  spot  of  yellowish  ochre.  A 
bare  red  skin  encircles  the  eye.  The  primaries  are  rufous,  barred  with  brown.  The 
tarsi  are  armed  with  short  heavy  spurs.  The  female  resembles  the  male,  except  that 
her  breast  is  ferruginous  instead  of  gray,  and  she  has  no  spurs. 

The  last  genus  of  the  Perdicinffi  is  Galloperdix,  consisting  of  three  species ;  two, 
G.  spadiceus  and  G.  lemulatus,  being  peculiar  to  India,  and  the  third,  G.  zeylonensis, 
only  found  in  Ceylon.  They  are  rather  peculiar  birds,  resembling  in  some  of  their 
characters  the  true  jungle-fowl  of  the  genus  Gallus,  having  nude  skin  around  the 
eyes,  but  without  comb  or  wattles.  The  sexes  are  dissimilar,  and  both  are  armed  with 
spurs,  the  male  sometimes  having  as  many  as  three  on  one  leg,  occasionally  two  on 
one  leg  and  one  on  the  other,  the  female  also  at  times  possessing  the  same  number  of 
weapons.  They  dwell  entirely  in  woods,  and  in  localities  affording  dense  cover,  such 


PARTRIDGES. 


205 


as  jungle-clad  and  rocky  hills,  straying  rarely  to  the  alluvial  plains,  and  never  re- 
maining in  open  districts.  They  ascend  the  sides  of  wooded  hills  as  high  as  five 
thousand  to  seven  thousand  feet,  are  always  extremely  shy  and  wary,  most  difficult  to 
flush,  preferring  to  effect  their  escape  by  running,  as  they  are  very  swift  of  foot.  Ex- 
cept during  the  breeding  season  they  go  in  small  flocks  of  from  five  to  ten,  are  exceed- 
ingly pugnacious  in  disposition,  and  fight  with  head  depressed  like  common  fowls, 
The  hen  lays  from  four  to  ten  coffee-colored  eggs,  and  breeds  more  than  once  each 
year.  This  species  has  a  kind  of  cackling  cry,  most  often  heard  when  a  covey  has 


j£> 


FIG.  96. —  Lophortyx  calif ornicus,  California  quail. 

been  broken  up  and  its  members  are  desirous  of  getting  together  again.  They  have  a 
very  handsome  plumage,  but  their  flesh  is  considered  dry  and  rather  insipid,  unless 
perhaps  when  the  bird  is  very  young. 

The  American  partridges  are  kept  distinct  from  those  of  the  Old  World  in  the 
sub-family  Odontophorinae,  chiefly  from  having  a  bidentation  at  the  end  of  the  man- 
dible, although  in  some  of  the  species  this  is  hardly  apparent.  The  group  consists  of 
nine  genera  with  about  forty-five  species,  some  of  which  are  very  graceful  birds  with 
a  beautiful  plumage. 

Two  genera,  Dendrortyx  and  Odontophorus,  contain  species  of  large  size,  distributed 
throughout  Central  and  South  America.  They  are  forest-loving  birds,  and  go  in 
flocks  of  six  or  eight.  Some  species  frequent  the  ravines  of  volcanoes  in  Central 


206  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

America,  near  their  tops,  in  the  sunny  spots  made  by  fallen  trees,  and  when  fright- 
ened run  swiftly,  only  taking  flight  when  approached  quite  suddenly.  In  Brazil, 
Odontophorus  dentatus  is  said  to  resemble  the  hazel-grouse  of  Europe  in  its  mode  of 
life,  never  appearing  in  the  open  country,  but  always  remaining  in  the  thick  woods, 
and  feeds  on  fruits,  berries,  insects,  etc.  In  the  morning  and  evening  it  is  accustomed 
to  perch  on  a  branch,  several  individuals  in  a  line,  and  the  male  utters  a  loud  cry 
which  reverberates  to  a  great  distance.  It  nests  on  the  ground  and  lays  from  ten  to 
fifteen  pure  white  eggs.  When  flushed,  the  birds  fly  to  the  trees,  where,  amid  the 
dense  foliage,  it  is  very  difficult  to  perceive  them.  The  flesh  is  palatable,  and  the 
sexes,  like  all  the  species  of  the  genus,  differ  but  little  in  the  color  of  their  plumage. 

Two  beautiful  species  constitute  the  genus  Lophortyx,  L.  californicus  and  L.  gam- 
belii.  They  bear  some  resemblance  to  each  other,  both  having  black  throats,  and 
sides  of  the  head  marked  with  white,  blue  breasts,  and  a  black  crest  composed  of  from 
five  to  ten  feathers  springing  from  one  spot.  These  are  enlarged  at  the  top  and  curl 
over  forwards.  The  webs  bend  backward,  and  fold  over  the  feather  succeeding,  and  all 
form  one  bunch,  usually  drooping  forward,  but  freely  movable.  The  hen's  crest  is 
shorter,  and  brownish  in  hue.  The  species  differ  greatly  in  the  coloring  of  the  lower 
parts.  The  Z.  gambelii  has  the  upper  part  of  the  abdomen  buff,  lower  part  black,  while 
the  L.  californica  has  the  upper  part  golden  brown,  rest  chestnut,  each  feather 
edged  with  black.  This  latter  species  is  found  in  Washington  Territory  and  Cali- 
fornia, while  the  L.  gambelii  is  a  native  of  Arizona,  New  Mexico,  and  northern 
Mexico. 

The  mountain-quail,  or  plumed-partridge,  as  the  Oreortyx  pictus  is  usually  called, 
is  a  large  and  very  handsome  bird.  Its  habitat  is  limited,  being  exclusively  the 
mountain  ranges  of  California  and  Oregon.  The  head  is  ornamented  by  two  long 
slender  feathers  arching  towards  the  occiput,  the  throat  is  chestnut,  neck  and  breast 
dark  gray,  sides  and  abdomen  deep  chestnut ;  the  feathers  of  the  former  edged  with 
white,  those  of  the  latter  banded  alternately  with  black  and  white.  It  utters  a  faint 
chirp  when  alarmed,  associates  in  flocks  of  fifteen  or  twenty,  lives  on  seeds  and  insects, 
and  the  flesh  is  excellent.  Callipepla  squamata,  the  blue-quail  of  Arizona  and  Mex- 
ico, has  a  soft,  full  crest  of  short  feathers,  and  differs  from  all  the  group  of  so-called 
quails  in  America  by  presenting  little  or  no  variation  in  the  plumage  of  the  sexes.  It 
is  especially  a  terrestrial  bird,  rarely  taking  refuge  in  trees  or  bushes  unless  very  hard 
pressed,  but  runs  over  even  difficult  ground  with  much  swiftness.  Like  all  quail,  the 
hen  lays  a  large  number  of  eggs,  and  their  color  in  this  species  is  buffy  white,  thickly 
dotted  with  light-brown  specks.  JEupsychortyx  is  the  last  genus  containing  the 
plumed  or  crested-partridges.  The  species  are  natives  of  Mexico,  Guatemala  and 
northern  South  America,  and  are  all  provided  with  short,  soft  crests,  and  are  very 
abundant  in  the  localities  they  frequent.  Three  very  peculiarly  appearing  species  are 
contained  in  the  genus  Cyrtonyx,  their  heads  b< '  6  striped  with  black  and  white  after 
the  manner  of  a  clown  in  the  circus.  They  dwell  in  Mexico,  one  species  only,  C.  mas- 
sena,  extending  its  range  north  into  Arizona.  They  are  stated  to  be  very  gentle  in 
their  habits,  exhibiting  but  little  fear  of  man,  go  in  small  coveys,  and  live  chiefly  amid 
wild,  rocky  and  barren  tracts. 

Ortyx  mrginianus,  our  familiar  "  Bob  White,"  with  his  relatives,  0.  floridanus 
of  Florida  and  0.  texanus  of  Texas,  is  most  widely  and  generally  known.  It  is  the 
quail  of  the  northern  and  the  partridge  of  the  southern  United  States,  and  is  widely 
•disseminated  over  the  eastern  states  and  portions  of  Canada.  It  is  so  well  known,  both 


GROUSE. 


207 


as  to  its  appearance  and  habits,  that  it  will  be  unnecessary  to  devote  any  space  to  it 
here.  Cuba  possesses  a  species  very  similar  in  plumage,  0.  cubensis,  differing  mainly 
in  the  greater  extent  of  black  upon  the  head  and  upper  part  of  breast.  A  beautiful 
species,  0.  nigrogularis,  is  a  native  of  Honduras  and  Yucatan,  having  a  black  throat, 
and  a  white  breast  and  abdomen,  the  feathers  of  these  being  bordered  with  black. 
The  remaining  species  of  the  genus,  three  or  four  in  number,  are  found  in  Mexico,  one 
only  0.  leylandi,  being  a  native  of  Honduras  and  Costa  Rica. 


FIG.  9T.  —  Lagopus  albus,  ptarmigan,  in  summer  plumage. 

The  grouse  comprise  the  sub-1.  *'!y  Tetraoninae  of  the  Perdicidae,  and  are  distin- 
guished from  the  quails  and  partridges  by  having  the  nostrils,  legs,  and  feet  more  or 
less  completely  feathered,  by  a  bare  skin  over  the  eye,  a  pectination  on  the  sides  of 
the  toes,  and  in  some  species  by  a  bare  distensible  skin  on  the  side  of  the  neck.  They 
are  confined  generally  to  the  northern  districts  of  both  hemispheres,  but  are  most 
numerous  in  North  America.  They  are  usually  contained  in  eight  genera,  with  one 
or  two  sub-genera,  and  consist  of  about  twenty-three  or  twenty-four  species. 

The  ptarmigan,  comprising  the  genus  Lagopus,  differ  from  the  typical  grouse  by 
having  the  toes  as  heavily  feathered  as  are  the  tarsi,  and  also,  with  one  exception,  by 


208 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


changing  their  summer  plumage  at  the  approach  of  winter,  to  one  of  a  pure  white. 
They  dwell  among  the  snow-clad  hills  and  peaks,  are  monogamous,  both  sexes  devoting 
themselves  to  the  care  of  the  young ;  and  but  one  brood  is  raised,  as  a  rule,  in  a  season. 
The  eggs  are  about  a  dozen  in  number,  varying  in  color  from  buff  to  a  bright  rufous, 
thickly  spotted  and  blotched  with  black.  While  the  hen  is  incubating,  the  male  re- 
mains in  the  vicinity  and  keeps  a  bright  look-out  for  enemies  of  every  kind.  One 
species  is  restricted  to  the  New  World,  L.  leucurus ;  three  to  the  Old  World,  L.  sco- 
ticus,  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  L.  hemileucurus,  doubtfully  distinct  from  L.  rupes- 


FlG.  98. —  Lagopus  aibus,  ptarmigan,  in  winter  plumage. 

tris,  from  Spitzbergen,  and  L.  mutus  ;  while  L.  albus  and  L.  rupestris  are  inhabitants 
of  both  hemispheres.  They  go  in  flocks,  are  not  wild  when  not  much  hunted,  and 
their  flesh  is  tolerably  good  for  food.  An  exception  may  be  made  for  the  Scotch 
grouse,  whose  flesh  is  excellent,  but  this  species,  from  causes  perhaps  incident  to  its  insu- 
lar existence,  has  lost  some  of  the  ptarmigan  traits,  and  adopted  others  pertaining  more 
to  those  of  the  true  grouse.  Although  apparently  nearest  allied  to  the  L.  albus,  of 
which  it  may  be  considered  an  island  form,  it  does  not  turn  white  in  winter,  and  is 
chiefly  a  bird  of  the  moors,  ascending  at  times,  however,  to  the  base  of  the  higher 
peaks.  It  varies  in  the  colors  of  its  plumage  according  to  the  localities  it  frequents, 
those  individuals  inhabiting  rocky  ground  being  usually  lightest  in  hue. 


GROUSE.  209 

Lagopus  leucurus,  the  white-tailed  ptarmigan,  inhabits  the  Rocky  Mountains 
from  the  Arctic  Ocean  to  latitude  37° ;  L.  rupestris  is  found  in  Iceland,  Greenland 
.and  Arctic  America,  and  L.  mutus,  the  common  ptarmigan,  is  met  with  in  the  higher 
portion  of  the  mountains  of  Scotland  and  northern  Europe,  and  on  the  elevated 
ranges  of  southern  Europe. 

The  genera  Pedicecetes  and  Cupidonia  comprise  those  grouse  generally  known  as 
shari>-tails,  prairie-hens,  or  prairie-chickens.  The  first  contains  one  species  composed 
of  two  geographical  races,  which,  while  differing  considerably  in  appearance  in  indi- 
viduals most  widely  separated  in  their  habits,  blend  together  when  the  two  styles 
meet  at  the  border  of  their  respective  ranges.  The  northern  form,  whose  markings 
are  mainly  black,  has  a  white  throat  spotted  with  black,  and  is  known  as  P.  phasian- 
ellus.  It  ranges  in  the  interior  of  British  America  west  to  Fort  Yukon,  and  south 
nearly  to  the  United  States  boundary,  where  it  meets  the  well-known  sharp-tail  grouse, 
or  white-breasted  prairie-chicken,  which  inhabits  the  northwestern  portions  of  the 
United  States,  and  southwards  to  Colorado. 

The  Cupidonia  cupidoj  or  common  prairie-chicken,  which  at  one  time  inhabited  all 
of  the  north-eastern  part  of  the  United  States,  is  now  only  found  from  Illinois  westward 
to  the  eastern  foot-hills  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  south  to  eastern  Texas.  A  few 
still  linger  in  certain  localities  in  the  eastern  states,  notably  on  Martha's  Vineyard,  off 
the  coast  of  Massachusetts.  In  western  Texas  a  small  form,  called  C.  pallidicinctus 
takes  the  place  of  C.  cupido.  The  habits  of  all  these  birds  are  very  similar,  and  too 
well  known  to  need  recapitulation  here.  They  all  possess  gular  sacs  (the  member 
of  Pedicecetes  in  a  rather  restricted  degree),  and  by  their  inflation  and  contraction 
cause  the  booming  tones  that  resound  over  the  prairies  in  the  early  spring.  The  sacs 
in  the  members  of  the  genus  Cupidonia  are  covered  by  lengthened  feathers,  which  are 
raised  when  the  bird  is  excited.  From  the  continued  persecution  which  the  species 
inhabiting  the  United  States  are  subjected  to  by  hunters  and  trappers,  and  the  utter 
disregard  shown  for  the  laws  passed  to  protect  them  at  certain  seasons,  they  are  yearly 
becoming  scarcer,  and  the  time  cannot  be  far  distant  when  these  fine  birds  will  no 
longer  exist  within  our  borders. 

The  sage-cock,  or  cock-of-the-plains,  Centrocercus  urophasianus,  is  the  largest  grouse 
found  in  America,  and  nearly  rivals  in  size  the  European  cock-of-the-woods,  but  it 
weighs  much  less,  the  heaviest  male  not  often  exceeding  six  pounds.  The  female,  as 
usual,  is  much  smaller.  It  is  dispersed  over  the  western  plains,  in  the  almost  desert 
region  where  the  Artemesia  or  wild  sage  grows,  which  plant  affords  the  bird  its  prin- 
cipal food,  and  consequently,  from  its  bitter  character,  the  flesh  of  this  grouse  is  very 
unpalatable.  The  sage-cock  is  chiefly  remarkable  for  its  lengthened  tail  of  twenty 
narrow,  stiff  feathers,  which  terminate  in  points,  and  also  for  the  enormous  air-sacs  of 
yellow  skin,  on  either  side  of  the  neck,  bordered  by  stiffened,  scale-like  feathers. 
These  sacs  in  the  spring  are  inflated,  and  as  the  air  is  being  exhausted  a  sound  is 
produced  of  a  deep,  hollow  tone,  like  that  arising  from  blowing  into  a  large  reed. 
The  upper  parts  are  brown,  varied  with  gray,  black,  and  buff,  and  the  under  parts  below 
the  breast  are  black,  less  noticeable  in  the  female.  Differing  from  other  gallinaceous 
birds,  the  sage-cock  has  no  gizzard ;  the  stomach,  instead  of  being  hard  and  muscular, 
is  soft  and  membranous,  as  in  the  birds  of  prey. 

The  generic  term  Tetrao  was  formerly  employed  for  nearly  all  grouse  except  the 
ptarmigan,  but  even  in  its  restricted  sense  as  used  by  later  writers,  some  of  its  members 
have  been  again  separated  either  generically  or  at  least  sub-generically.  Thus  the 
VOL.  iv.  — 14 


210  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

North  American  blue-grouse  have  been  placed  apart  under  the  term  Dendragapus^.. 
containing  the  dusky,  blue,  or  pine-grouse,  D.  obscurus,  of  the  eastern  foot-hills  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  south  into  Mexico,  and  its  barely  separable  ally,  Richardson's 
grouse,  D.  richardsoni,  of  the  central  Rocky  Mountains  from  South  Pass  north  to 
Hudson  Bay  Territory,  with  its  jet  black,  square  tail,  differing  in  this  point  from  the 
rounded  black  tail,  with  its  terminal  gray  bar,  of  D.  obscurus.  A  third  variety  is 
D.  fuliginosus  from  Oregon  to  Sitka.  These  birds  inhabit  exclusively  the  evergreen- 
forests  at  elevations  of  about  6,000  feet,  but  in  winter,  in  the  Sierra  Nevada,  they 
descend  to  2,000  feet.  In  the  spring  the  males  emit  a  prolonged  sound,  like  the  whir 
of  a  rattan  cane,  caused  by  the  inflation  and  contraction  of  two  sacs,  one  on  each  side 
of  the  throat,  covered  by  an  orange-colored  skin,  but  which  are  usually  concealed,  when 
collapsed,  by  the  feathers.  They  are  large  birds,  and  their  flesh  is  white  and  delicate. 

The  genus  Canace  has  three  species,  the  spruce-grouse,  distributed  throughout  the 
eastern  United  States  to  the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  northward  to  the  Arctic  regions; 
Franklin's  grouse,  abundant  in  the  Rocky,  Bitter  Root,  and  Cascade  Mountains, 
Washington  Territory;  and  Hartlaub's  grouse,  O.  (Fdlcipennis)  hartlaubi,  from 
Siberia,  differing  from  the  others,  beside  the  coloring  of  its  plumage,  by  having  the 
primaries  falcate  or  sickle-shape.  They  are  forest  and  swamp-loving  birds,  very  tame 
and  unsuspicious,  and  their  flesh  is  dark  and  generally  bitter.  The  black-cock,  T.  tetrix 
(sometimes  placed  in  the  genus  Lyrurus),  has  a  glossy  black  plumage  with  blue 
reflections,  and  the  under  tail-coverts  pure  white.  It  is  abundant  in  Great  Britain  and 
on  the  continent  of  Europe,  extending  eastward  as  far  as  China.  In  the  mountains  of 
the  Caucasus  a  second  species  is  found,  T.  mlokosiewiczi,  differing  from  the  black-cock 
by  its  black  under  tail-coverts,  and  by  having  the  tail  bent  downward  and  slightly 
outward  at  the  tip,  the  feathers  trough-shaped  at  the  ends.  The  black-cock  is  accus- 
tomed, during  the  breeding  season,  to  come  together  in  large  companies,  called  in 
Sweden  the  '  orrlek '  or  '  lek.'  The  locality  is  an  open  place  surrounded  by  forest 
trees,  where  the  males  appear  before  dawn  and  begin  to  strut  not  unlike  a  turkey-cock. 
When  two  or  more  meet  during  the  performance,  a  desperate  conflict  ensues,  not 
unfrequently  ending  in  a  regular  rough-and-tumble  fight.  Unlike  the  capercaili,  the 
black-cock,  while  '  drumming,'  is  wide-awake  to  all  that  is  going  on  about  him,  except 
when  engaged  in  battle.  After  the  males  have  been  occupied  with  their  manoeuvres 
for  a  short  period,  frequently  uttering  their  call-notes,  the  females  appear  upon  the 
scene,  and  the  pairing  takes  place.  The  female,  or  gray-hen  as  she  is  called,  deposits- 
her  eggs,  eight  or  nine  in  number,  under  some  bushes  or  in  the  heather,  and  the  chicks, 
when  first  hatched,  are  fed  on  ants'  eggs  or  insects.  Unlike  the  cock-of-the-woods, 
although  the  species  under  consideration  frequents  the  forests,  it  prefers  the  moors, 
and  plains,  and  is  very  shy  and  difficult  of  approach. 

The  magnificent  capercaili,  T.  urogallus,  with  its  relative,  the  Siberian  wood- 
grouse, T.  urogalloideS)  are  the  chief  species  of  the  genus  Tetrao,  and  are  the  largest 
of  all  known  grouse.  The  first  named  is  still  met  with  in  Scotland,  having  been 
introduced  into  that  country  after  having  become*  extinct,  and  is  found  throughout 
northern  Europe,  and  in  Asia,  but  is  replaced  in  eastern  Siberia  by  the  smaller  species, 
T.  urogaUoides.  All  of  these  birds  are  denizens  of  the  forests,  delighting  in  the  thick 
pines  and  firs,  upon  the  leaves  of  which  the  capercaili  feeds.  Space  forbids  a  detailed 
account  of  the  habits  of  this  noble  bird,  and  will  permit  of  but  a  brief  notice  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  male  is  accustomed  to  call  the  hens  into  his  presence.  The 
species  is  polygamous,  and  the  breeding  season  commences  towards  the  end  of  March. 


GROUSE.  211 

* 

The  locality  to  which  the  cock  resorts  at  such  times  is  either  on  a  level  rock  in  some 
opening  of  the  forest,  or  on  the  upper  branches  of  a  pine.  Here  he  begins  his  per- 
formances by  first  uttering  a  note  something  like  pellep  repeated  once  or  twice  at 
intervals,  and  he  is  then  on  the  watch  for  any  enemy,  as  is  also  the  case  when  he 
sounds  his  second  note  kliskop,  resembling  a  gulp  in  the  throat.  But  while  emitting 
the  third  and  last  sound  hede!  fade!  hede!  the  head  is  thrown  backwards,  the  neck 
waves  to  and  fro,  the  tail  is  raised  at  right  angles  to  the  body,  the  wings  quiver,  and 
the  excited  bird  either  pirouettes  upon  his  perch,  or  slides  sideways  along  the  branch. 
At  this  moment,  it  is  asserted,  he  is  both  deaf  and  blind,  and  knows  nothing  of  what 
is  going  on  about  him,  of  which  fact  the  hunter  takes  advantage  to  approach  near  for 
a  successful  shot.  This  play,  or  '  spel '  as  it  is  called,  is  frequently  repeated,  and  the 
hens,  on  hearing  the  call,  assemble  from  all  points,  and  alight  near  him,  often  on  the 
same  tree.  A  little  before  sunrise  the  performer  descends  to  some  open  spot,  where 
the  hens  collect  about  him,  and  between  the  intervals  of  the  '  spel,'  which  is  still  con- 
tinued, he  pairs  with  each  member  of  his  harem.  Young  cocks  are  not  permitted  to 
'  spel '  in  the  presence  of  the  old  males,  but  are  speedily  driven  away  should  any  ven- 
ture to  approach.  The  cocks  fight  with  great  fierceness  during  the  breeding  season, 
springing  high  in  the  air  and  striking  with  their  wings  and  claws,  and  endeavoring  to 
seize  each  other  with  their  bills,  and,  when  successful  in  this  effort,  the  weaker  is  held 
down  to  the  ground  and  severely  punished.  The  female  scrapes  a  hole  beneath  some 
tree  or  bush,  and  lays  from  five  to  fifteen  eggs,  of  a  yellowish  color  spotted  with  light 
brown,  and  incubation  lasts,  it  is  said,  for  one  month.  The  young  remain  with  the 
mother  until  the  next  winter.  The  male  capercaili  greatly  exceeds  the  female  in  size 
and  weight,  individuals  sometimes  turning  the  scale  at  twelve  and  thirteen  pounds. 
The  upper  parts  are  blackish-brown,  each  feather  mottled  with  grayish ;  the  feathers 
of  the  throat  are  elongated  and  black ;  breast  black  with  green  reflections ;  flanks 
brownish-gray  sprinkled  with  black ;  under  tail-coverts  black,  tipped  witli  white  ;  the 
tail  black.  The  female  is  reddish-brown,  barred  and  blotched  with  black  ;  sides  of  the 
neck,  throat,  and  breast  rich  orange,  barred  with  black  on  the  neck ;  lower  parts  pale 
orange,  feathers  tipped  with  white ;  tail  reddish-brown,  barred  with  blackish-brown. 

The  ruffed-grouse,  so  called  from  its  possessing  tufts  of  numerous  wide  soft 
feathers  on  each  side  of  the  neck,  which  the  bird  is  capable  of  elevating,  with  its  allies 
of  both  hemispheres,  is  distinguished  from  all  other  grouse  by  having  the  lower  part  of 
the  legs  bare  of  feathers,  and  constitute  the  genus  Bonasa.  The  American  species 
consist  of  the  B.  umbeUus  and  its  two  sub-species  or  varieties,  which  are  distributed 
throughout  the  northern  United  States  and  Vancouver  Island.  The  Rocky  Mountain 
form  has  been  designated  B.  umbelloides,  and  is  a  small  gray  bird  with  rather  different 
markings  from  the  typical  style,  and  a  small  ruff,  while  the  variety  of  the  west  coast, 
known  as  B.  sabinei,  is  a  large  bird  of  a  general  dark  orange-chestnut  color.  All  the 
forms  delight  in  woods  and  dense  thickets,  are  extremely  shy,  rise  with  a  great 
whirring  noise,  fly  straight  and  swiftly.  They  roost  in  trees,  and,  when  disturbed,  take 
refuge  among  the  thickest  foliage  and  remain  perfectly  motionless.  The  nest  is 
placed  upon  the  ground,  composed  of  leaves  and  plants,  and  the  eggs,  ten  or  more  in 
number,  are  yellowish  or  cream  color,  spotted  with  dull  red.  The  male  has  a  singular 
habit  called  'drumming,'  which  is  indulged  in  at  various  seasons  of  the  year.  He 
stands  upon  a  trunk  of  some  fallen  tree,  and,  stretching  himself  into  a  horizontal  posi- 
tion, beats  stiffly  downwards  with  his  wings,  slowly  at  first,  increasing  the  strokes 
until  they  become  so  rapid  that  the  wings  are  invisible.  This  produces  a  loud  rolling 


212 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


sound  that  may  be  heard  at  a  great  distance,  but  partakes  somewhat  of  the  character 
of  ventriloquism,  as  it  is  difficult  to  locate  the  position  of  the  performer.  In  the 
breeding  season  this  may  be  executed  to  attract  the  females,  but  as  the  same  perform- 
ance is  also  gone  through  with  in  the  autumn,  it  cannot  always  be  for  this  purpose. 
Some  writers  state  that  the  wings  strike  the  flanks,  others  that  they  strike  each  other 
above  the  back,  while  others  again,  that  they  strike  nothing,  —  the  fact  being  that  the 
movement  is  so  rapid  that  it  defies  the  closest  observer  to  determine  exactly  what 
does  take  place. 


FIG.  yj.  —  Iionasa  betulina,  hazel-grouse. 

The  allies  of  the  ruffed-grouse  in  Europe  and  Asia,  the  J5.  betulina,  has,  with  two 
other  lately  described  species,  B.  sewarzowi,  and  JEt.  griseiventris,  been  separated  by 
some  writers  into  a  distinct  genus,  Tetrastes.  The  hazel-grouse  is  not  found  in  Great 
Britain,  but  is  distributed  generally  throughout  Europe  and  Asia  from  France  to 
northern  China.  It  has  also  been  met  with  in  Japan.  This  species  is  not  possessed 
of  the  ruff,  and  is  smaller  than  the  American  bird,  neither  does  it  indulge  in  the  habit 
of  drumming.  It  is  monogamous,  the  males  leaving  the  young  to  the  care  of  the 


GUINEA-FOWL. 


213 


females.  The  eggs,  from  eight  to  fourteen  in  number,  are  buff  spotted  with  brown. 
It  is  a  rather  handsome  bird,  with  a  black  throat,  back  ashy-gray  varied  with  black, 
and  the  under  surface  of  the  body  white  mottled  with  brown.  The  female  is  without 
the  black  throat,  but  has  this  part  fulvous  white  varied  with  blackish  spots. 

The  great  family  PHASIANID^E  is  the  most  important  of  the  Gallinae,  whether  we 
consider  the  number,  variety,  and  beauty  of  the  species  of  which  it  is  composed,  or 
their  great  value  as  food-producers  for  the  human  race.  It  contains  between  eighty 


FlG.  100. —  \uinii/,i  crlstata,  crested  Uuiiiea-fowl,  and  N.pucherani,  helmeted  Guinea-fowl. 

and  ninety  species,  some  of  which  rank  with  the  most  gorgeously  plumaged  creatures 
to  be  found  in  the  class  of  birds.  Although  many  have  been  the  arrangements  pro- 
posed for  the  members  of  this  family,  as  to  the  number  both  of  the  sub-families  and 
genera,  some  writers  considering  that  certain  species  should  constitute  separate  fami- 
lies, yet  following  the  latest  work  devoted  to  these  birds,  the  Phasianidae  may  be 
divided  into  eight  sub-families  and  about  eighteen  genera. 

The  sub-family,  Numidinae,  contains  the  Guinea-fowls,  consisting  of  those  with  crests, 


214 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


those  with  bare  heads  and  bony  helmets,  or  those  with  an  occipital  feathery  patch.  There 
are  five  or  six  species  of  the  first  division,  about  four  of  the  second,  and  one  of  the 
last.  The  first  has  been  separated  by  some  authors  under  the  generic  term,  Guttera, 
and  are  much  more  graceful  birds  than  those  of  which  the  common  Guinea-hen, 
Numida  meleagris,  is  the  type.  They  have  a  jet-black  plumage  dotted  over  with 
small  bluish-white  or  light-green  spots ;  the  bare  skin  of  the  neck  is  blue  or  purplish, 
some  having  these  parts  diversified  with  bright  red.  The  top  of  the  head  is  covered 
with  a  long,  full,  black  crest,  and  the  primaries  are  buff.  Several  species  also  have  the 
upper  part  of  the  breast  black,  of  a  more  or  less  extensive  area,  sometimes  tinted  with 
chestnut.  The  skin  of  the  neck  is  full,  and  forms  a  pleat  or  fold  behind  and  on  the 


-     FUtttL 


FIG.  101.  —  Aery  Ilium  vulturinum. 


sides.  The  helmeted  Guinea-fowls  have  the  upper  part  of  the  head  bare,  with  a  bony 
crest  in  the  centre,  varying  in  size  according  to  the  species,  and  with  wattles  of  differ- 
ent shape  and  colors  pendant  from  the  angles  of  the  mouth.  These  birds  also  have  a 
general  black  plumage  covered  with  white  spots,  JV.  meleagris  also  having  the  upper 
part  of  the  breast  and  back  brown  with  a  lilac  lustre.  Two  species,  N'.  mitrata  and 
Acryllium  vulturinum,  are  found  in  Madagascar ;  the  one  last-named,  and  all  the  other 
members  of  the  sub-family,  are  found  in  various  portions  of  the  African  continent. 
They  go  in  large  flocks,  are  very  noisy,  extremely  swift  of  foot,  wild  and  wary.  The 
A-  vulturinum  is  a  peculiar  as  well  as  a  very  beautiful  bird,  with  the  lower  part  of 
the  neck,  and  upper  portion  of  the  back  and  breast  covered  with  very  long  lanceolate 


JUNGLE-FOWL.  215 

feathers,  having  white  centres,  succeeded  by  a  line  of  black  and  fringed  with  blue, 
the  black  portion  minutely  dotted  with  white.  The  mantle  is  black,  spotted  with 
white ;  the  centre  of  breast  beautiful  light  blue ;  flanks  rich  purple,  spotted  with 
white,  the  spots  encircled  with  black ;  tail  like  the  mantle,  the  central  rectrices  long 
and  pointed ;  the  head  and  neck  naked,  with  the  exception  of  a  patch  of  short  chest- 
nut feathers  on  the  occiput. 

Two  curious  west  African  birds,  Agelastes  meleagrides,  and  Phasidus  niger,  com- 
pose the  sub-family  Agelastinae.  They  seem  to  be  a  kind  of  link  between  the  jungle- 
fowl,  Gallus,  and  the  Guinea-hens,  having  bare  heads  and  necks,  and  the  tarsi  armed 
with  spurs.  Not  very  much  is  known  about  them,  very  few  specimens  having  been 
obtained.  The  first  has  a  flesh-colored  head  and  neck,  all  the  upper  part  of  breast 
and  back  pure  white,  and  the  rest  of  plumage  black  vermiculated  with  white.  The 
P.  niyer  is  black,  the  feathers  obscurely  mottled  with  brown.  Head  and  neck  flesh- 
color,  and  a  line  of  black  feathers,  very  short,  from  the  base  of  the  bill  to  the  occiput. 
This  last  was  discovered  by  Du  Chaillu  near  Cape  Lopez.  He  states  that  the  species 
is  not  gregarious,  a  male  and  one  or  two  females  at  most  being  found  together,  and  is 
extremely  wild  and  wary. 

The  jungle-fowl  compose  the  sub-family  Gallinse.  There  are  four  well-established 
species,  and  a  possibly  doubtful  fifth,  Gallus  stramineicollis,  from  Sulu.  From  these 
gallant  game-birds  spring  all  the  different  species  of  the  common  fowl.  Two  species 
are  island  forms,  G.  varius  from  Java,  Lombok,  Sumbawa,  and  Flores,  and  G.  lafay- 
etti  from  Ceylon.  The  first  is  remarkable  for  having  the  neck  hackles  square  at  the 
tips,  and  but  a  single  median  wattle,  in  place  of  one  on  each  side  of  the  face,  as  is 
usual  with  other  jungle-fowls.  This  wattle,  and  the  comb,  which  is  not  serrated,  are 
of  brilliant  hues,  the  last  being  green  along  the  head,  succeeded  by  a  narrow  yellow 
line,  then  reddish  shading  off  into  dark  purple,  while  the  wattle  has  two  thirds  of  the 
upper  parts  deep  rose,  then  yellow,  and  the  bottom  deep  green.  The  sides  of  the 
head  are  flesh-color,  and  the  throat  yellow,  both  bare  of  feathers.  The  Ceylon  bird  has 
also  a  curiously  colored  comb,  which  is  serrated  on  the  upper  edge,  of  a  bright  red 
with  a  central  yellow  patch  that  graduates  into  the  surrounding  color.  The  other 
species  are  G.  sonnerati,  of  southern  India ;  and  G.  ferrugineus,  of  north  India,  Assam, 
Burmah,  and  the  Malay  countries ;  also  doubtfully  from  Turkestan  and  the  islands  of 
Sumatra,  Lombok,  and  Timor;  probably  imported  into  the  last  two  named.  As 
their  trivial  name  implies,  these  birds  are  native  of  jungle  tracts  and  deep  forests, 
though  they  will  come  out  into  the  open  cultivated  ground  near  their  retreats  to  glean 
among  the  stubble.  In  such  places,  when  approached,  they  take  wing  readily,  flying 
steadily  with  rapid  beats  and  alternate  sailings,  alighting  at  the  edge  of  the  covert, 
and  run  swiftly  into  some  place  of  concealment.  The  cocks  crow  and  the  hens  cackle 
the  same  as  barn-yard  fowls,  but  in  somewhat  sharper  tones.  The  cocks  usually  carry 
the  tail  drooping,  erecting  it  only  when  challenging  a  rival  or  paying  court  to  the 
bens.  The  males  fight  desperately  among  themselves,  and  death  often  follows  the 
stroke  of  the  terrible  spur.  In  their  wild  state  these  birds  are  said  to  be  monogamous, 
although  some  observers  doubt  if  this  is  always  the  case.  The  above  remarks  apply 
more  particularly  to  the  G.ferrugineus.  Sonnerat's  jungle-fowl  is  not  gregarious,  but 
goes  only  in  small  coveys  or  singly  or  in  pairs.  They  like  the  thin  bamboo  jungle 
and  evergreen  forests,  and  only  congregate  in  numbers  where  food  is  exceptionally 
plenty.  This  species  retains  its  wildness  in  captivity  and  cannot  easily  be  induced  to 
breed.  The  flesh  is  not  very  good,  being  dry  and  hard,  and  the  species  is  considered 


216  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

by  sportsmen  hardly  worth  shooting.  Although  armed  with  very  powerful  spurs, 
they  are  said  by  some  observers  to  be  not  quarrelsome,  and  several  males  and  females, 
will  live  very  quietly  together.  All  these  species  are  omnivorous,  eating  grain,  grass, 
leaves,  seeds,  fruits,  insects,  etc.  The  end  of  the  hackles  of  G.  sonnerati  are  very 
peculiar,  being  formed  of  a  singularly  brittle  substance  like  a  fine  shaving  in  texture. 

The  sub-family  Phasianinae  contains  five  genera,  Ithaginis,  Eiiplocamus,  Lobio- 
phasis,  Thaumalea,  and  Phasianus,  comprising  over  forty  species,  some  of  which  are 
the  most  beautiful  of  the  Phasianida.  The  members  of  the  genus  first  mentioned, 
known  as  the  blood-pheasants,  are  by  some  classed  with  the  partridges,  but  it  would 
seem  that  they  should  more  properly  be  placed  with  the  birds  of  this  family.  They 
are  alpine  species,  the  I.  cruentis,  inhabiting  the  Himmalehs  at  a  height  of  ten  thou- 
sand to  fourteen  thousand  feet.  The  tarsi  are  armed  with  numerous  spin's,  as  many 
as  five  on  one  leg  and  four  on  the  other  having  been  observed  on  the  males.  Three 
species  are  known,  the  one  mentioned,  which  is  found  in  Nepal  and  Sikkim,  the  I.  geof- 
froyi,  from  Moupin  in  north  China  and  Thibet,  and  the  I.  sinensis  from  Chensi. 
Very  little  is  known  of  the  habits  of  the  two  last,  but  the  longer-known  species  has 
been  met  with  in  its  native  wilds  by  several  competent  naturalists.  The  I.  cruentis 
goes  in  flocks  of  twenty  or  thirty  individuals,  always  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
snow,  but  near  the  forests.  In  winter  it  burrows  under  the  snow  for  protection 
against  storm  and  the  severity  of  the  temperature  at  the  great  elevations  at  which  it 
lives.  Its  principal  food  consists  of  the  tops  of  the  pine  and  juniper,  berries  and 
moss.  Its  flesh  has  a  strong  flavor,  and  is  not  very  tender.  The  flight  is  of  very 
short  duration,  and  it  quickly  runs  to  shelter. 

Euplocamus  contains  numerous  species,  some  fourteen  or  more,  and  has  by  differ- 
ent writers  been  divided  into  several  sub-genera,  but  these  have  not  been  generally 
adopted.  The  species  maybe  classed  in  three  divisions, —  the  firebacks,  the  silver  and 
the  kalij  pheasants.  The  first  of  these  is  represented  by  six  or  eight  species  ;  the 
second  by  about  four,  and  the  third  by  three  or  four.  The  firebacks  are  of  two  styles, 
those  with  short,  square,  hen-like  tails  observed  in  both  sexes,  and  those  with  broad, 
rather  lengthened  tails.  They  are  birds  of  very  rich  plumage,  the  lower  portion  of 
the  back  being  bright,  fiery,  metallic  red,  the  face  is  covered  with  bare  skin  extending 
above  the  eyes,  in  some  species  almost  like  horns,  deep  blue  or  bright  red  in  color,, 
and  certain  ones  also  are  adorned  with  full  upright  crests.  They  are  natives  of  Siam, 
the  Malay  peninsula,  Sumatra,  Borneo,  and  Formosa.  The  species  of  the  last-named 
island,  E.  swinhoi,  may  not  strictly  be  included  among  the  true  firebacks,  as  it  lias 
none  of  the  fiery  color  on  the  back,  this  part  being  black,  the  feathers  margined  with 
brilliant  blue,  but  the  entire  scapulars  are  a  deep  chestnut  red.  The  rufous-tailed 
firebacks  are  the  smallest  species  of  the  group,  have  no  crests,  and  the  females  are  also 
armed  with  sharp  spurs.  But  little  is  known  of  the  habits  of  these  splendid  birds, 
save  that  they  frequent  thick  forests,  go  in  small  bands  of  five  or  six  individuals,  feed 
on  berries,  leaves,  insects,  and  various  grubs,  are  difficult  to  flush,  but  when  on  the 
wing  fly  rapidly  and  for  a  considerable  distance,  and  are  very  pugnacious.  Nothing 
is  known  of  the  nidification,  but  an  egg  obtained  from  a  captured  female  of  E.  meilloti, 
was  large,  smooth,  and  of  a  pale  cafe  au  lait  color.  The  Siamese  fireback,  E.  proelatus, 
is  a  particularly  graceful  and  beautiful  bird.  It  has  a  long  blue  upright  crest,  the 
shafts  bare  of  webs  at  the  base;  neck,  breast,  and  back  bluish-ash  color,  mottled  with 
black ;  middle  of  back  golden  ;  rump  and  upper  tail-coverts  black,  with  blue  and  green 
reflections ;  the  feathers  margined  with  deep  velvety  crimson.  The  flanks  and  under 


PHEASANTS. 


217 


parts  are  black,  glossed  with  deep  blue ;  the  tail  and  long  coverts  black,  with  blue  and 
green  reflections.  The  bare  skin  of  the  face  is  crimson ;  the  legs  and  feet  red.  The 
silver-pheasants,  of  which  the  well-known  E.  nycthemerus  of  China  is  typical,  are 
large  birds  with  the  entire  upper  parts  and  tail  white,  and  all  the  feathers  are  more  or 
less  minutely  mottled  with  black.  The  Chinese  species  exhibits  more  white  than  any 
of  the  others,  and  the  two  central  tail-feathers  are  nearly  pure  white,  the  breast  and 
under  parts  bluish  black.  Besides  China,  these  birds  are  natives  of  Burmah  and 


FIG.  102.  —  Euplocamus  nyctliemerus,  silver-pheasant. 

various  parts  of  India.  They  are  forest-loving  birds, 
ascending  as  high  as  three  thousand  to  four  thousand 
feet  upon  the  mountains,  apparently  omnivorous,  feed- 
ing upon  insects,  grain,  seeds,  etc.,  not  gregai'ious, 
and  when  disturbed  utter  a  peculiar  clicking  sound. 
They  are  pugnacious,  and  the  males  are  continually 
fighting.  The  E.  lineatns  breeds  in  March,  the  hen 
laying  seven  or  eight  pale-yellowish  eggs,  minutely 

pitted  all  over,  in  a  slight  hollow  in  the  ground,  thinly  lined  with  leaves  and  a  few 
feathers.  The  third  division  contains  the  kalij  or  kaleege  pheasants,  as  the  term  is  vari- 
ously spelled.  They  inhabit  parts  of  India,  Nepal,  Bhotan,  Sikkim,  Assam,  Arakan,  etc., 
are  four  species  —  possibly  more  —  in  number,  with  long  pendant  crests,  upper  parts  of 
a  generally  glossy  black  plumage  in  some  species,  with  the  rump  feathers  margined  with 
white ;  breast  and  flanks  covered  with  buffy-white  lanceolate  feathers.  One  species,  E. 
horsfieldi,  has  the  under  parts  bluish-black,  like  the  back.  The  tails  are  generally  of  a 
bluish-black  color.  These  birds  range  from  the  foot  of  the  hills  to  eight  thousand 


218 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


feet  of  elevation,  are  not  gregarious  in  the  sense  of  going  in  flocks,  but  three  or  four 
are  often  found  together.  The  males  are  extremely  pugnacious,  and  Wilson  states 
that,  having  shot  one,  and  while  it  was  fluttering  on  the  ground  in  its  death-throes, 
another  male  rushed  out  of  the  jungle  and  attacked  it  with  the  greatest  fury.  Like 
many  of  this  genus,  the  male  kaleege  makes  a  singular  drumming  sound  with  its 
wings,  either  for  the  purpose  of  attracting  the  females,  or  in  defiance  of  its  rivals, 
and  a  favorite  method  of  capturing  these  birds  is  to  fasten  a  live  male  in  some  open 
place,  and  imitate  the  drumming  sound,  when  other  males  rush  out  to  fight  him,  and 
are  easily  shot  or  caught  in  the  snares  set  for  the  purpose.  The  general  habits  and 


FIG.  103.  —  Euplocamus  melanotus. 

nidification  of  the  kaleege  pheasant  are  very  similar  to  the  silver  pheasants  and  others 
of  the  same  genus. 

The  genus  Lobiophasis  contains  but  one  known  species,  L.  bulweri  (the  bird  de- 
scribed afterwards  as  L.  castanei-caudatus,  being  in  immature  plumage),  and  was 
created  for  the  elegant  pheasant  obtained  by  Mr.  Ussher  on  the  Lawas  River  in  Borneo. 
This  bird  in  many  particulars  is  peculiar,  if  not,  indeed,  unique.  There  are  two  erect 
horns  of  nude  skin  behind  the  ears,  and  two  smaller  ones  at  the  base  of  the  nostrils, 
while  two  lobes  hang  from  the  angle  of  the  bill.  The  plumage  is  metallic  of  various 
hues,  and  the  tail  is  pure  white,  the  feathers,  thirty  in  number,  are  rather  stiff,  and  the 
shafts  bare  of  webs  towards  their  extremities.  The  tarsi  are  spurred.  The  female  is 
brownish  chestnut,  all  the  feathers  finely  vermiculated  with  dark  brown.  The  tail  is 


PHEASANTS. 


219 


moderately  long,  and  possesses  the  unusual  number  of  twenty-eight  rectrices.  The 
bare  skin  of  the  face  is  bright  blue,  with  one  small  wattle  at  the  occiput,  and  one  at 
the  chin.  The  tarsi  bear  indications  of  spurs. 

The  golden  pheasant,  noted  for  its  brilliant  colors  and  magnificent  ruff,  is  the  type 
of  the  genus  Thaumalea.  Three  species  are  known,  T.  picta,  T.  obscura,  and  T. 
amherstia.  They  are  all  Asiatic  so  far  as  known,  being  natives  of  Thibet  and  China. 
It  is  difficult  to  conceive  more  gorgeously  attired  creatures  than  these  birds,  and  it  is 


FlG.  104.—  T/ni.niiiii/1-fi  iiiii/iri-xtia,  Lady  Ainherst  pheasant. 

not  easy  to  decide  which  should  bear  the  palm  for  beauty,  the  golden,  with  its  amber- 
colored  crest,  green  metallic  mantle,  orange-red  ruff  tipped  with  deep  blue,  scarlet 
under-parts,  golden  yellow  rump,  and  lengthened  tail,  or  the  Lady  Amherst,  with  its 
crimson,  white-tipped  crest,  pure  white  ruff  margined  with  deep  green,  golden  yellow 
rump  margined  with  dark  green,  metallic  green  breast,  and  pure  white  under-parts, 
and  the  greatly  lengthened  tail  with  the  median  feathers  light  gray  with  bars  of  green 
and  black  mottlings.  Not  much  has  been  recorded  of  the  habits  of  these  pheasants, 


220  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  T.  picta  has  been  so  long  known,  and  of  their  nidification 
nothing  has  been  related.  They  dwell  in  thick  woods  on  the  mountains  of  moderate 
elevation,  and  are  hardy  birds,  the  Lady  Amherst  pheasant  being  indifferent  to  both 
cold  and  snow,  and  is  omnivorous,  like  the  domestic  fowl.  It  is  an  extremely  jealous 
species,  and  will  not  permit  the  golden  pheasant,  its  only  rival,  to  approach  the  bounds 
of  its  habitation.  The  two  species  are  not  met  with  either  in  the  same  valleys  or  on 
the  same  mountains.  The  T.  obscura  resembles  the  T.  picta,  but  is  a  darker  bird  in 
all  stages  of  its  existence,  and  is  stated  to  inhabit  Japan,  although  it  cannot  be  said  that 
this  country  has  undoubtedly  been  established  as  its  habitat. 

The  genus  Phasianus  includes  the  typical  pheasants,  some  sixteen  in  number. 
It  has  been  divided  into  several  genera,  which  have  been  adopted  by  some  writers 
either  wholly  or  in  part,  while  other  authors  prefer  to  consider  them  as  sub-generic 
distinctions.  Thus  Calophasis  was  proposed  for  C.  ellioti,  Graphophasianus  foi  P.  soem- 
meringii,  Syrmaticiis  for  P.  reevesii,  and  Catreus  for  P.  wallichii.  The  first  of  these, 
C.  ettioti,  is  a  most  lovely  bird.  It  is  a  native  of  the  mountains  near  Ningpo,  prov- 
ince of  Che-Kiang,  China,  and  has  the  sides  and  back  of  neck  bluish-gray,  graduating 
into  white ;  chin  and  throat  black ;  back  and  breast  metallic  golden ;  lower  breast 
and  abdomen  pure  white,  flanks  irregularly  barred  with  black,  white,  and  chestnut ; 
under  tail-coverts  deep  chestnut  and  black ;  upper  scapulars  black  margined  with 
white,  forming  a  bar  on  the  shoulder ;  lesser  wing-coverts  maroon  chestnut,  reflecting 
a  fiery  metallic  tint,  greater  coverts  deep  chestnut  with  a  black  bar  followed  by  a 
broad  white  tip,  making  a  white  band  across  the  wing ;  lower  back  and  rump  steel- 
black  barred  with  white,  upper  tail-coverts  gray  mottled  with  black ;  tail  long  and 
barred  alternately  with  stone-gray  and  chestnut,  the  latter  narrowly  bordered  basally 
with  black ;  legs  bluish-gray,  araied  with  well-developed  spurs ;  skin  of  face  scarlet. 
The  hen  is  very  like  a  grouse  in  her  coloring ;  with  a  black  throat,  this  hue  extending 
on  to  the  breast,  under-parts  white ;  side  of  head  reddish  cream-color ;  upper  parts 
yellowish  and  reddish  brown,  barred  and  mottled  with  black.  An  ally  to  this  brilliant 
bird  was  discovered  by  Mr.  Hume  in  Munipur.  It  has  some  of  the  markings  of  C. 
ellioti,  but  differs  in  the  throat  and  upper  breast,  which  is  metallic  blue-black,  and  in 
the  under-parts,  which  are  maroon  chestnut  with  metallic  crimson  fringes  to  the 
feathers.  The  female  has  the  neck,  throat,  and  breast  a  dull  pale  sienna-brown,  abdo- 
men dingy  pale  ochraceous,  upper  parts  and  tail  similar  to  the  hen  of  the  other  species. 
It  is  not  so  handsome  a  bird  as  the  C.  ettioti,  but  nevertheless  is  remarkable  for  its 
peculiar  coloration.  They  dwell  in  the  dense  forests  and  are  very  shy  and  difficult  to 
shoot,  but  not  much  is  known  of  their  economy  and  habits.  Japan  produces  a  beauti- 
tiful  species,  the  -P.  soemmeringii,  and  a  variety  of  it  called  P.  scintillans,  a  most 
attractive  species  with  a  very  long  tail  and  a  plumage  generally  of  a  metallic  copper. 
Very  little  is  known  about  these  birds  in  their  wild  state,  but  in  captivity  they  are 
pugnacious,  the  male  frequently  killing  the  female  when  confined  in  the  same  enclo- 
sure. Another  gorgeous  pheasant  is  the  P.  reevesii  from  northern  China.  This  has  a 
general  golden  yellow  plumage,  each  feather  barred  with  black ;  flanks  white,  the  chestnut 
margin  separated  from  the  white  by  a  black  bar,  the  abdomen  black.  The  tail  is  ex- 
cessively long,  the  central  feathers  sometimes  reaching  five  and  six  feet  in  length. 
They  are  grayish-white,  margined  with  deep  buff,  and  barred  with  black  and  chestnut. 
These  feathers  are  sometimes  worn  by  the  mandarins  in  their  hats.  Reeves'  pheasant 
is  a  large  bird,  and  its  flesh  is  white  and  very  delicate.  It  is  numerous  in  the  Tung- 
ling  or  eastern  burial-places  of  the  Chinese  emperors,  situated  northeast  of  Pekin,  and 


PHEASANTS. 


FIG.  105 — 2'haslanus  reevesii,  Reeves'  pheasant. 


in  other  parts  of  northern  China.  The 
cheer  or  Wallich's  pheasant,  JP.  (catreus) 
wallichii,  is  a  native  of  the  western  Him- 
malehs  to  the  borders  of  Nepal.  It  is  a 
large  bird,  weighing  from  two  pounds  ten 
ounces  to  three  pounds  seven  ounces.  It 
has  a  lengthened  dark-brown  crest,  upper 
parts  yellowish-brown  bound  with  black,  a 
rufous  rump,  ashy  breast,  and  rufous  flanks 
barred  with  black.  The  tail  is  long  and 
broad.  The  cheer  is  a  local  species,  dwell- 
ing at  from  four  thousand  to  eight  thousand 
feet  of  elevation,  and  haunting  grassy  hills 
covered  with  oak  and  pine.  During  the 
day  the  birds  remain  hidden,  coming  out  to 
feed  at  morning  and  evening.  They  run 
fast  and  lie  close,  and  are  difficult  to  flush. 
Both  sexes  crow,  and  may  be  heard,  when 
engaged  in  this  amusement,  for  a  great  dis- 
tance. This  pheasant  feeds  on  roots,  grubs, 
seeds,  berries,  etc.,  and  roosts  on  the  ground, 
all  the  members  of  a  flock,  numbering  from 
six  to  a  dozen  individuals,  huddled  close 
together.  It  nests  from  April  to  June,  the 


222  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

eggs  are  small,  of  a  pale  stone  color,  with  brownish  specks  towards  the  ends.  A  small 
group  of  green-breasted  pheasants  may  be  here  noticed,  consisting  of  three  species  ; 
P.  versicolor  from  Japan,  P.  elegans  from  Sze-chuen,  China,  and  P.  decollatus  from  Sze- 
chuen  and  Moupin.  They  are  all  species  of  beautiful  plumage,  the  green  hues  with 
metallic  reflections  covering  the  entire  under-parts  of  P.  versicolor,  confined  to  a  broad 
band  from  throat  to  vent  in  the  second  named,  the  flanks  being  a  rich  chestnut ;  while 
the  third,  P.  decollatus,  has  the  green  color  restricted  to  the  region  of  the  abdomen, 
with  the  flanks  golden  yellow.  In  habits,  so  far  as  known,  they  resemble  other  mem- 
bers of  this  genus.  The  white-winged  pheasants,  of  which  the  superb  P.  insignis  and 
its  hardly  less  beautiful  relative,  P.  mongolicus,  may  be  considered  as  typical,  form 
another  small  group,  distinguished  by  the  presence  of  a  more  or  less  broad  white  ring 
around  the  lower  part  of  the  neck,  beneath  the  rich  metallic  hues  of  the  head  and  neck. 
They  are  natives  of  various  parts  of  Asia,  China,  and  the  island  of  Formosa.  They  are 
met  with  in  flocks  of  considerable  size  in  the  localities  they  frequent,  and  are  one  of  the 
chief  attractions  for  the  table  to  the  people  inhabiting  the  countries  in  which  they  dwell. 

The  remaining  species  of  the  genus  Phasianus  are  those  without  rings  around  the 
neck,  the  metallic  hues  of  blue  or  green  corning  to  the  breast.  This  group  embraces 
the  well-known  P.  colchicus,  or  common  English  pheasant  so-called,  and  the  superb 
P.  shawi  from  eastern  Turkestan.  The  English  pheasant  was  naturalized  in  Great 
Britain  before  the  Norman  Conquest,  the  earliest  record  being  in  the  year  1059, 
when  it  was  mentioned  in  a  bill  of  fare  now  preserved  in  the  British  Museum.  It  was 
probably  introduced  by  the  Roman  conquerors,  who  also  brought  the  fallow-deer  to 
Britain.  Like  all  of  this  genus,  these  pheasants  are  lovers  of  thickets  and  forests, 
shy,  and,  when  hard  pressed,  taking  refuge  in  trees.  They  have  a  kind  of  one-syllable 
crow,  by  which,  in  the  spring,  the  male  summons  the  female  into  his  presence.  They 
are  omnivorous,  and  the  male  does  not  trouble  himself  with  nest-building  or  the  care 
of  the  young. 

The  sub-family  Meleagrina3  comprises  the  turkeys.  Some  writers  place  these  with 
the  Guinea  fowls  in  a  separate  family,  MELEAGRID^E,  but  it  seems  that  they  should  more 
properly  be  included  as  a  sub-family  of  the  Phasi:mida3,  to  the  species  of  which  they 
are  allied  by  various  characteristics.  But  three  species  are  known,  the  North 
American  bird,  M.  gallopava,  the  Mexican  M.  mexicana,  and  the  Central  American  M. 
ocellata.  The  habits  of  the  common  species  are  so  well  known  that  it  is  unnecessary 
to  devote  any  space  to  them  here.  The  Central  American  species  is  a  bird  of  wonder- 
ful plumage,  excelling  the  others  —  brilliantly  metallic  as  theirs  may  be  —  by  the 
extraordinary  variety  and  splendid  hue  of  its  scintillating  coloring.  The  bare  head 
and  neck  is  deep  blue,  covered  with  bright  red  warts  ;  the  wattle  between  the  eyes  is 
also  deep  blue  ending  in  yellow  ;  the  upper  part  of  the  back  feathers  metallic  green, 
succeeded  by  a  line  of  black,  and  terminating  with  yellow;  back  and  rump  feathers 
blue,  followed  by  black  and  tipped  with  red ;  greater  wing-coverts  deep  red ;  flanks 
and  lower  paits  black  tipped  with  brilliant  red  ;  upper  tail-coverts  and  tail-feathers  light 
brown  mottled  with  black,  followed  by  a  broad  spot  of  deep  blue  margined  on  both 
sides  with  black,  then  a  line  of  yellow  and  tipped  with  deep  red;  bill,  legs,  and  feet 
red.  All  these  bright  colors  are  metallic,  and  as  brilliant  as  those  of  the  humming-bird. 
This  species  goes  in  small  flocks,  is  never  found  in  the  dense  forests,  preferring  dis- 
tricts where  forests  and  open  country  prevail.  The  birds  roost  in  trees,  and  the  male 
struts  in  the  same  manner  as  the  common  species,  and  in  other  of  its  habits  greatly 
resembles  the  M.  gallopavo. 


PHEASANTS. 


223 


The  sub-family  LOPHOPHOEIN^E  contains  three  genera,  Pucrasia,  Ceriornis,  and 
Lophophorus.  The  species  are  inhabitants  of  India  and  Asia,  and  number  about  a 
dozen  in  all.  The  pucras  or  koklass  pheasants,  by  which  trivial  name  the  members  of 
Pucrasia  are  known,  are  found  in  India  and  China.  They  are  chiefly  remarkable  for 
their  long  crests,  the  central  one  springing  from  the  top  of  the  head,  and  the  narrow 
occipital  ones,  on  either  side,  and,  at  times,  these  are  elevated  above  the  other.  They 
have  a  general  brown  and  gray  plumage,  marked  in  various  ways  with  black,  dark 
brown,  chestnut,  and  white,  with  the  breast  and  lower  parts  more  or  less  covered  with 


FiG.  106.—  Meleagris  ocellata,  Central  American  turkey. 

deep  chestnut.  They  have  broad  cuneate  tails,  in  one  species  at  least  (P.  darwini) 
elegantly  marked  and  striped  in  gray,  black,  and  chestnut.  The  habits  of  P.  macro- 
lopha  have  been  thoroughly  described  by  Indian  naturalists,  and  those  of  the  other 
species,  so  far  as  known,  closely  resemble  them.  It  is  a  forest  bird,  ranging  from  4,000 
feet  to  the  extreme  limits  of  forest  on  the  Himmalehs,  is  of  rather  a  solitary  disposi- 
tion, generally  found  singly  or  in  pairs,  except  when  the  members  of  a  brood  are 
together.  When  the  cover  is  slight,  it  flushes  at  once  or  runs  quickly,  but  otherwise 
lies  close.  The  flight  is  extremely  rapid,  and  the  bird  shoots  down  a  declivity  like 


224 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


lightning.  The  males  crow  at  daybreak,  or  at  any  sudden  noise,  like  thunder  or  the 
report  of  a  gun.  The  species  feeds  on  leaves,  buds,  roots,  grubs,  acorns,  seeds,  ber- 
ries, moss,  or  flowers,  and  grain,  and  roosts  in  trees  or  on  low  bushes.  It  nests  at 
elevations  of  from  6,000  to  9,000  feet,  the  breeding-time  lasting  from  April  to  the 
middle  of  June.  The  nest  is  a  slight  depression  in  the  ground,  and  the  eggs,  seven 
to  nine  in  number,  are  a  rich  pale  buff  spotted  with  deep  brownish  red.  The  species 
is  believed  to  be  monogamous. 

The  tragopans — by  which  name  the  members  of  the  genus  Ceriomis  are  known — are 
five  in  number,  and  are  found  in  India  and  China.  They  are  birds  of  extreme  beauty 
of  plumage,  presenting  hues  of  the  most  brilliant  reds,  browns,  buffs,  and  lustrous 


FIG.  107.  —  Ceriomis  satyra,  crimsoii  tragopan. 

blacks.     The  backs  and  breasts  are  usually  covered  with  round  white  spots,  like  those 
seen  in  the  Guinea  fowl,  or  else  with  buff  spots  of  various  sizes  surrounded  with 
A  fleshy  horn,  capable  of  being  erected,  and  of  various  colors  according  to 


black. 


the  species,  exists  on  either  side  of  the  head  ;  and  on  the  lower  part  of  the  throat  is 
an  extensible  wattle  of  brilliant  colors,  in  some  species  deep  blue  barred  with  bright 
red,  or  yellow  and  shining  green.  When  excited  the  males  extend  these  gular  aprons 
over  the  breast,  producing  for  a  moment  a  most  beautiful  effect.  The  best  known  of 
these  birds  are  the  Indian  crimson  tragopan,  C.  satyra,  or  the  black-headed  tragopan, 
C.  melanocephala.  They  are  dwellers  of  the  higher  ranges,  and  are  found  in  summer 
at  heights  varying  from  8,000  to  11,000  feet,  are  essentially  forest  birds,  very  difficult 


PHEASANTS.  225 

to  perceive  in  the  thickets,  in  spite  of  their  rich  plumage,  and,  when  disturbed,  run 
swiftly  to  another  cover.  When  roused  by  dogs,  they  fly  into  trees  and  call  vocifer- 
ously, but  on  man's  approach  they  take  flight,  and  do  not  alight  again  until  a  long 
distance  has  been  traversed.  In  early  spring —  April  —  the  males  begin  to  call,  inviting 
the  females  to  some  chosen  spot.  The  nest  is  roughly  formed  of  grass,  small  sticks 
and  feathers,  and  the  eggs  are  large  and  vary  from  a  pale  cafe  au  lait  color,  to  a  dull 
reddish-buff  minutely  speckled  with  a  darker  shade.  One  of  the  most  characteristic 
points  of  these  birds  is  the  modes  of  '  showing  off '  adopted  by  the  male.  After 
walking  about  in  an  excited  manner  he  places  himself  before  the  female,  with  the 
body  crouching,  and  the  tail  bent  down;  the  head  is  then  jerked  downward,  and  the 
horns  and  wattle  become  conspicuous.  The  wings  have  a  flapping  movement,  and 
the  neck  appears  to  swell  and  the  horns  vibrate.  Suddenly  the  bird  draws  himself  to 
his  full  height,  the  wings  are  expanded  and  quivering,  the  horns  are  erected,  and  the 
wattles  fully  displayed.  At  other  times  he  simply  erects  his  feathers  and  elevates  one 
shoulder,  presenting  a  greater  surface  to  view,  but  does  not  exhibit  the  wattles,  and  a 
third  method  is  to  stand  on  a  perch,  and,  by  shaking  the  head,  exhibiting  for  a  moment 
the  horns  and  wattle.  The  other  known  species  of  Ceriornis  are  C.  blythii  from 
upper  Assam,  C.  caboti  of  southwestern  China,  and  C.  temminckii  of  central  China. 

A  very  curious  -bird  was  procured  by  Abbe  David  in  Moupin,  Thibet,  and  consti- 
tutes the  sole  known  species  of  the  genius  Tetraophasis,  and  is  called  T.  obscurus. 
Possessing  the  powerful  bill  of  the  members  of  Lophophorus,  it  has  none  of  the  bril- 
liant colors  of  those  birds,  but  is  clothed  in  a  plumage  more  like  that  of  the  snow- 
partridges  (  Tetraogallus),  and  would  seem  to  be  a  connecting  link  with  those  species 
and  the  Phasianidae.  The  sexes  ai-e  alike,  their  dress  being  a  combination  of  dark  brown" 
and  gray,  with  a  yellowish-white  abdomen.  It  is  rather  a  large  bird  of  about  twenty 
inches  in  length,  and  is  common  in  the  mountain  ranges  of  eastern  Kakonooi-,  goes  in 
small  flocks  in  the  depths  of  the  forests,  and  feeds  upon  roots  which  it  digs  up  with 
its  powerful  bill. 

The  gorgeously  plumaged  species  of  the  genus  LopJiophorus  are  three  or  four  in  num- 
ber, L.  sclateri,  L.  rhuysii,  and  L.  impeyanus.  It  is  difficult  by  means  of  a  written  de- 
scription to  give  any  idea  of  the  magnificent  appearance  of  these  brilliant  birds  to  any 
one  who  has  not  seen  them.  Their  metallic  hues  of  fiery  red,  green,  purple,  and  gold  vie 
in  beauty  and  in  their  iridescent  quality  with  the.  brightest  of  those  seen  among  the 
humming-birds,  and  if  one  could  imagine  one  of  these  small  flying  gems  increased  to 
the  size  of  a  fowl,  something  of  the  appearance  of  these  monals  might  be  conveyed 
to  the  mind.  Sclater's  monal  from  Assam,  and  L'huysii's  from  Thibet,  are  very  little 
known,  save  that  they  inhabit  the  the  high  ranges  of  mountains.  The  latter  species, 
at  about  14,000  feet  of  elevation,  goes  in  small  flocks  and  feeds  on  roots.  The  im- 
peyan  pheasant,  which  ranges  throughout  the  Himmalehs,  is  well  known,  and  its  econ- 
omy and  habits  are  thoroughly  familiar  through  the  observations  of  many  competent 
naturalists.  In  summer  they  ascend  to  great  elevations,  having  been  met  with  at  a 
height  of  16,000  feet,  but  in  winter,  when  the  snows  are  heavy,  they  descend  some- 
times as  low  as  4,500  feet,  the  females  generally  coming  farther  down  than  the  old 
males.  Occasionally  they  are  found  in  considerable  numbers  scattered  through  the 
forest,  the  sexes  generally  by  themselves,  and  if  they  pair,  which  is  doubtful,  the 
males  leave  the  females  and  pay  no  attention  to  her  while  sitting,  nor  to  the  young 
when  hatched.  The  call  is  a  plaintive  whistle,  sometimes  heard  at  all  hours  of  the 
day.  As  a  rule  they  are  not  wild  save  when  much  hunted,  or  in  the  spring,  and  when 
VOL.  iv.  — 15 


226 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


in  the  forest  will  at  once  take  wing,  but  in  the  open  field  usually  walk  or  run  to 
cover.  They  utter,  when  flushed,  a  succession  of  shrill  whistles,  and,  on  alighting, 
commence  their  plaintive  call.  They  alight  often  in  trees,  and  remain  motionless, 
sometimes  permitting  a  sufficiently  near  approach  to  be  killed  with  a  shot-gun.  They 
feed  on  grubs  or  maggots,  which  they  find  under  leaves,  etc.,  and  pass  a  great  part  of 
their  time  digging  In  the  ground  with  their  powerful  bills.  The  flesh  is  delicate,  simi- 
lar to  the  turkey's,  being  especially  well  flavored  in  autumn  and  winter.  Great  num- 
bers are  killed  for  their  skins,  and  in  some  places  they  have  been  almost  exterminated 
in  order  to  satisfy  this  pernicious  demand  of  fashion  in  civilized  lands.  They  breed 
at  high  elevations  (7,000  to  12,000  feet),  make  little  or  no  nest,  and  the  eggs,  four  to 


FIG.  108. —  Crossoptilon  mantchuricum,  eared-pheasant. 

six  in  number,  are  a  dull  white,  speckled  with  reddish-brown.  The  sexes  are  entirely 
unlike  in  plumage,  the  female  having  none  of  the  brilliant  colors  so  characteristic  of 
the  male.  The  cocks  weigh  from  four  pounds  six  ounces  to  five  pounds  and  a  half ; 
the  females  a  little  less.  The  crests  of  all  the  species  of  X/ophophorus  are  different, 
that  of  the  impeyan  having  the  shafts  bare  of  webs  at  the  base,  with  metallic  green 
spatules  at  the  tips.  L.  Vhuysii  has  a  full,  lengthened  crest,  metallic  green  with 
purple  reflections ;  but  L.  sclateri  has  the  top  of  the  head  covered  with  short,  curly, 
recurved,  green-  feathers.  All  of  the  species  have  the  back  of  the  neck  brilliant  me- 
tallic red,  extending  on  to  the  back  on  the  two  last  named,  but  changing  in  L.  impey- 
anus  in  certain  lights  to  a  golden  yellow. 

The  eared-pheasants  of  the  genus  Crossoptilon  are  four  in  number,  and  the  females 
only  differ  from  the  males  by  wanting  spurs.     They  receive  their  trivial  name  from 


PHEASANTS.  227 

the  presence  of  a  band  of  white  feathers  which  extends  from  the  throat  on  both  sides 
of  the  neck,  and  projects  above  and  beyond  the  occiput  like  ears.  They  are  large, 
graceful,  and  imposing-looking  birds,  very  gentle  and  confiding  in  disposition,  dwelling 
in  the  forests  of  the  high  mountain  ranges  of  Thibet  and  China.  The  Chinese  species 
are  C.  mantchuricum  and  C.  auritum ;  the  first  has  the  back  and  breast  purplish 
black ;  rump  and  upper  tail-coverts  grayish  white ;  flanks  and  under  tail-coverts  leaden 
gray;  tail-feathers  grayish  white  at  the  base,  purplish  blue  at  the  ends.  The  other 
species  has  a  general  uniform  ashy  blue  plumage ;  the  middle  tail-feathers  are  black, 
with  green  and  violet  reflections,  the  lateral  ones  white  or  nearly  so,  the  end  colored 
like  the  median  ones.  The  Thibetan  species  are  C.  thibetanum,  and  C.  drouynii, 
and  have  a  general  pure  white  plumage,  with  the  crown  of  head  velvety  black.  They 
differ  from  each  other  in  the  wings  and  tail,  —  the  first  having  the  secondaries  dark 
lead-color,  and  the  primaries  dark  rufous  brown ;  while  the  tail  is  black,  glossed  with 
green,  and  with  a  white  stripe  on  the  outer  webs  of  the  lateral  feathers.  On  the 
other  hand  the  C.  drouynii  has  wings  grayish  white,  and  the  tail  is  dark  gray,  with 
the  ends  steel-blue,  the  central  portions  of  the  feathers  having  violet  and  coppery 
green  reflections.  The  median  rectrices  of  all  the  species  have  their  webs  very 
loose  and  long,  and  they  fall  over  the  other  feathers  on  either  side.  The  tail  is  carried 
in  a  drooping  posture.  There  is  also  a  nude  crimson  skin  around  the  eyes  of  the  four 
species. 

For  a  long  time  a  species  of  the  genus  Argus  was  supposed  to  exist,  on  account  of 
some  feathers  in  the  Paris  Museum,  which  resembled  somewhat  the  long  tail-feathers 
of  the  known  species.  Latterly,  however,  an  entire  specimen  of  the  bird  has  been 
obtained  from  the  interior  of  Tonquin,  which  shows  that  the  species  belong  to  a  dif- 
ferent genus,  and  the  term  Rheinardius  has  been  proposed  for  it.  The  JR.  ocellatus 
does  not  possess  the  long  secondaries,  nor  the  lengthened  median  rectrices  of  Argus, 
but  the  tail  is  composed  of  twelve  large,  graduated  feathers,  and  the  head  is  not  bare. 
The  rectrices  are  dark,  ash-gray,  covered  with  large  reddish  spots  with  black  centres, 
oblong  in  form,  but  lengthened  into  lines  toward  the  margin  of  the  webs.  The  feathers 
are  very  broad,  graduate  to  a  sharp  point,  and  about  four  and  a  half  feet  long. 

The  true  argus  pheasants  are  so  well  known  that  a  description  of  their  plumage  would 
be  quite  unnecessary.  There  are  but  two  species,  the  common  Argus  giganteus  of  upper 
India,  the  Malay  Peninsula,  and  Sumatra,  and  the  A.  grayi  of  Borneo.  Nothing  is 
known  of  the  habits  of  the  latter,  but  several  competent  observers  have  related  some 
facts  regarding  the  commoner  species.  Both  sexes  live  quite  alone,  each  male  having 
a  clear  spot  in  the  jungle,  which  he  keeps  scrupulously  clean.  These  places  are  » 
probably  used  for  exhibition  grounds,  for  the  males  at  certain  seasons  strut  after  the 
manner  of  the  peacock;  but  instead  of  the  train,  which  the  argus  does  not  possess, 
the  long  wing-feathers  are  elevated,  and  the  secondaries,  with  their  numerous  eyes  or 
spots,  are  arranged  in  a  semicircle,  the  spread  tail  filling  the  space  between  the  wings 
completing  the  circle,  and  producing  a  very  beautiful  effect.  They  rarely  fly,  but  escape 
by  running  and  hiding,  no  difficult  matter  in  the  dense  jungles  they  frequent.  The 
females  have  no  especial  place  of  resort,  but  roam  about  the  forest,  visiting  occasionally 
the  male  in  his  abode.  The  food  consists  of  fruit  and  insects  of  various  kinds.  The 
female  builds  a  rude  nest,  lays  seven  or  eight  eggs,  said  to  be  cream-color  speckled 
with  brown.  The  Bornean  species  is  smaller,  has  a  red  breast,  a  black  tail,  and  is 
differently  marked  on  the  wings  and  back. 

The  genus  Polyplectron  is  so  called  on  account  of  its  members  having  several  spurs 


228 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


upon  the  tarsi.  They  are  very  beautiful  birds,  the  feathers  of  the  wings  and  tail  being 
covered  with  ocelli  of  brilliant  metallic  colors,  of  blue,  green,  or  purple,  sometimes  with 
red  reflections.  There  are  several  species  known,  inhabiting  Burmah,  India,  and 
the  Malay  countries,  also  in  Cochin  China  and  the  islands  of  Sumatra,  Borneo,  and  the 
Philippines.  One  species  also  is  a  native  of  Thibet.  They  are  very  shy  and  timid 
birds,  frequenting  dense  jungles,  through  which  they  run  rapidly,  and  hide  and  skulk 
so  closely  as  to  make  it  almost  an  impossibility  to  discover  them.  Some  species  are 


FIG.  109.  —  Polyplectron  bicalcaratum,  peacock-pheasant. 

found  on  the  mountains  at  elevations  of  5,000  feet  above  the  sea,  but  as  a  rule  they 
are  met  with  at  more  moderate  heights.  Not  much  is  known  of  the  nidification  of 
these  splendid  creatures,  the  nest  of  only  one  species  having  been  procured  in  the 
countries  they  inhabit,  viz.,  that  of  P.  tktbetanum,  which  was  found  in  Cachar,  and 
was  placed  at  the  foot  of  a  large  bush  standing  amongst  grass  and  cane  jungle.  It 
was  about  nine  inches  in  diameter  and  three  inches  in  depth,  made  of  twigs  and  leaves 
roughly  put  together,  with  a  slight  lining  of  the  bird's  own  feathers.  The  eggs  were 
a  cafe  au  lait  color.  Two  are  generally  the  complement  of  a  nest.  The  young  are 


MEGAPODES.  229 

covered  with  down,  and  follow  the  mother  closely  in  search  of  food.  She  is  accus- 
tomed to  spread  her  fan-like  tail,  and  the  young  keep  beneath  it  and  are  thus  protected 
from  showers  and  enemies  of  the  air,  as  they  only  appear  when  called  to  pick  up  some 
food  the  hen  has  found.  The  species  known,  beside  the  one  already  named,  are, 
P.  bicalcaratum,  P.  germanii^  P.  helence,  P.  schleiermachi,  P.  chalcurum,  and  P. 
napoleonis. 

The  genus  Pavo  contains  the  peacocks,  of  which  there  are  two  distinct  species, 
and  one  which  is  very  doubtfully  distinct.  The  common  species,  P.  cristatus,  is 
known  to  everyone,  and  this  gorgeous  bird,  so  little  appreciated  because  it  is  so  famil- 
iar, is  very  plentiful  in  the  forests  and  jungles,  as  well  as  in  open  places  in  India  and 
Ceylon.  It  delights  in  hilly  and  mountainous  districts,  and  it  appears  to  be  a  curious 
fact  that  whenever  peafowl  are  met  with  in  the  jungle,  it  is  a  pretty  sure  sign  that 
tigers  are  in  the  vicinity.  Whether  the  tigers  rely  upon  the  bird's  ability  to  detect 
the  approach  of  enemies,  for  they  are  very  wary  and  always  on  the  lookout,  or  whether 
the  agile  cat  watches  them  in  order  to  secure  one  or  more  for  a  meal,  is  unknown,  but 
probably  both  of  these  suppositions  influence  the  beast  to  seek  the  bird's  resorts. 
The  peafowl  go  in  flocks,  sometimes  in  very  large  numbers,  and  it  is  a  beautiful  sight 
when  they  take  wing,  their  long  trains  glistening  in  the  sun.  The  hens  lay  from 
April  to  October  according  to  the  locality,  and  the  eggs,  eight  or  ten  in  number,  of  a ' 
dull  brownish  white  color,  are  placed  on  the  bare  ground  in  the  most  secluded  part  of 
the  jungle.  The  young  males  retain  a  plumage  like  that  of  the  hen  for  a  year  or 
eighteen  months,  and  the  train,  which  is  composed  of  the  upper  tail-coverts,  not  the  tail- 
feathers,  is  not  perfected  until  the  third  year.  Peafowl  are  omnivorous,  and  they  eat 
insects,  worms,  reptiles,  flesh,  fish,  grain,  etc.  The  Javan  peafowl  (P.  muticus)  is,  as 
its  trivial  name  implies,  a  native  of  Java,  but  is  not  resti'icted  to  that  island,  being 
found  also  in  the  Burmese  and  Malay  countries,  Ceylon,  and  possibly  Sumatra.  It  is 
a  handsomer  bird  than  the  common  peacock,  having  the  crest,  head,  and  neck  rich 
green,  and  the  breast  bluish-green  margined  with  gold.  Its  back  is  bright  copper- 
color  barred  with  green  and  light  brown,  and  the  upper  tail-coverts  are  a  rich  green 
with  gold  and  copper-color  reflections.  The  train  is  similar  to  that  of  P.  cristatus, 
but  more  bronzy  in  color.  The  two  species  resemble  each  other  in  their  habits.  A 
third  supposed  species,  P.  nigripennis,  in  appearance  like  P.  cristattis,  with  black 
shoulders  to  the  wings,  is  probably  but  a  melanitic  variety  of  the  common  bird. 

SUB-ORDER  II.  —  GALLLN^E-PERISTEROPODES. 

The  Peristeropodous  Gallinae  comprises  two  families,  the  Megapodidaj  and  the  Cra- 
cida?,  containing  those  gallinaceous  birds  with  feet  like  pigeons,  or  all  four  toes 
placed  upon  the  same  plane,  the  hallux  not  being  raised,  as  is  the  case  with  the  species 
of  the  other  families  included  in  this  order. 

Two  sub-families  are  generally  acknowledged  in  the  family  MEGAPODID^E,  viz., 
MfLrapodina3,  containing  two  genera  and  between  twenty-five  and  thirty  species,  and 
Talegallinae  also  with  three  genera  and  six  species.  The  extraordinary  method  of 
nidification  adopted  by  these  birds  is  unparalleled  in  the  whole  range* of  Ornithology, 
and  they  are  the  first  feathered  inventors  of  an  artificial  incubator  to  take  the  place  of 
the  mother,  and  provide  the  warmth  necessary  to  develop  the  embryo  contained  in 
the  egg  into  the  perfect  chick,  which  is  ordinarily  supplied  by  the  parent's  body. 
The  Megapodes  are  usually  rather  small  birds,  but  with  enormous  feet,  and  dwell  in 


230  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

the  thick  brush  near  the  sea-shore.  Some  species  go  in  large  flocks,  the  Megapodius 
nicobariensis  having  been  met  with  in  coveys  of  from  thirty  to  fifty,  but  the  majority 
of  this  genus  are  more  usually  met  with  in  pairs  and  in  quite  small  parties.  They  are 
natives  of  Australia,  New  Guinea,  the  islands  of  the  eastern  archipelago,  and  of  the 
Pacific  Ocean.  As  their  habits  and  economy  are  generally  alike,  a  description  of 
those  of  M.  tumulus  from  Australia  will  answer  for  all  the  species  of  the  genus. 

The  Australian  megapode  is  accustomed  to  seize  with  his  foot  a  mass  of  soil,  dead 
leaves,  and  other  kinds  of  vegetable  matter,  and  with  a  powerful  kick  backwards 
throw  it  to  a  common  centre.  The  males  assist  the  females  in  the  operation  of  build- 
ing the  mound.  By  the  constant  accumulation  of  soil,  and  vegetable  refuse,  a  conical 
mound  is  built,  and  this  is  added  to  year  after  year  by  the  original  builders,  or  others, 
perhaps  their  descendants,  until  they  grow  to  a  size  that  is  almost  incredible.  One, 
the  largest  that  seems  to  be  on  record,  was  situated  on  the  island  of  Nogo  in 
Endeavour  Straits,  and  measured  no  less  than  150  feet  in  circumference ;  and  to  form 
this  huge  accumulation  of  materials  the  ground  had  been  scraped  bare  in  the  vicinity, 
even  some  shallow  excavations  having  been  made.  The  larger  end  was  elevated  14 
feet  above  the  ground,  and  the  slope  measured  in  different  directions  18,  21£,  and 
24  feet.  Usually  these  mounds  are  formed  of  a  light  vegetable  soil,  but  occasionally 
they  consist  of  sifted  gravel  intermixed  with  portions  of  soil  and  decayed  wood,  and 
are  generally  conical  in  form ;  but  one  specimen  was  described  as  resembling  a  bank 
from  twenty-five  to  thirty  feet  in  length,  with  an  average  height  of  five  feet.  Some 
of  these  mounds  are  doubtless  very  ancient,  and  trees  a  foot  in  diameter  have  been 
found  growing  from  the  centre  of  the  mass.  After  a  mound  has  been  constructed,  or 
an  old  one  rebuilt  and  arranged  to  suit  them,  the  eggs  are  laid  at  a  depth  of  five 
to  six  feet  from  the  surface,  the  hen  scratching  a  hole  in  the  vegetable  matter  for 
the  purpose.  It  is  then  covered  and  left.  The  eggs  are  always  deposited  at  night, 
and  the  holes  in  which  they  are  placed  generally  run  in  an  oblique  direction  so  that 
they  are  nearer  the  side  of  the  mound  than  they  are  to  the  summit.  The  exact  num- 
ber laid  by  a  hen  is  not  known,  but  four  have  been  taken  at  one  time.  After  the  hen 
has  laid  her  complement  of  eggs,  they  are  left  to  be  hatched  by  the  heat  of  the  decom- 
posing mass,  and  the  chick  appears  fully  feathered  and  able  to  fly.  How  the  young 
make  their  way  to  the  surface  is  a  mystery,  but  once  out  they  can  take  care  of  them- 
selves very  well.  At  first  they  remain  about  the  mound,  but  in  a  few  days  they  may 
be  found  a  long  distance  from  it,  and  if  disturbed  they  run  off,  or  fly  into  some  tree 
for  refuge.  These  mounds  are  always  constructed  in  some  dense  thicket,  never  in  the 
open  field,  and  it  can  generally  be  known  when  a  bird  has  visited  any  one  of  them  by 
the  tracks  left  upon  its  sides.  The  megapode  never  goes  far  inland,  keeping  about 
the  beach  or  along  the  banks  of  creeks.  It  feeds  on  roots,  which  it  scratches  up  with 
its  powerful  claws,  seeds,  berries,  and  insects.  It  is  very  shy  and  rarely  seen.  The 
flight  is  heavy  and  not  continued,  and  generally,  when  disturbed,  the  bird  takes  refuge 
in  a  tree.  At  night  they  keep  up  a  noisy  cackling,  and  utter  a  hoarse  note  during  the 
day.  The  eggs  are  white,  but  after  being  deposited,  a  crust,  colored  somewhat  ac- 
cording to  the  soil  in  which  it  is  placed,  forms  upon  the  shell,  which,  however,  readily 
chips  off.  They  vary  in  size,  but  are  about  3£  by  2£  inches,  and  both  ends  are 
equal.  The  Australian  megapode  is  about  the  size  of  a  common  fowl.  They  possess 
a  complete,  thick,  and  muscular  gizzard.  The  Nicobar  megapode,  M.  nicobariensis^ 
seems  to  differ  slightly  in  certain  of  its  habits  from  the  Australian  species,  for  the 
natives  state  that  a  pair  and  all  its  progeny  use  and  add  to  a  mound  year  after  year, 


BR  USH-TURKE  YS.  231 

and  that  out  of  one  of  these,  about  five  feet  high  and  sixteen  or  eighteen  feet  in  diam- 
eter, as  many  as  twenty  eggs  had  been  taken  in  one  month. 

Leipoa  ocellata,  the  other  generic  form  of  this  sub-family,  also  possesses  this  curious 
habit  of  mound-building,  but  the  eggs  are  deposited  in  a  very  different  manner  from 
that  related  of  the  Australian  megapode.  Instead  of  being  placed  in  holes  in  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  mound,  they  are  laid  in  the  centre,  all  at  the  same  depth  and  arranged 
in  a  circle  about  three  inches  apart,  with  the  small  end  downwards,  and  eight  eggs 
are  about  the  largest  number  in  one  nest.  The  mounds  of  this  bird  are  also  con- 
structed somewhat  differently.  A  hole  is  first  scratched  in  the  soil,  and  this  filled 
with  dead  leaves,  grass,  and  similar  materials,  and  then  a  huge  mass  of  a  similar  sub- 
stance is  raised  about  it.  Over  this  a  quantity  of  sand  mixed  with  dried  grass  is 
thrown  until  the  whole  assumes  the  conical  form.  When  an  egg  is  laid,  a  receptacle 
having  been  made  for  it  at  the  edge  of  the  hole  in  the  centre,  it  is  at  once  covered  up. 
A  second  is  laid  on  the  same  plane,  but  on  the  opposite  side ;"  the  third  is  placed  at  the 
third  corner,  and  the  fourth  opposite  to  it,  and  then  the  succeeding  ones  in  the  inter- 
stices left,  so  that  the  complement  forms  a  circle.  The  young  are  said  to  dig  them- 
selves out,  and  the  mother,  who  is  always  near,  takes  entire  charge  of  the  brood,  the 
young  remaining  with  her  until  half  grown.  The  Leipoa  is  a  slender  and  rather 
gracefully  formed  bird,  with  short  legs  and  is  about  twenty-four  inches  in  length. 

The  sub-family  Telegallinae  has  three  genera,  Megacephalon,  Talegallus^  and  -^Zpy- 
podius,  the  first  with  one  species,  the  second  with  four,  and  the  last  with  two.  The 
interesting  bird  known  as  Megacephalon  maleo  is  a  native  of  Celebes,  and  is  confined 
to  the  littoral  parts  of  the  island.  It  abounds  in  the  forests,  and  feeds  on  fruits,  de- 
scending to  the  sea-beach  in  the  months  of  August  and  September  to  deposit  its  eggs. 
This  bird  does  not  raise  a  mound  as  the  megapodes  do,  as  its  feet  are  not  formed  for 
grasping,  and  the  claws  are  short  and  straight,  but  it  excavates  holes  in  the  sand  four 
or  five  feet  in  diameter,  and  in  these,  at  a  depth  of  one  or  two  feet,  the  eggs  are  de- 
posited. There  are  sometimes  as  many  as  eight  eggs  in  one  hole,  each  laid  by  a  sep- 
arate bird.  The  eggs,  for  the  size  of  the  species,  are  enormous,  being  4.3  inches  long 
and  2.4  inches  wide,  and  of  a  pale  brownish  red.  The  egg  quite  fills  the  lower  cavity 
of  the  bird's  body,  and  about  thirteen  days  elapse  between  the  laying  of  each  egg. 
After  they  are  all  deposited,  the  hen  pays  no  further  attention  to  them,  and  the 
young,  on  emerging  from  the  shell,  dig  themselves  out,  and  run  off  into  the  adjoining 
forest.  The  maleo  is  a  handsome  bird,  the  upper  parts  and  tail  being  glossy  black,  and 
the  under  parts  rosy  white.  The  head  and  neck  are  bare,  and  on  the  head  is  a  kind 
of  helmet  formed  by  the  backward  prolongation  of  the  cranium  into  a  cellular  mass. 

The  four  species  of  Talegallus  are  the  well-known  T.  lathami  of  Australia,  and  the 
T.  cuvieri,  T.jobiensis  and  T.  fuscirostris  of  New  Guinea  and  some  of  the  other 
islands  of  the  eastern  archipelago.  They  construct  mounds  similar  to  those  of  the 
megapodes,  but  several  females  deposit  their  eggs  together,  and  it  is  said  that  nearly 
half  a  bushel  of  eggs  have  been  procured  in  the  same  mound.  The  natives  state  that 
the  mound  is  always  opened  by  the  male  when  the  hens  desire  to  lay,  and  the  eggs 
are  placed  in  a  circle  with  the  thin  end  downwards.  When  stalking  about  the  woods 
the  talegallus  utters  a  loud  clucking  noise  and  runs  rapidly  through  the  brush  when 
disturbed,  or  takes  refuge  in  a  tree.  It  is  nearly  as  large  as  a  female  turkey,  and  has 
the  upper  surface,  wings,  and  tail  blackish-brown  ;  under  surface  blackish-brown,  the 
feathers  silver-gray  at  the  tip  ;  skin  of  the  head  and  neck  deep  pink  red,  sprinkled 
with  short,  blackish-brown  feathers ;  wattle,  bright  yellow.  The  female  resembles  the 


232 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


male,  but  is  smaller.    The  third  genus,  uffipypodius,  has  two  species  from  New  Guinea 
and  Waigu ;  but  little  is  known  of  them. 

The  second  family  of  this  sub-order  is  the  CRACID^E,  divided  into  three  sub-families, 
with  between  fifty  and  sixty  species.  They  are  inhabitants  of  the  tropical  portions  of 
the  New  World,  and  although  there  is  no  important  difference  in  their  osteological 
structure  and  that  of  the  Megapodidae,  they  are  entirely  different  in  their  economy 


FIG.  110. —  Taleyallus  lathami,  brush-turkey. 

and  habits.  While  the  megapodes  are  terrestrial  birds,  passing  the  greater  portion  of 
their  existence  upon  the  ground,  the  Cracidae  are  essentially  arboreal,  build  nests  in 
the  trees,  and  incubate  their  eggs  like  true  birds. 

The  first  sub-family,  Oreophasinse,  with  its  single  species,  Oreophasis  derbyanus,  is 
a  native  of  Guatemala  and  the  woods  of  the  Volcan  de  Fuego  to  a  height  of  10,000 
feet.  It  is  apparently  rare  even  in  the  localities  it  frequents,  and  not  much  is  known  of 
its  habits,  beyond  the  fact  that  it  frequents  the  upper  branches  of  the  forest  trees, 


CURASSOWS.  233 

searching  for  fruit,  which  it  eats  whether  ripe  or  unripe,  and,  as  the  day  advances, 
descends  to  the  under-wood,  where  it  remains  scratching  among  the  leaves.  It  is  a  very 
handsome  species,  having  the  upper  parts  black,  with  blue  reflections ;  a  broad  white 
band  across  the  middle  of  the  tail ;  breast  white,  striped  with  black ;  throat,  abdomen, 
and  thighs  black ;  the  bill  yellow ;  a  vertical,  moderately-high  helmet,  composed  of 
bony  tissues,  upon  the  top  of  the  head,  is  red,  as  are  also  the  legs  and  feet.  The  female 
is  like  the  male,  but  smaller. 

Penelopince  contains  seven  genera,  Ortalis,  Chamcepetes,  Aburria,  Pipile,  Penelo- 
pina,  Penelope,  and  Stegnolcema.  This  sub-family  contains  among  its  species  the 
smallest  of  the  Cracidae,  and  they  range  in  total  length  from  sixteen  inches  to  twenty- 
six  inches,  those  of  the  least  size  belonging  to  the  genus  Ortalis.  They  are  found 
from  southern  Texas  through  Mexico,  Central  America,  and  South  America  to  Para- 
guay. They  are  graceful  birds,  with  long  tails  and  variegated  plumage,  with  bare 
skin  on  the  throat  or  around  the  eyes,  or  both,  and  the  heads  decorated  in  certain 
species  with  various  kinds  of  crest.  Like  all  of  the  Cracidae  they  are  forest  birds, 
dwelling  much  upon  the  trees,  and  descending  to  the  ground  in  search  of  food.  Ortalis 
vetula  has  been  procured  in  Texas,  and  has  been  remarked  for  its  loud  and  peculiar 
cry,  which  in  harshness  and  compass  is  fully  equal  to  that  of  the  Guinea  fowl.  At 
sunrise  the  male,  on  descending  from  the  tree  where  he  has  passed  the  night,  mounts 
upon  some  old  log  and  commences  his  clear  cry,  which  is  taken  up  by  the  female,  and 
so  one  pair  after  another  join  in  the  chorus,  until  the  whole  woods  ring  with  their 
voices.  After  this  morning  song  of  praise  has  terminated,  the  birds  separate  to  seek 
their  early  meal.  If  surprised  when  thus  occupied,  they  fly  into  the  trees  and  salute 
the  intruder  with  many  croaks.  The  seven  or  eight  white  eggs  are  deposited  in  a  nest 
on  the  ground  at  the  root  of  a  tree  or  side  of  a  log,  where  a  hole  has  been  scratched 
several  inches  deep.  This  is  lined  with  leaves,  and  the  eggs  are  always  carefully  cov- 
ered when  the  hen  goes  away  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  food.  The  0.  leucogastra 
is  abundant  in  parts  of  Central  America,  and  makes  its  nest  of  twigs,  in  a  low  bush ; 
the  young  run  as  soon  as  freed  from  the  shell,  and,  clinging  to  the  branches  of  the 
underwood,  are  very  nimble  and  difficult  to  capture. 

The  species  of  Chamcepetes  have  the  throat  feathered,  the  circlet  of  the  eye  and  the 
lores  are,  however,  naked.  It  is  said  that  C.  unicolor,  when  flying  in  a  downward  direc- 
tion, produces  a  loud  rushing  noise  similar  to  the  drumming  sound  of  the  snipe,  when, 
after  rising  to  a  great  height,  it  descends  towards  the  ground  with  great  velocity  on 
stiffened  wings.  The  single  species  of  the  genus  Aburria  is  a  dark-green  bird,  with 
copper  reflections  on  its  plumage,  and  is  remarkable  for  the  pendant  wattle  at  the  lower 
part  of  the  throat.  It  is  a  native  of  New  Granada.  The  members  of  the  four  other 
genera  are  rather  large  birds,  the  throat  of  most  of  the  species  being  destitute  of 
feathers,  and  the  skin  dilatable  ;  the  plumage  is  bright,  or  of  a  quasi-metallic  col- 
oring, and  tails  are  long  and  ample. 

The  last  sub-family,  Cracina?,  contains  the  curassows,  large,  handsome  birds, 
dwellers  in  the  thick  forests,  where  they  rest  and  roost  upon  the  highest  limbs  of  the 
trees.  There  are  four  genera,  Pauxis,  Mitua,  Nbthocrax,  and  Crax,  the  various  sec- 
tions distinguished  by  certain  characteristics,  such  as  a  bony  helmet,  swelling  at  the 
highest  point  into  a  club  shape,  and  rising  over  the  base  of  the  bill  and  forehead,  but 
no  crest,  seen  in  the  first-named  genus ;  a  swelling  of  the  base  of  the  culmen,  and  a 
short,  feathery  crest,  witnessed  in  Mitua  ;  a  bare  loral  space  and  straggling,  thin  crest, 
extending  from  the  forehead  down  the  back  of  the  neck,  of  the  single  species  of  Notho- 


234 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


erase,  and  the  full-feathered  recurved  crest,  swollen  culmen,  and  fleshy  wattles  pendant 
from  the  base  of  the  mandible  of  the  species  of  Crax.  The  plumage  is  mostly  black 
and  white ;  the  females,  when  they  do  differ  from  the  males,  which  is  but  seldom,  being 
generally  rufous  on  the  underparts,  with  the  back  and  wings  mottled  with  light  brown 
or  white.  The  curassows  inhabit  Central  and  South  America,  only  one  species,  Crax 
globicera,  being  found  north  of  Panama,  ranging  into  western  Mexico.  Nothocrax 
urumutum  is  said  to  have  one  habit  which  causes  it  to  differ  from  all  other  members 


^E*e^S^ 

^T- 

FlG.  111.  —  Crax  alector,  crested  curassow. 


of  the  sub-family,  and  one  which  makes  the  bird  extremely  difficult  to  capture,  and 
this  is,  its  custom  of  living  in  burrows  or  holes  in  the  ground.  The  natives  state  that 
it  remains  in  its  place  of  concealment  during  the  day,  coming  out  at  night  and  ascend- 
ing to  the  top  branches  of  the  loftiest  trees  in  search  of  food.  The  Indians  take  up 
their  positions  in  the  forest  where  they  first  hear  the  birds,  remaining  all  night,  and 
shoot  them  just  before  sunrise  as  they  descend  to  return  to  their  underground  abodes. 
All  the  curassows  have  very  gentle  and  confiding  dispositions,  are  easily  tamed,  breed 
well  in  captivity,  and  in  their  native  countries  are  frequently  kept  by  the  inhabitants 


SAND-GROUSE.  235 

and  allowed  to  run  with  barnyard  fowls.  They  go  in  considerable  flocks ;  their  nests 
are  large  and  rather  clumsy  affairs,  built  of  sticks,  leaves,  and  grass ;  the  eggs  are  white 
and  rather  large ;  and  the  birds  themselves  are  much  sought  after  for  the  table,  as 
their  flesh  is  delicate  and  palatable,  similar  to  that  of  the  turkey.  With  this  group 
the  list  of  the  species  properly  considered  as  belonging  to  the  order  Gallinae  ends. 
The  species,  as  will  have  been  observed,  are  very  numerous  and  of  great  variety,  and 
form  one  of  the  most  —  if  not,  indeed,  the  most  —  important  group  of  birds  in  the 
entire  range  of  ornithology. 

ORDER  XIII.  — PTEROCLETES. 

The  sand-grouse,  which  form  this  order,  have  usually  been  included  by  naturalists 
in  the  order  Gallinae,  but  the  obvious  impropriety  of  this  has  at  length  been  conceded, 
and  they  are  now  elevated  to  a  distinct  order,  lying  between  the  Alectoromorphae  on 
the  one  hand  and  the  Peristeromorphaa  on  the  other.  They  resemble  the  first  of  these 
great  groups  in  their  skull,  palatines,  maxillo-palatines,  and  bill ;  and  the  second  in 
their  pterygoid  and  basipterygoid  processes,  sternum,  furcula,  coracoid,  and  fore- 
limbs.  The  feet,  with  its  short  hallux,  entirely  wanting  in  Syrrhaptes,  and  the  short 
tarso-metatarsus,  are  very  unlike  a  pigeon's.  The  vocal  organs  are  pigeon-like ;  the 
trachea  is  cartilaginous,  with  a  pair  of  laryngeal  muscles  at  its  bifurcation ;  but  the 
crop,  gizzard,  gall-bladder,  and  small  intestines  are  like  those  of  Gallinaceous  birds. 
The  cceca  coli  are  voluminous,  and  have  twelve  continuous  longitudinal  folds  in  their 
mucous  membrane.  The  pterylosis  differs  somewhat  from  that  of  the  pigeon.  The 
lateral  neck-spaces  reach  only  to  the  beginning  of  the  neck ;  the  superior  wing-space 
is  absent ;  the  lumbar  tracts  coalesce  with  the  posterior  part  of  the  dorsal  tract,  and 
the  latter  joins  the  plumage  of  the  tibia.  The  sand-grouse  possess  an  after-shaft  on 
the  contour  feathers,  thus  differing  from  the  pigeons,  and,  unlike  the  Gallinaceous 
birds,  have  a  naked  oil-gland.  In  some  characters  these  birds  are  plover-like,  but  they 
drink  like  a  pigeon,  thrusting  the  bill  up  to  the  nostril  into  the  watei',  and  retaining  it 
there  until  the  thirst  is  satisfied. 

The  family  PTEROCLIDJS  is  composed  of  two  genera,  Pterocles  and  Syrrhaptes,  the 
species  of  which  resemble  each  other  in  their  general  shape,  having  a  rather  heavy 
body,  long,  pointed  wings,  and  extremely  short  legs  and  toes.  They  are  awkward 
birds  upon  the  ground,  but  move  rapidly  and  gracefully  on  the  wing.  Pterocles  has 
the  tarsi  feathered  in  front,  and  in  Syrrhaptes  both  tarsi  and  toes  are  completely 
covered  with  feathers.  In  the  osteology  of  these  genera  considerable  differences  are 
observable.  The  skull  of  /Syrrhaptes  is  more  pigeon-like  than  Pterocles ;  the  upper 
frontal  region  is  narrower  between  the  eyes,  and  the  ala?  of  the  ethmoid  are  less 
swollen  between  the  crura  of  the  nasal.  In  Pterocles  the  bones  of  the  face  are  strong 
like  a  pigeon's ;  the  lower  jaw  bends  farther  back ;  the  postorbital  and  squamosal 
processes  and  the  malar  arch  are  also  stronger.  The  scapula  is  grouse-like,  and  there 
is  one  more  caudal  vertebra  than  in  Syrrhaptes,  and  the  styliform  and  sacral  ribs 
have  no  appendage,  but  both  genera  have  a  rudiment  attached  to  the  last  haamapo- 
-  physis.  The  sternum  of  Pterocles  has  the  episternum  and  hyosternal  processes  as  in 
Syrrhaptes  ;  but  the  external  hypostemal  processes  are  shorter.  The  species  of  sand- 
grouse  are  inhabitants  of  Asia,  India,  and  Africa,  especially  of  the  last  continent, 
where  twelve  of  the  sixteen  or  eighteen  recognized  species  are  found.  Pterocles 
comprises  the  great  majority  of  known  forms,  Syrrhaptes  having  only  two  species. 


236 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


They  have  a  very  beautiful  plumage,  the  back  generally  mottled  with  brown,  black, 
yellow,  white,  or  rufous ;  the  breast  sometimes  barred  with  black,  white,  red,  or  rich 
buff,  and  the  lower  parts  deep  buff,  chestnut,  black,  or  barred  with  black  and  white. 
Syrrhaptes  differs  in  the  feathered  tarsi  and  toes,  as  already  mentioned,  in  the  extremely 
lengthened  pointed  wings,  the  first  primaries  of  one  species,  S.  paradoxus,  being 
attenuated,  and  the  median  rectrices  of  both  species  are  lengthened  and  filamentous. 
They  are  both  Asiatic  birds,  but  in  1863  great  numbers  of  /S.  paradoxus  suddenly, 
from  some  cause  never  explained,  invaded  Europe  and  proceeded  as  far  as  Ireland  in 
the  west,  the  Faroes  in  the  north,  and  Perpignan  in  France  on  the  south.  In  and 
about  Pekin  and  Tientsin  they  go  in  flocks  of  many  hundred  individuals,  flying  swiftly 


Flu.  112.  —  J'terocles  alchata,  sand-grouse. 

like  plover,  and,  although  shy  when  on  the  ground,  yet  on  the  wing  will  pass  within  a  few 
yards  of  an  observer.  When  flying,  the  species  utters  a  note  resembling  "  truck  turuck" 
and,  like  all  of  the  family,  are  accustomed  to  visit  certain  drinking-places  every  morn- 
ing and  evening.  They  feed  chiefly  on  seeds,  and  deposit  their  eggs  in  the  sand. 
The  female  does  not  sit  very  closely,  and  leaves  her  eggs  exposed  to  the  weather 
when  she  goes  to  drink,  for  these  birds  cannot  exist  long  without  water.  The  other 
species,  S.  thibetanum,  resembles  its  relative  in  its  habits,  is  a  native  of  Thibet,  as  its 
name  implies,  and,  when  flying,  utters  a  cry  like  "  caga  caga" 

The  species  of  Pterodes  resembles  also  very  much,  in  their  economy  and  habits, 
those  of  the  species  of  the  genus  Syrrhaptes,  frequenting  sandy  tracts,  sometimes  in 


PIGEONS.  237 

bush  or  tree-jungle,  and  in  Africa,  the  great  desert  of  Sahara  or  other  similar  regions. 
Some  exhibit  considerable  pugnacity,  the  males  continually  skirmishing  among  them- 
selves. The  flesh  is  not  very  much  esteemed,  being  generally  dry  and  of  little  or  no 
flavor.  When  approaching  their  drinking-places,  they  are  very  cautious,  and  circle 
about  the  water  several  times  before  alighting,  and  remain  only  a  few  moments.  On 
such  occasion,  they  sometimes  congregate  in  many  thousands,  but  disperse,  after  allay- 
ing their  thirst,  to  seek  for  food.  The  eggs  are  usually  cream-color,  spotted  with 
brownish,  and  three  to  ten  in  number.  The  young  run  from  the  period  they  emerge 
from  the  shell. 

ORDER   XIV.  — COLUMB^E. 

The  well-known  birds,  pigeons  and  doves,  which  constitute  this  order  have  such  a  char- 
acteristic physiognomy  that  any  one,  whether  a  naturalist  or  not,  can  at  once  accord  them 
their  proper  designation.  They  are  possessed  of  a  moderate  size,  straight  or  slightly 
curved  bill,  the  basal  portion  covered  with  a  soft,  fleshy  membrane  (this  being  frequently 
tumid  or  bulged  into  a  prominence)  in  which  the  nostrils  are  situated.  The  apical 
portion  varies  much  in  shape  among  the  different  species,  being  slender  or  stout, 
slightly  or  greatly  curved.  The  gape  is  wide.  The  wings  are  long  and  pointed  in 
most  species,  only  the  ground-pigeons  having  short  or  rounded  wings,  and  some  have 
the  first  primary  falcate  or  sickle-shaped ;  others  again  have  this  feather  notched,  as  in 
the  Falconida3.  The  tail  is  even,  rounded,  or  wedge-shaped,  usually  long,  and  contains 
from  twelve  to  twenty  feathers.  The  coloring  of  these  rectrices  is  frequently  of 
striking  contrasts,  and  they  contribute  greatly  to  the  beauty  of  outline  and  general 
appearance  of  the  birds.  The  eyes  are  large,  set  well  back  from  the  bill,  and  often  of 
bright  colors.  The  tarsi  are  short  and  stout,  feathered  in  a  few  species,  bare  in  the 
rest,  and  covered  in  front  with  small  scales.  The  feet  are  rather  large,  the  toes 
divided  to  the  base,  except  in  some  arboreal  species  which  have  the  outer  toe  slightly 
joined  to  the  middle  one  ;  the  soles  are  rather  broad  and  flat.  Pigeons  also  possess 
certain  peculiarities  in  their  internal  anatomy  to  separate  them  from  other  orders, 
such  as  the  narrow  sternum,  with  two  notches  on  each  side,  the  outer  one  deep,  the 
inner  often  reduced  to  a  foramen,  and  they  have  a  deep  keel  for  the  attachment  of  the 
large  pectoral  muscles.  The  furculum  is  flat  and  without  appendages ;  the  gizzard 
very  muscular ;  intestines  long  and  slender,  with  minute  cseca.  The  crop  is  large  and 
double,  becomes  glandular  in  the  breeding  season,  secreting  a  milky  fluid  which 
moistens  the  food  upon  which  the  young  are  nourished.  There  is  in  some  species  no 
gall-bladder,  but  others  possess  it.  The  feathers,  unlike  those  of  the  members  of 
Rasores,  do  not  possess  the  supplementary  plume. 

Pigeons  are  monogamous,  both  sexes  occupying  themselves  with  nest-building, 
incubation,  and  rearing  the  young.  The  nests  are  loosely  constructed,  and  never  more 
than  two  eggs  are  laid,  always  pure  white  in  hue.  The  young  are  born  naked,  blind 
and  helpless,  and  are  assiduously  cared  for  by  their  pai'ents,  who  feed  them  with  the 
moistened  food  from  their  crops.  Pigeons  eat  fruit,  seeds,  and  grain  ;  and  drink  by  a 
continuous  draught,  immersing  the  bill  to  the  nostrils  in  the  water.  In  this  habit 
they  differ  from  all  other  known  birds.  The  lower  larynx  is  furnished  with  two  pairs 
of  muscles,  and  the  voice  is  soft  and  plaintive,  either  a  kind  of  coo  or  a  rolling  whistle. 

The  birds  of  this  order  are  found  all  over  the  world,  most  numerous  in  the  eastern 
hemisphere,  especially  in  the  islands  of  the  archipelagoes  and  in  Australia.  About 


238 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


three  hundred  species  are  recognized,  divided  by  some  writers  into  many  genera,  all 
having  agreeably  colored  plumage,  and  many  are  clothed  in  feathers  of  most  brilliant 
and  opposite  hues,  varied  in  numerous  instances  with  bright  metallic  coloration. 
The  general  form  of  the  pigeon  is  rounded  and  heavy  for  the  size  of  the  birds,  the 
flesh  plump  and  tender,  affording  excellent  food  for  man.  The  order  Columbre  may 
properly  be  divided  into  five  families,  —  Carpophagida3,  Columbidas,  Gouridae,  Didun- 
culidae,  and  Didiidae.  The  last  differs  in  so  many  respects,  however,  that  it  might 
with  some  propriety  be  advanced  to  a  sub-order.  The  Didiidaa  is  first  to  be  consid- 
ered in  reversing  the  arrangement  given  above,  as  in  an  ascending  scale  they  occupy 
the  lowest  rank. 

There  are  two  authenticated  species  of  the  family  DIDIID.E,  representing,  however, 
very  distinct  genera,  viz.,  the  familiar  dodo,  Didus  ineptus,  of  the  islands  of  Rodriguez, 

Bourbon,  arid  Mauritius ;  and 
the  solitaire,  Pezophaps  soli- 
taria,  also  of  Rodriguez  and 
Mauritius.  Both  of  these 
curious  and  gigantic  birds 
are  now  extinct.  A  second 
species  of  dodo  was  described 
as  D.  mazarenus,  from  a  met- 
atarsal  bone,  but  it  is  now 
considered,  at  least  by  some 
naturalists,  doubtful  if  this 
remnant,  although  much  lar- 
ger than  similar  bones  of 
D.  ineptus,  really  does  repre- 
sent a  distinct  species.  The 
dodo  was  a  huge  ungainly 
bird,  incapable  of  flight,  and 
weighing  between  forty  and 
fifty  pounds.  It  was  quite 
abundant  in  Mauritius  in  the 
commencement  of  the  17th 
century,  and  great  numbers 
were  killed  by  sailors  for 
food.  The  testimony  given 
as  to  the  quality  of  its  flesh 
,*i  varies  somewhat,  but  the  ver- 

dict would  appear  to  be  that  it  was  not  very  palatable.  A  live  bird  was  in  London  in 
1638,  and  its  portrait  was  taken  by  several  artists,  the  pictures  being  preserved  to-day 
in  different  museums  in  England  and  on  the  continent.  In  1644  the  Dutch  introduced 

O 

dogs  and  hogs  into  the  island,  and  these,  by  destroying  the  young  of  the  dodo,  prob- 
ably contributed  greatly  towards  its  extermination,  and  in  1693  or  thereabout  these 
curious  birds  became  extinct.  But  few  remains  of  the  dodo  are  preserved,  only  one 
or  two  nearly  perfect  skeletons  and  a  number  of  different  bones,  the  majority  of 
which  were  discovered  in  a  small  swamp  in  the  island  of  Mauritius,  called  la  Mare  aux 
Songes. 

From  a  careful  study  and  comparison  of    these   remains  it  is  proved  that  this 


FIG.  113.  —  Didus  ineptus,  dodo. 


SOLITAIRE.  239 

species  was  most  nearly  allied  to  the  pigeons  of  all  known  birds.  Its  general  appear- 
ance is  described  by  several  of  the  early  voyagers  in  their  quaint  manner,  and  Bontius 
writes  of  it  as  follows :  "  The  Dronte  or  Dodaers  is  for  bigness  of  mean  size  between 
an  ostrich  and  a  turkey,  from  which  it  partly  differs  in  shape  and  partly  agrees  with 
them,  especially  with  the  African  Ostriches  if  you  consider  the  rump  quills  and 
feathers ;  so  that  it  was  like  a  pigmy  among  them  if  you  regard  the  shortness  of  its 
legs.  It  hath  a  great  ill-favoured  head,  covered  with  a  kind  of  membrane  resembling 
a  hood;  great  black  eyes;  a  bending  prominent  fat  neck,  an  extraordinary  long, 
strong,  bluish-white  bill,  only  the  ends  of  each  mandible  are  of  a  different  colour,  that 
of  the  upper  black,  that  of  the  nether  yellowish,  both  sharp-pointed  and  crooked.  Its 
gape,  huge  wide,  as  being  naturally  very  voracious.  Its  body  is  fat  and  round,  cov- 
ered with  soft  gray  feathers  after  the  manner  of  an  ostrich ;  in  each  side,  instead  of 
hard  wing-feathers  or  quills,  it  is  furnished  with  small  soft-feathered  wings  of  a 
yellowish-ash  colour;  and  behind  the  rump  instead  of  a  tail,  is  adorned  with  five  small 
curled  feathers  of  the  same  colour.  It  hath  yellow  legs,  thick,  but  very  short ;  four 
toes  in  each  foot ;  solid,  long,  as  it  were  scaly,  armed  with  strong  black  claws.  It  is 
a  slow-paced  and  stupid  bird,  and  which  easily  becomes  a  prey  to  the  fowlers.  The 
flesh,  especially  of  the  breast,  is  fat,  esculent,  and  so  copious  that  three  or  four  dodos 
will  sometimes  suffice  to  fill  one  hundred  seamen's  bellies.  If  they  be  old,  or  not  well 
boiled,  they  are  of  difficult  concoction,  and  are  salted  and  stored  up  for  provision  of 
victual.  There  are  found  in  their  stomachs  stones  of  an  ash  colour,  of  divers  figures 
and  magnitudes,  yet  not  bred  there,  as  the  common  people  and  seamen  fancy,  but 
swallowed  by  the  bird ;  as  though  by  this  mark  also  nature  would  manifest  that  these 
fowls  are  of  the  ostrich  kind,  in  that  they  swallow  any  hard  things  though  they  do  not 
digest  them." 

The  dodo  laid  but  one  large  egg  and  the  nest  was  only  a  heap  of  fallen  leaves 
loosely  gathered  together.  Sir  T.  Herbert,  who  saw  this  bird  in  1625,  was  not  in  any- 
way favorably  impressed  with  it,  as  he  says,  "  her  body  is  round  and  fat,  which  occa- 
sions the  slow  pace,  or  that  her  corpulence,  and  so  great  as  few  of  them  weigh  less 
than  fifty  pounds ;  meat  it  is  with  some,  but  better  to  the  eye  than  stomach,  such  as 
only  a  strong  appetite  can  vanish." 

The  '  solitaire '  or  '  solitary,'  Pezophaps  solitaria,  was  also  of  large  size,  somewhat 
taller  than  a  turkey,  and  said  to  weigh  forty-five  pounds.  Leguat,  in  his  voyage  to  the 
East  Indies,  published  in  1708,  gives  the  following  description  of  the  bird.  "The 
feathers  of  the  male  are  of  a  brown-gray  colour;  the  feet  and  beak  are  like  a  Turkey's, 
but  a  little  more  crooked.  They  have  scarce  any  tail,  but  their  hind  part  covered 
with  feathers  is  roundish.  Their  neck  is  straight  and  a  little  longer  in  proportion 
than  a  Turkey's  when  it  lifts  up  its  head.  Its  eye  is  black  and  lively,  and  its  head 
without  comb  or  cop.  They  never  fly,  their  wings  are  too  little  to  support  the  weight 
of  their  bodies;  they  serve  only  to  beat  themselves,  and  flutter  when  they  call  one 
another.  They  will  whirl  about  twenty  or  thirty  times  together  on  the  same  side  dur- 
ing the  space  of  four  or  five  minutes.  The  motion  of  their  wings  makes  then  a  noise 
very  like  that  of  a  rattle,  and  one  may  hear  it  two  hundred  paces  off.  The  bone  of 
the  wing  grows  greater  towards  the  extremity,  and  forms  a  little  round  mass  under 
the  feathers  as  big  as  a  musket  ball.  That  and  its  beak  are  the  chief  defence  of  the 
bird.  It  is  very  hard  to  catcli  it  in  the  woods,  but  easier  in  open  places,  because  we 
run  faster  than  they  and  sometimes  we  approach  them  without  much  trouble.  From 
March  to  September  they  are  extremely  fat  and  taste  admirably  well,  especially  while 


240 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


they  are  young.  The  female  has  a  sort  of  peak,  like  a  widow's,  upon  the  breast 
(lego  beaks),  which  is  of  a  dun  color.  No  one  feather  is  straggling  from  the  other  all 
over  their  bodies,  they  being  very  careful  to  adjust  themselves  and  make  them  all  even 
with  their  beaks.  The  feathers  on  their  thighs  are  round  like  shells  at  the  end,  and 
being  there  very  thick  have  an  agreeable  effect."  Another  writer. states  that  there  is 
also  a  frontal  band  resembling  black  velvet.  It  laid  one  egg  once  a  year,  and  lived  on 
seeds  and  leaves  of  trees.  Its  flesh  was  good.  In  1865  Mr.  George  Jenner  procured 
a  large  number  of  bones  of  this  species,  eighty-one  in  all,  in  the  caves  on  the  island  of 
Mauritius.  They  were  apparently  the  remains  of  no  less  than  sixteen  or  seventeen 


FIG.  114.  —  Didunculus;  strigirostris,  tooth-billed  pigeon. 

individuals  and,  from  the  disparity  in  size,  were  supposed  to  represent  opposite  sexes. 
They  all  appeared  to  belong  to  birds  that  had  been  eaten  by  men  or  quadrupeds. 

The  family  DIDUNCULIDJE  possesses  but  one  species,  the  curious  bird  known  as 
Didunculus  strigirostris,  or  tooth-billed  pigeon.  It  is  a  native  of  the  Samoan  or  Nav- 
igator's Islands,  where  alone  it  is  found,  and  is  known  to  the  inhabitants  as  manu-mea, 
or  red-bird,  from  the  chief  color  of  its  plumage,  which  is  chocolate-red.  It  feeds  on 
plantains  and  the  fruit  of  a  species  of  Dioscorea  or  yam,  and  is  very  shy  and  timid. 
It  is  a  ground-dweller,  roosting  on  stumps  and  bushes,  and  building  its  nests  in  such 
situations.  Both  sexes  assist  in  the  duty  of  incubation,  and  are  so  intent  in  this 
occupation  that  they  suffer  themselves  at  times  to  be  captured  by  hand  from  the  nest. 
The  Didunculus  is  possessed  of  considerable  power  of  wing,  and  flies  through  the  air 
with  a  loud  noise,  which,  as  stated  by  one  observer,  is  so  great,  when  the  bird  rises, 


PIGEONS. 


241 


that  at  a  distance  it  might  be  mistaken  for  distant  thunder.  This  species  was  sup- 
posed to  be  rapidly  becoming  extinct,  as  its  terrestrial  habits  made  it  an  easy  prey  to 
predatory  animals,  such  as  cats  and  rats  introduced  into  the  islands  from  European 
vessels ;  but  late  accounts  state  that  it  has  changed  its  habits,  feeding  and  roosting 
exclusively  upon  high  trees,  and  is  increasing  in  numbers.  It  is  in  this  way,  through 
the  struggle  for  existence,  that  habits  which  have  been  transmitted  from  parent  to 
offspring  through  unknown  series  of  generations,  are  suddenly  abandoned,  and  entirely 


FIG.  115. —  Goura  victorite,  crowned  pigeon. 

opposite  ones  adopted,  that  give  the  needed  protection  to  life  and  continued  prosperity, 
which  the  inherited  methods  no  longer  are  able  to  secure. 

The  peculiar  bill  of  this  species,  having  almost  the  characters  of  a  rapacious  bird,  is 
composed  of  a  powerful  curved  maxilla ;  and  a  mandible  provided  near  the  tip  with 
two  or  three  deep  indentations,  causing  the  parts  between  to  appear  like  teeth. 
Although  generally  stated  by  most  writers  to  be  a  gentle,  timid  creature,  hiding 
whenever  possible  in  the  darkest  portion  of  its  cage,  yet  one  in  the  possession  of  the 
VOL.  iv.  — 16 


242  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

Rev.  S.  J.  Whitmee,  a  male,  was  very  savage,  ruffled  its  feathers,  and  tried  to  bite  any 
one  approaching  it.  He  stated  that  he  knew  from  experience  that  if  it  got  hold  of  the 
finger  it  gave  a  severe  grip.  It  was  placed  in  a  large  aviary  with  other  birds,  and 
lorded  it  over  the  other  inmates,  only  permitting  them  to  feed  when  it  had  finished, 
driving  them  about  in  a  very  savage  manner.  Some  later  writers  have  considered 
that  the  proper  position  for  this  bird  should  be  next  to  Treron,  but  as  the  reasons  given 
do  not  seem  to  be  thoroughly  conclusive,  it  is  best  to  leave  it  next  to  the  dodo  and  its 
kindred,  where  the  majority  of  ornithologists  have,  up  to  the  present  time,  considered 
it  should  be  placed. 

The  GOURID^E  comprises  the  great  ground-pigeons,  the  largest  and  finest  of  existing 
species.  There  are  about  six  belonging  to  the  genus  Goura^  known  by  the  trivial 
name  of  crowned-pigeons,  and  remarkable  for  their  great  size  and  the  high,  open 
crest  with  which  the  head  is  ornamented.  They  pass  most  of  their  time  upon  the 
ground,  walking  in  a  majestic  kind  of  way  along  the  forest  paths,  flying,  when  disturbed, 
to  the  lowest  branches  of  the  nearest  trees,  in  which  situations  they  pass  the  night. 
They  are  natives  of  the  Papuan  Archipelago,  where  the  absence  of  predatory  animals 
and  scarcity  of  large  reptiles  permit  them  to  lead  a  comparatively  secure  life  and  breed 
unmolested  in  the  localities  they  frequent.  They  feed  on  fruits,  and  lay  two  eggs ; 
the  nest  is  stated  to  be  placed  on  the  branches  of  trees.  Some  of  the  species  have,  at 
different  times,  been  inmates  of  the  aviaries  in  various  zoological  gardens,  where  they 
always  attracted  attention  and  admiration  from  their  size,  stately  bearing,  and  the 
harmonious  coloring  of  their  plumage.  The  earliest  known  species  is  the  G.  coronata. 
Another  even  more  beautiful  is  G.  albertisii,  from  New  Guinea,  and  G.  victoria  from 
Jobi  and  Misori. 

The  COLUMBID^E,  containing  those  pigeons  whose  long  tarsi  fit  them  more  for  a 
terrestrial  than  an  arboreal  existence,  and  also  the  doves,  comprises  a  great  number 
of  species  scattered  all  over  the  world,  divided  by  different  authoi's  into  many  genera, 
a  large  number  of  which  can  at  the  most  only  be  considered  of  sub-generic  value,  and 
many  as  entirely  unnecessary,  being  of  no  value  at  all.  Thirty-nine  may  be  considered 
as  sufficiently  established  to  require  notice,  and  in  this  article  a  brief  review  of  the 
species  they  contain  will  be  given. 

The  first  is  Otidiphaps,  a  genus  created  for  the  beautiful  birds  from  New  Guinea 
and  other  of  the  Papuan  Islands.  Their  exact  position  is  not  yet  fully  established, 
some  authors  having  placed  them,  with  an  expressed  doubt,  however,  in  the  family 
Didunculidae,  others  in  the  Gouridae.  Of  the  two  the  latter  is  certainly  more  nearly 
correct,  but  it  would  seem  that  the  great  crowned-pigeons  are  sufficiently  characteristic 
to  stand  in  a  family  by  themselves,  and  then  Otidiphaps  would  occupy  the  position 
here  assigned  it  at  the  foot  of  the  present  family.  Three  species  of  this  genus  are 
known,  birds  of  considerable  beauty  of  plumage  and  symmetry  of  form.  They  have 
been  so  lately  discovered  that  very  little  has  been  recorded  about  them,  only  two  or 
three  Europeans  ever  having  seen  them  alive.  They  are  said  to  live  in  woods,  feed 
upon  fruits,  and  one  (0.  nobilis)  is  said  to  have  a  strong  voice  like  a  megapode.  The 
flesh  is  white,  tender,  and  most  excellent  for  food.  They  are  about  eighteen  inches  in 
length,  with  a  plumage  of  green  and  blue,  metallic  about  the  neck,  and  chestnut  on  the 
back.  The  tail  contains  the  unusual  number  of  twenty  feathers. 

The  genus  Eutrygon  has  but  a  single  species  (E.  terristris),  a  native  of  Papua.  It 
is  a  handsome  bird  with  a  rather  strong  bill,  and  a  plumage  of  a  general  dark  leaden 
gray.  There  is  a  white  spot  on  the  sides  of  the  head ;  the  back,  rump,  wings,  and 


PIGEONS. 


243 


tail,  are  shining  grayish  olive,  sides  and  under  tail-coverts  rufous.  It  is  a  rare  species 
in  museums,  but  not  uncommon  in  the  localities  it  frequents. 

/Starncenas,  the  next  genus,  contains  also  but  a  single  species,  $.  cyanocephalus,  the 
blue-headed  pigeon  of  Cuba,  said  sometimes  to  visit  the  Florida  Keys.  It  is  a  hand- 
some bird,  of  a  general  rich,  chocolate  hue,  the  top  of  the  head  bright  blue,  and  the 
throat,  blackish,  bordered  with  white.  It  lives  upon  the  ground.  Another  genus 
with  a  single  species  now  follows,  viz. :  Calcenas. 

The  C.  nicobarica,  which  by  some  authors  has  been  considered  as  representing  a 
separate  family  (called  CALCENATID^E),  is  remarkable  for  the  long  plumes,  like  hackles, 
which  cover  the  neck  and  fall  over  the  breast  and  back.  It  is  widely  distributed  over 
the  eastern  archipelago,  feeds  upon  the  ground,  and,  although  it  flies  heavily,  yet  is 


FIG.  116.—  Starncenas  cyanocephalus,  blue-headed  pigeon. 

capable  of  making  very  extended  journeys,  it  having  been  captured  at  sea  a  hun- 
dred miles  from  New  Guinea.  Scattered  generally  throughout  the  Papuan  Islands,  it 
is  nowhere  very  abundant,  remaining  mostly  on  outlying  islets,  where  it  would  be 
free  from  the  attacks  of  animals.  This  pigeon  has  bred  in  the  aviary  of  the  Zoologi- 
cal Society  of  London,  a  pair  having  taken  possession  of  an  artificial  nest  and  laid  one 
white  egg,  which,  after  having  been  incubated  for  twenty-eight  days,  produced  a  young 
bird,  black  and  naked.  On  the  feathers  appearing,  those  of  the  tail  were  black  and 
remained  so,  although  these  in  the  adults  were  pure  white.  This  form  was  described 
as  distinct  by  Gray  as  C.  gouldii. 

Six  or  seven  species  are  included  in  the  next  genus,  Phlcegcenas;  very  attractive 
birds  from  the  Papuan  and  Samoan  Islands,  among  the  most  beautiful  of  which  P. 


244 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


johannce  and  P.  stairii,  from  the  Duke  of  York  and  Samoan  Islands  respectively, 
may  be  named.     All  the  species  possess  fourteen  tail-feathers. 

The  members  of  the  genus  Phaps  are  confined  to  Australia,  where  they  are  known 
as  the  bronze-winged  pigeons.  They  are  distributed  generally  all  over  that  continent, 
are  fine  plump  birds,  weighing  about  a  pound  apiece,  and  afford  excellent  food.  They 
breed  sometimes  on  the  ground,  sometimes  in  the  fork  of  a  tree,  are  exceedingly 
swift  in  flight,  and  are  capable  of  traversing  great  extent  of  country,  during  the  sea- 
son of  drought,  in  search  of  water,  in  a  very  brief  period  of  time.  The  species,  of 
which  there  are  three,  possess  a  very  attractive  plumage,  and  derive  their  trivial  name 
from  the  lustrous  coppery  bronze  spots  upon  the  coverts  of  the  wing.  The  tail  con- 
sists of  sixteen  feathers. 


FIG.  117.  —  Callcenas  nicobarica,  Nicobar  pigeon. 

Lophophaps  and  Geophaps  are  also  also  Australian  genera,  the  first  containing 
three,  and  the  last  two  species.  The  members  of  ^Lophophaps  are  lovely  birds,  having, 
as  their  generic  name  implies,  a  long  crest  rising  from  the  centre  of  the  head,  the 
back  and  wings  being  crossed  with  rusty-red  and  brown  bands,  and  metallic  bronzy- 
purple  mark  on  the  secondaries.  They  are  small  birds  about  eight  inches  long,  con- 
gregate on  the  ground,  and  rise,  when  disturbed,  like  quails,  plunging  immediately  in 
the  long  grass  for  concealment.  The  species  of  the  other  genus  are  larger  birds,  with 
peculiar  black  and  white  markings  on  the  face  and  throat  in  one  ( G.  scripta),  and 
orange  black  and  white  in  the  other  G.  smithii.  They  are  strictly  terrestrial  in  their 
habits,  and  in  their  carriage  and  action  similar  to  a  partridge.  They  go  at  times  in 
pairs,  but  frequently  in  coveys,  and,  when  approached,  run  and  hide  in  the  grass. 
They  rise  with  a  loud  noise  and  fly  with  great  rapidity,  taking  refuge  in  the  nearest 
tree.  The  eggs  are  laid  on  the  ground,  but  no  nest  is  made. 


PIGEONS. 


245 


The  genus  Leucosarcia,  also  confined  to  Australia,  contains  but  one  species,  a  large 
handsome  bird  known  as  L.  picata,  remarkable  for  the  delicacy  of  its  flesh.  It 
inhabits  the  brush  which  stretches  along  the  line  of  coast  of  New  South  Wales,  or 
that  covering  the  hillsides  of  the  interior.  It  passes  its  time  on  the  ground,  rising 
with  the  sudden  burst  and  noise  of  a  Gallinaceous  bird,  but  does  not  remain  long  upon 
the  wing.  It  has  a  very  pleasing  plumage  of  slate-gray  and  white.  The  tail  has 
fourteen  feathers. 

Henicophaps,  with  its  single  species,  H.  albifrons,  is  a  genus  restricted  to  the 
Papuan  Islands,  but  of  a  more  extended  distribution  than  some  which  are  found  hi 
that  archipelago.  It  is  a  rather  dull-looking  bird,  with  a  strong  plover-like  bill ;  the 


FIG.  118.  —  Ocyphaps  lophotes,  crested-pigeon,  and  Phaps  chalcoptera,  bronze-wing  pigeon. 

plumage  fuscous  rufous  black,  tinged  with  glossy  green,  the  wing-coverts  glossed 
with  a  golden-copper  hue,  forehead  white.  Very  little  is  known  of  the  bird.  It  was 
first  procured  by  Wallace  in  Waigu,  where  it  feeds  from  low  trees  and  shrubs,  but 
does  not  appear  to  be  altogether  terrestrial. 

Chalcophaps  is  a  genus  of  brush  pigeons,  containing  about  a  dozen  species,  which 
feed  upon  the  ground  on  seeds  and  berries.  It  is  pretty  widely  dispersed,  the  species 
being  natives  of  India,  Ceylon,  Java,  Borneo,  Australia,  Papuan  and  Philippine  Islands, 
and  Formosa.  They  have  a  rich,  glossy,  mostly  green  plumage,  and  a  very  swift  flight. 
The  best-known  species  is  probably  the  C.  indica,  found  all  over  India  where  forests 
exist,  and  all  countries  to  the  east  of  the  Bay  of  Bengal,  also  throughout  the  islands 


246  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

of  the  eastern  archipelago.  The  back  and  wings  are  emerald  green  glossed  with 
gold ;  two  dusky  and  two  grayish  bars  cross  the  .back  and  rump,  and  a  white  bar  on 
shoulder  of  the  wing.  Beneath  the  body  is  vinaceous  red-brown,  with  ashy  under 
tail-coverts.  This  beautiful  species  feeds  upon  the  ground,  walks  with  a  rapid  gait, 
and  is  seen  usually  alone.  Another  very  beautiful  species  of  this  genus  is  the  (7. 
stephani  from  Celebes  and  the  Papuan  Islands. 

The  genus  Petrophassa  contains  a  singular  species,  P.  albipennis,  an  inhabitant 
of  the  rugged  and  desolate  portions  of  the  coast  of  northwest  Australia,  where  it  is 
common  among  the  sandstone  cliffs.  It  is  a  brown  bird  with  black  lores,  and  the 
basal  half  of  the  primaries  pure  white.  Another  genus  with  a  single  species  is 
Ocyphaps,  O.  lophotes,  also  confined  to  Australia.  It  is  a  bird  of  much  elegance 
of  form,  with  a  long  slender  black  crest  flowing  from  the  occiput.  Its  dress  is  gray 
and  olive-brown,  with  shining  bronzy-green  wing-coverts.  Tail  of  fourteen  feathers, 
the  two  centre  ones  brown,  remainder  brown,  glossed  with  green  and  tipped  with 
white.  It  dwells  on  the  plains  of  the  interior,  assembles  in  very  large  flocks,  and  flies 
with  a  rapidity  unequalled  by  any  member  of  the  group  to  which  it  belongs. 

South  Africa  presents  us  with  another  genus  Tympanistria,  having  but  one 
species,  the  T.  bicolor.  This  is  a  very  pretty  bird  with  fuscous-brown  back  and  wings 
and  white  under  parts.  It  is  confined  chiefly  to  the  forest  districts,  and  appears  to 
have  certain  powers  of  ventriloquism,  throwing  its  voice  to  a  distance  so  as  to  deceive 
the  hunter  who  may  be  standing  under  the  very  tree  upon  which  the  bird  is  perched. 
Another  African  genus  is  Chalcopdia  with  three  species,  the  best  known  of  which  is 
probably  C.  afra.  They  are  pretty  little  birds,  the  species  just  named  being  of  a 
beautiful  vinaceous  color  on  the  breast  and  lower  parts,  and  with  -some  large  brilliant 
purple  and  green  spots  on  the  wings.  It  is  common  on  the  Okovango  River,  where  it 
constructs  a  nest  of  a  few  sticks  placed  in  a  bush  or  low  tree,  and  so  loosely  put  to- 
gether that  the  two  white  eggs  may  be  seen  through  the  structure  by  any  one  looking 
up  from  below. 

ffaplopelia  was  established  for  three  or  four  species,  two  from  Africa,  and  one 
from  St.  Thomas  and  Prince's  Island  respectively.  The  African  birds  H.  lavata  and 
H.  bronzina  are  beautiful  species  with  considerable  metallic  gloss  of  green  and  copper 
upon  the  plumage.  They  apparently  prefer  to  keep  in  forests,  feeding  on  berries,  and 
are  not  uncommon.  The  bird  from  St.  Thomas  {H.  simplex),  as  its  name  implies, 
has  not  so  highly  colored  a  plumage  as  its  relatives.  By  some  authors  these  birds 
are  included  in  the  genus  Peristera. 

We  now  come  to  a  well-marked  Central  and  South  American  genus  with  a  few 
offshoots  among  the  islands  of  the  West  Indies,  viz.,  Geotrygon,  with  a  little  over  a 
dozen  species.  They  have  a  very  stout  form  with  a  short  rounded  wing,  the  third 
quill  longest,  the  others  abruptly  sinuated  on  the  outer  edge ;  the  first  quill  sickle- 
shaped  but  not  attenuated.  These  birds  are  from  nine  to  twelve  inches  in  length,  of 
a  very  attractive  and  harmonious  plumage,  and  excellent  as  food.  In  the  island  of 
Jamaica  there  are  two  species,  known  as  '  mountain  witch,'  and  *  partridge-dove.'  They 
are  essentially  ground  birds,  feeding  on  seeds  and  occasionally  on  slugs.  They  fre- 
quent wooded  parts  of  the  country,  and  are  wary  and  difficult  to  approach.  In  cer- 
tain districts  they  are  abundant,  and  the  nest  is  a  rude  affair  of  a  few  dry  leaves  and 
twigs  gathered  together.  Two  beautiful  species  of  this  genus  are  G.  veraguensis  and 
G.  lawrencei  from  Central  America. 

Leptoptila  is  another  genus  of  about  a  dozen  species,  whose  members  have  nearly 


PIGEONS.  247 

the  same  distribution  as  those  of  Geotrygon.  They  are  birds  of  about  the  same  size 
as  those  of  the  last-named  genus,  and  of  very  attractive  appearance.  The  single 
species  from  Jamaica,  L.jamaicensis,  is  a  very  lovely  bird,  with  a  white  forehead  and 
blue  crown,  neck  reddish-brown,  changing  to  amethyst,  the  lower  feathers  brilliant 
green  and  purple.  Under  parts  pure  white,  and  a  blue-gray  tail  tipped  with  white. 
It  lives  on  the  ground,  has  a  plaintive  voice  (the  negroes  interpreting  its  cooing  tones 
by  the  sounds  "  rain-come-wet-me-through  "),  and  lives  upon  nuts  and  the  seeds  of  the 
orange,  mango,  etc.  It  is  very  gentle,  and,  when  flushed,  only  flies  for  a  short  dis- 
tance, generally  to  the  branches  of  some  low  tree.  It  builds  its  nest  generally  in  a 
moderately  high  situation,  and  is  known  by  the  trivial  name  of  "  white  belly." 

Chamcepelia,  wkh  some  half-dozen  species,  contains  the  ground-doves,  little  crea- 
tures which  pass  their  time  on  the  ground  almost  exclusively.  The  best  known  among 
them  is  C.  passerina,  from  southern  North  America,  Mexico,  Central  America,  and 
Brazil.  It  goes  in  small  groups  of  seldom  more  than  a  dozen,  and  prefers  rather  open 
places,  runs  with  great  facility,  keeping  the  tail  elevated.  It  is  an  extremely  gentle 
bird,  and  readily  becomes  domesticated.  It  feeds  on  seeds  of  various  grasses  and 
berries.  The  nest  is  placed  in  low  bushes,  and  is  composed  of  twigs  and  lined  with 
grasses.  The  flesh  is  excellent.  The  plumage  -is  light,  purplish-red  on  the  neck, 
breast,  and  flanks,  with  a  brownish  gray  back ;  the  tail  is  gray  at  the  base,  bluish 
black  towards  the  end,  tipped  with  white.  The  female  is  similar  to  the  male,  but 
paler  in  tint.  The  C.  erythrothorax,  from  Bolivia  and  Peru,  has  been  placed  in  a 
distinct  genus,  Gymnopelia,  on  account  of  its  nude  orbits. 

Columbula  contains  two  species,  according  to  some  authors,  confined  to  South 
America,  resembling  the  ordinary  dove  in  form,  and  are  of  a  brown  plumage,  with 
lengthened  tail.  One  (C.  campestris),  from  the  interior  of  Brazil,  is  a  very  graceful 
bird,  with  a  vinaceous  breast,  olive-brown  back,  and  the  lateral  tail-feathers  black 
tipped  with  white. 

Scardafella  has  also  but  two  species  scattered  over  Mexico,  Guatemala,  and  Brazil. 
They  are  known  as  the  scaly-doves,  from  the  distinct  markings  of  the  edge  of  their 
feathers,  and  are  diminutive  representatives  of  the  wild-pigeon  (Ectopistes  migratorid), 
but  do  not  possess  the  beautiful  changeable  hues  that  adorn  the  neck  of  that  species. 
Melopelia  and  Metriopelia,  both  possessing  two  species,  are  New  World  genera,  their 
species  extending  from  Mexico  southward,  on  the  west  coast  of  South  America,  to 
Chili.  They  are  plainly  clad  but  gracefully  shaped  birds,  Melopelia  leucoptera  being 
characterized  by  a  large  patch  of  white  upon  the  wing,  from  which  it  derives  its 
name,  while  its  relative,  M.  meloda,  is  dark  blue  around  the  eye.  Metropelia  melanop- 
tera  has  the  wing  blackish,  with  a  white  shoulder. 

Zenaida,  with  some  half-dozen  species,  is  confined  chiefly  to  the  West  Indies  and 
South  America,  with  one  member  from  the  Galapagos  Islands.  The  most  familiar 
species  of  this  genus  is  probably  the  Z.  amabilis,  from  the  West  Indies,  occasionally 
seen  upon  some  of  the  Florida  keys.  In  Jamaica,  where  it  is  not  uncommon,  it  haunts 
the  open  pastures,  where  any  intruder  can  easily  be  discovered.  It  is  wary  and  diffi- 
cult of  approach,  and  flies  with  great  rapidity,  making  the  peculiar  whistling  with  the 
wings  so  characteristic  of  so  many  doves.  It  subsists  on  various  fruits  and  seeds, 
and  its  flesh  is  white  and  much  esteemed.  The  plumage  is  pleasing,  though  of  sober 
colors. 

Peristera,  as  restricted  by  some  writers,  is  also  an  American  genus,  of  some  four 
species,  found  in  Mexico  and  Brazil.  The  species  have  the  usual  coloring  peculiar  to 


248 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


doves,  P.  cinerea  being  grayish  blue  on  the  head,  neck,  and  back,  and  ashy  white 
below.  The  tail  is  slightly  rounded,  with  the  lateral  feathers  black.  It  is  found  in 
Cayenne,  Brazil,  and  Peru,  also  in  Central  America. 

Turtur,  to  which  we  now  come,  is  a  rather  extensive  genus,  containing  something 
like  twenty-five  or  thirty  species.  They  are  scattered  pretty  generally  over  the  Old 
World,  but  the  genus  is  not  represented  in  the  western  hemisphere.  The  familiar 


FIG.  110.—  Turtur  vulgaris,  turtle-dove. 

turtle-dove,  T.  vulgaris,  is  a  representative  species  of  this  genus.  Inhabiting  Europe 
generally,  it  extends  eastward  into  western  Asia  and  southward  into  Africa.  Timid 
and  retiring  in  disposition,  it  is  universally  accepted  as  the  emblem  of  peace,  and  lives 
in  amity  with  all  others  of  its  race.  While  accustomed  to  frequent  trees,  it  is  also 
at  home  upon  the  ground,  where  it  walks  with  ease.  It  flies  with  great  swiftness,  and 
turns  and  twists  in  its  course  with  marvellous  celerity,  and  pilots  its  way  amid  the 
forest,  even  when  at  full  speed,  with  extraordinary  skill.  When  mated,  the  pair  evince 


PIGEONS.  249 

great  affection  for  each  other,  and  should  one  die,  the  survivor  exhibits  his  sorrow  by 
mournful  cooing,  and  searches  diligently  for  his  companion.  Like  others  of  this 
group,  the  turtle-dove  feeds  on  seeds  of  various  kinds,  and  grain,  and  inhabits  districts 
where  fresh  water  is  obtainable ;  always,  when  desirous  of  quenching  its  thirst,  alight- 
ing near  the  water  in  some  open  spot,  and  then  walking  down  to  the  edge  of  the 
stream  or  pond.  The  nest,  a  slight  platform  of  twigs,  is  placed  upon  some  convenient 
branch,  on  which  the  two  white  eggs  are  deposited. 

A  very  pretty  species  of  Turtur  is  the  T.  semitorquatus  (separated  by  some  authors 
in  a  genus,  Streptopelid)^  from  Senegal  and  the  Gambia.  The  crown  is  bluish-ash,  a 
black  semi-collar  on  back  of  neck  ;  under  plumage  vinaceous  ;  belly  and  vent  white  • 
back,  wings,  and  tail  grayish-brown ;  a  broad  black  bar  crosses  the  tail,  which  is  broad 
and  rounded,  with  the  basal  half  black.  A  close  ally  to  this  last  is  the  T.  albiventris, 
from  South  Africa,  very  similar  in  plumage,  but  with  the  outside  tail-feathers  white. 
This  is  a  very  abundant  species,  and  bred,  at  least  at  one  time,  within  the  precincts  of 
Cape  Town. 

Without  any  very  technical  distinctions  the  doves  are  a  well-marked  group,  the 
chief  character  being  the  form  of  the  tail.  Their  colors,  though  pleasing  and  harmo- 
nious, lack  the  brilliant  and  often  bright  hues  of  the  pigeons.  They  have  a  graceful 
shape  and  small  heads ;  the  tail  lengthened,  rounded,  or  graduated. 

Macropygia,  containing  about  two  dozen  species,  is  confined  to  India,  the  Ma- 
layan islands,  and  those  of  the  eastern  archipelago,  and  Australia.  The  birds  are  dis- 
tinguished by  their  long,  broad  tails,  are  fruit-eaters  to  a  certain  extent,  but  also  feed 
on  the  ground,  and  in  their  color  and  general  appearance  more  resemble  doves 
than  pigeons.  The  genus  has  been  subdivided  by  various  authors  into  several 
genera  or  sub-genera,  such  as  Coccyzura,  Turaccena,  Iteimcardtoena,  and  Strepto- 
pdia,  but  for  the  present  any  consideration  of  these  is  unnecessary.  The  M.  rein- 
icardtsi,  from  the  Moluccan  and  Papuan  islands,  is  one  of  the  finest  of  this  group.  It 
has  the  forehead  and  sides  of  the  head,  neck,  and  middle  of  the  breast  pure  white, 
all  the  rest  of  head  and  body  ashy  white ;  back,  scapulars,  and  two  middle  tail- 
feathers  reddish-chestnut ;  primaries  black ;  other  tail-feathers  are  ash-color,  with 
black  bases,  and  a  black  bar  near  the  tip.  There  is  also  a  nude  skin  around  the  eye. 
Feet  red.  Total  length  about  twenty  inches.  The  general  appearance  of  this  bird  is 
very  handsome,  and  the  long  graduated  tail  gives  a  very  graceful  shape  to  the  body. 
It  is  found  in  several  of  the  Papuan  and  Moluccan  islands. 

Another,  M.  modesta,  from  Timor,  is  also  a  striking  species  of  very  different  ap- 
pearance from  the  one  just  described.  It  is,  as  its  name  implies,  dressed  in  subdued 
colors,  but  there  are,  over  the  general  leaden  hue  of  its  plumage,  metallic  reflections  of 
green  and  purple.  A  lemon-yellow  skin  surrounds  the  eye,  and  the  iris  itself  is  red. 
M.  leptogrammica,  from  Java,  is  very  different  again  from  both  the  species  given, 
having  the  top  of  head  and  back  or  mantle  metallic  green  with  purple  reflections; 
similar  but  brighter  reflections  are  seen  upon  the  throat  and  breast.  The  back,  wing- 
coverts,  rump,  and  the  six  large  feathers  of  the  tail  are  ferruginous,  banded  trans- 
versely with  black.  The  other  tail-feathers  are  ashy  at  their  base,  then  black,  and 
tipped  with  grayish  blue ;  the  tail  is  long  and  graduated ;  the  throat  and  belly  are 
pale  lilac,  and  under  tail-coverts  red.  The  total  length  is  fifteen  inches.  This  species 
lives  on  the  summit  of  high  rocky  elevations  in  wooded  districts,  and  feeds  on  peppers 
and  grain  and  various  aromatic  seeds,  which  communicate  to  the  flesh  a  very  agree- 
able taste,  causing  it  to  be  highly  esteemed  for  food. 


250  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

X 

The  only  member  of  this  genus  found  in  Australia  is  M.  phasianella,  which  has  a 
rich,  rusty-brown  plumage,  with  the  sides  and  back  of  the  neck  glossed  with  bronzy-pur- 
ple ;  the  lateral  tail-feathers  crossed  near  the  tip  by  a  broad  black  band ;  the  iris,  blue, 
with  an  outer  circle  of  scarlet ;  the  feet,  pinkish-red.  The  pheasant-tailed  pigeon,  as  it 
is  called,  resorts  entirely  to  the  brush  from  Illawarra  to  Moreton  Bay,  where  it  is 
common.  It  spends  much  of  its  time  on  the  ground,  searching  for  seeds,  usually  four 
or  five  birds  being  in  company.  When  on  the  wing,  with  its  broad,  lengthened  tail 
spread  to  the  fullest  extent,  it  appears  to  the  greatest  advantage.  It  is  of  about  the 
same  size  as  the  preceding  species. 

Geopetia,  our  next  genus,  is  composed  of  about  six  species,  four  being  natives  of 
Australia,  some  of  which,  together  with  the  remaining  members  of  the  genus,  being 
found  in  different  Moluccan  and  Papuan  islands.  In  Australia  they  inhabit  the  hills 
and  extensive  plains  of  the  interior,  passing  much  of  their  time  upon  the  ground. 
They  are  small  birds,  with  a  modest  plumage  destitute  of  metallic  coloring.  The  tails 
are  long  and  graduated,  and  they  have  rather  lengthened  legs,  to  fit  them  for  their 
terrestrial  life.  The  G.  humeralis  is  one  of  the  most  elegant  of  these  graceful  crea- 
tures, and  is  extremely  abundant  at  Port  Essington,  inhabiting  swampy  grounds  and 
banks  of  running  streams.  Its  food  is  seeds  of  various  grasses  and  berries,  and  it  is 
very  gentle,  flitting  from  one  branch  to  another  when  disturbed.  The  head,  sides  of 
neck,  and  breast  are  delicate  gray;  back,  wing-coverts,  rump,  and  upper  tail-coverts, 
brown ;  feathers  of  back  of  neck  rufous  banded  with  black  on  the  ends ;  two  middle 
tail-feathers,  dark-gray,  rest  reddish-brown  at  base,  and  largely  tipped  with  white. 
This  is  the  largest  species  of  the  genus.  G.  cuneata,  also  from  Australia,  is  a  beautiful 
little  species,  which  makes  a  frail  but  pretty  nest  from  the  stalks  of  flowering  grasses, 
crossed  and  woven  together.  One  was  composed  of  a  small  species  of  Composite, 
and  placed  on  the  overhanging  grasses  of  Xanthorrhea.  This  bird  is  called  by  the 
natives  men-na-brunJca,  from  a  traditionary  idea  that  it  introduced  the  men-net,  a  gum 
which  exudes  from  an  Acacia,  a  favorite  article  of  food  of  the  aborigines.  Another 
species,  G.  maugei,  is  found  in  the  Moluccan  and  Papuan  islands  ;  it  differs  from  the 
rest  in  having  the  entire  under  parts  whitish,  barred  with  black. 

South  Africa  presents  us  with  a  distinct  genus,  ^dEna,  containing  a  single  beauti- 
ful species,  JE.  capensis.  The  forehead,  cheeks,  chin,  throat,  and  chest  are  glossy 
black ;  upper  parts,  ash-color ;  secondaries,  bluish  with  a  purple  spot ;  wing-feathers, 
deep-red,  edged  with  brown ;  a  white  bar  extends  across  the  rump,  succeeded  by  a 
narrow  black  one ;  the  tail  is  long  and  graduated.  These  birds  are  very  abundant, 
and  are  chiefly  terrestrial  in  their  habits.  In  the  Karroos  they  breed  in  the  mimosa 
bushes.  They  generally  go  in  pairs,  feed  on  seeds,  and  the  eggs  have  a  rosy  tint  from 
the  thinness  of  the  shells.  The  young  at  first  are  mottled. 

Zenaidura  is  well  represented  by  its  familiar  species,  the  Carolina  dove  of  North 
and  Central  America,  the  Z.  carolinensis  of  authors.  This  bird  is  distributed  through- 
out the  United  States,  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  but  does  not  pass  further  north 
on  the  eastern  sea-board  than  southern  New  England.  In  its  habits  it  does  not  differ 
from  other  dove-like  species,  save  that  its  method  of  nesting  depends  somewhat  upon 
circumstances ;  it  deposits  its  eggs  on  the  ground  in  many  sections  of  the  country, 
but  in  districts  where  many  venomous  reptiles  abound,  the  nest  is  placed  on  cacti  and 
thorny  bushes,  which  afford  such  protection,  by  their  numerous  spines,  that  even 
snakes  can  hardly  climb  them.  This  gentle  bird  is  a  gleaner  of  the  fields,  doing  little 
or  no  damage,  but  picking  up  such  seeds  and  grain  as  may  be  on  the  ground.  It 


PIGEONS. 


251 


flies  with  great  rapidity  and  power,  and  with  a  whistling  sound  of  the  wings,  twisting 
frequently  in  its  flight,  and  threading  its  way  among  the  branches,  wheneyer  it  enters 
the  woods,  with  unerring  certainty.  It  possesses  a  graceful  form  and  a  soft  voice, 
and  although  no  brilliant  colors  are  seen  on  its  plumage,  its  modest,  quaker-like  garb 
is  very  pleasant  to  look  upon.  Two  or  three  other  species  of  the  genus  have  been 
described,  some  of  doubtful  value. 

Next  to  this  group  conies  Ectopistes,  with  its  single  species,  the  well-known 
E.  miyratoria,  the  wild  or  passenger-pigeon.  At  one  time  this  bird  was  extremely 
common  in  North 
America,  passing  over 
vast  portions  of  the 
country  in  flocks  of 
such  incredible  num- 
bers that  they  would 
obscure  the  sky,  and 
take  a  longtime,  some- 
times days,  to  fly  by 
any  particular  place, 
notwithstanding  the 
enormous  speed  with 
which  they  pursued 
their  course.  This  ra- 
pidity of  flight  has 
been  estimated  to 
reach  between  seven- 
ty and  a  hundred  miles 
an  hour,  and  is  an  es- 
sen tial  qualification 
for  this  species,  for 
their  numbers  being 
so  great,  they  are  com- 
pelled to  pursue  a  con- 
st,-int  migration,  as  it 
were,  in  search  of  food, 
and  it  therefore  is  of 
prime  necessity  that 
they  should  be  able  to 
pass  over  a  large  ex- 
tent of  country  in  a 
short  period  of  time. 

Their  form  is  most  admirably  adapted  for  aerial  progression,  being  an  elongated  oval 
propelled  by  long,  well-proportioned  wings,  moved  by  large  and  powerful  muscles,  and 
steered  by  a  long,  graduated,  fully-equipped  tail.  The  limits  of  this  article  do  not  per- 
mit any  extended  account  of  this  bird,  and  therefore  only  a  few  words  can  be  written  of 
its  roosting-places.  These  are  generally  in  forests  where  the  trees  are  large,  and  but 
little  undergrowth  occurs.  These  roosts  have  been  known  to  extend  for  a  distance  of 
forty  miles  in  length  and  several  miles  in  breadth.  The  trees  in  this  tract  would  be 
loaded  down  with  nests,  crowded  closely  together,  so  that  large  branches  have  been 


FIG.  120.  —  Ectopistes  migratorius,  passenger-pigeon. 


252  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

known  to  break  and  fall  from  the  weight  of  the  birds  gathered  on  them.  The  flocks 
depart  at  sunrise  and  return  at  night,  for  they  must  go  great  distances  to  find  food 
sufficient  to  supply  their  needs.  The  arrival  of  the  great  host  is  an  impressive  sight. 
Long  before  their  crowded  ranks  appear,  their  approach  is  heralded  by  a  sound 
resembling  the  rising  of  a  gale  of  wind,  increasing  in  loudness  until  the  birds  hurl 
themselves  into  their  chosen  nightly  abode,  when  the  din  caused  by  the  flapping  of 
myriads  of  wings,  the  struggles  for  a  place  upon  the  trees,  the  constant  change 
of  position,  and  the  crashing  of  overloaded  branches,  is  so  completely  overpowering 
that  not  only  the  human  voice  cannot  be  heard,  but  even  the  discharge  of  a  gun 
would  pass  unnoticed.  At  one  time  these  roosts  were  not  uncommon,  but  they  are 
gradually  disappearing,  for  the  wild-pigeon,  like  all  other  game,  from  lack  of  wise 
and  requisite  protection  in  the  United  States,  is  being  brought  slowly  but  surely  to 
its  final  extermination.  Such  is  a  brief  and  cursory  review  of  one  of  the  most 
extraordinary  customs  of  this  beautiful  species.  Lack  of  space  compels  us  to  pass  on 
to  the  next  genus  of  the  family. 

This  is  lanthcenas,  containing  eight  or  ten  species ;  birds  of  rich  and  handsome 
plumage,  having  considerable  metallic  lustre.  They  are  inhabitants  of  the  Moluccan, 
Papuan,  and  Polynesian  islands.  One  species,  I.  ianthina,  found  in  Japan,  is  not  unlike 
in  plumage  a  species  (I.  metallicd)  from  Timor.  This  last  is  remarkable  for  the  metallic 
hues  of  its  plumage,  which  are  lustrous  greenish-purple,  with  various  brilliant  reflections. 
Another  species  from  the  Fijis  —  I.  vitiensis  —  has  the  entire  plumage  bluish  ash 
color,  with  a  metallic  purple  lustre,  changing  to  bright  green  on  head  and  neck ;  the 
back,  rump,  and  breast  also  metallic  green,  with  the  wing  and  upper  tail-coverts  edged 
and  tipped  with  the  same.  The  throat  is  white.  This  beautiful  bird  is  not  uncommon 
in  the  Fiji  Islands,  where  it  is  seen  in  parties  of  three  or  four.  It  is  about  fourteen 
inches  in  length. 

A  species  from  several  of  the  Papuan  Islands  has  been  placed  in  a  distinct  genus, 
and  called  Gymnophaps  albertisii,  on  account  of  a  bare  space  around  the  eye,  large 
feet  like  Carphophaga,  and  some  other  characters.  In  some  parts  of  New  Guinea  this 
species  is  rather  rare,  but  small  parties  of  eight  or  ten  were  seen  on  the  Fly  River.  It 
is  only  lately  that  this  bird  has  been  brought  to  the  notice  of  naturalists. 

The  last  genus  of  the  family  Columbidae  is  Columba^  formed  by  Linnaeus,  and  con- 
taining a  large  number  of  species  found  throughout  certain  portions  of  the  Old  and 
the  New  World.  It  is  characterized  chiefly  by  a  moderate  bill,  with  the  basal  half  of 
the  maxilla  covered  with  a  soft  cartilaginous  substance ;  the  apical  half  hard,  arched, 
and  hooked  at  the  tip.  The  nostrils  are  placed  towards  the  middle  of  the  bill,  and  the 
skin  is  swollen  above  them.  The  wings  are  moderate  and  pointed,  the  tail  rather 
short,  even,  or  rounded,  the  toes  moderate  and  free  at  the  base.  The  genus  has  been 
sub-divided  by  authors  into  many  sections,  but  it  is  not  necessary  to  notice  these  in 
this  article.  The  birds  of  this  genus  go  in  flocks  of  various  magnitude,  sometimes 
performing  migrations  of  more  or  less  extent,  according  to  the  diversity  of  climate. 
They  frequent  woods  and  feed  on  acorns,  beech-nuts,  or  seek  grain  in  the  cultivated 
fields.  Some  species  again  dwell  among  rocks,  making  their  nests  in  holes  or  fissures 
in  the  sides  of  precipitous  cliffs.  There  are  many  large  and  stately  species  comprised 
in  the  genus,  and  some  of  very  beautiful  and  attractive  plumage.  Only  a  few  can  be 
noticed  here.  One  of  the  best  known  is  probably  the  C.  oenas,  or  stock-pigeon  of 
Europe.  It  is  about  thirteen  inches  in  length,  of  a  general  bluish  gray  plumage,  with 
the  sides  of  head  and  neck  glossed  with  metallic  green.  Breast  vinous  red.  It  is  a 


PIGEONS. 


253 


graceful  bird,  walks  on  the  ground  with  ease,  and  rises  on  the  wing  without  much  loud 
flapping.  It  will  raise  two  or  three  broods  in  a  season,  placing  its  nest  in  the  hollow 
of  a  tree,  sometimes  in  rabbit-burrows  or  other  convenient  holes  in  the  ground. 
Both  sexes  incubate  and  assist  in  rearing  their  young.  It  feeds  on  various  grains  and 
seeds,  and  when  numerous  is  very  troublesome  to  farmers. 

A  remarkably  colored  pigeon  of  this  genus  is   C.  leuconota  from  the  northwest 
Himmalehs.     The  back,  neck,  and  rump  are  white ;  the  top  of  head  and  ear-coverts 


FIG.  121.  —  Columba  cenas,  stock-pigeon,  and  C.palumbus,  ring-dove. 

ashy  black,  wings  brownish  gray,  crossed  with  three  or  four  dusky  bars.  Tail  ashy 
black,  crossed  by  a  broad  grayish  white  bar.  This  is  the  snow-pigeon  and  imperial 
rock-pigeon  of  sportsmen.  It  frequents  rocky  heights  and  sequestered  valleys  from  an 
altitude  of  10,000  feet  to  the  snow  level.  It  feeds  in  the  fields,  returning  to  the  rocks 
to  roost,  and  is  shy  and  wary.  C.  guinea  and  C.  arquatrix  (sometimes  placed  in  a 
genus  called  Stictcenas),  are  African  species  of  about  twelve  inches  in  length,  the 
former  with  a  cinereous  or  plumbeous  plumage,  with  the  neck,  breast,  back,  shoulders 
and  wing-coverts  vinaceous,  the  latter  spotted  with  white ;  the  tail  is  black.  It  is  a 


254  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

rock-dweller,  placing  its  nest  in  inaccessible  places  in  caves  and  in  the  holes  of  cliffs. 
The  other  species  has  the  forehead,  chin,  neck,  and  breast  dark  vinaceous,  mottled 
with  black;  above  dark  ashy  with  a  reddish  tinge  on  back  and  shoulders,  and  a 
greenish  hue  on  the  tail.  This  bird  congregates  in  great  flocks,  and  feeds  upon  wild 
olives  and  berries  according  to  the  season.  It  breeds  on  trees  in  mountain  ravines. 

The  white-crowned  pigeon,  O.  leucocephala,  from  the  West  Indies  and  Florida,  is 
a  handsome  bird,  remarkable  for  the  pure  white  of  the  upper  part  of  the  head.  The 
general  color  is  dusky  blue,  the  top  of  neck  behind  chocolate  brown,  lower  part  green 
with  gold  reflections.  They  are  shy  birds,  and  breed  on  the  Florida  Keys  among  the 
mangroves,  and  occasionally  descend  to  the  ground.  C.  fasciata  of  western  North 
America,  extending  southward  into  Central  America,  is  a  very  fine  species  and  common 
in  California  and  other  of  the  Pacific  states.  It  is  a  forest-loving  bird,  congregates 
in  immense  flocks,  some  of  which  have  been  estimated  to  consist  of  a  thousand  individ- 
uals. It  feeds  on  berries,  acorns,  etc.,  and,  where  the  country  is  settled,  on  grain 
which  they  procure  by  visiting  the  stubble-fields.  The  band-tailed  pigeon,  as  this 
bird  is  called,  has  the  head,  neck,  and  breast  purplish-red,  with  a  narrow  white  ring  on 
hind  neck.  The  upper  parts  are  grayish-blue,  as  is  also  the  tail  with  a  black  band 
near  the  tip.  This  bird  is  about  sixteen  inches  long.  Central  and  South  America 
contain  several  species  of  this  genus,  of  which  C.  plunibea,  and  C.  araucana,  may  be 
mentioned.  The  latter  is  a  very  handsome  bird  from  Chili,  having  the  head,  mantle, 
and  under  parts  reddish-purple  shaded  with  ash-gray  ;  the  back,  rump,  and  upper  tail- 
coverts  lead-color.  A  white  bar  crosses  the  hind  neck  below  the  occiput,  beneath 
which  is  a  patch  of  scaly  metallic  feathers  reflecting  golden  and  purple  hues.  The 
tail  is  brown,  with  a  broad  black  band  near  the  tip.  The  length  of  bird  is  fourteen 
inches. 

The  next  and  last  family  is  that  one  here  called  CARPOPHAGID^E.  This  is  the 
same  in  the  main  as  Treronidae  of  many  authors,  and  contains  the  fruit-pigeons.  They 
are  birds  varying  much  in  size,  many  of  most  beautiful  plumage,  consisting  of  strongly 
contrasted  colors.  The  bill  varies  from  stout  to  slender ;  the  wings  are  long ;  the  tail 
moderate,  with  fourteen  feathers  (one  or  two  exceptions  to  this)  ;  the  tarsi  short,  more 
or  less  feathered,  with  bare  part  reticulated ;  and  the  inner  toe  is  slightly  united  to 
the  base  of  middle  one.  The  species  of  this  family  are  found  in  India,  Malayan 
Peninsula,  China,  Moluccan,  Papuan,  and  Polynesian  islands,  Australia,  and  Mada- 
gascar. 

The  first  genus  claiming  attention  is  Alectroenas,  containing  four  species,  one  of 
which,  A.  nitidissimus,  is  a  bird  of  very  peculiar  and  striking  appearance.  It  is  a 
native  of  the  Isle  of  France,  and  has  the  head  and  neck  covered  with  long,  loose 
white  feathers  that  fall  over  the  breast  and  back.  At  base  of  bill  and  around  the  eyes 
is  a  bare  red  skin.  Body  dark  violet  blue.  Tail  and  rump  bright  red.  It  is  a  very 
rare  bird  in  collections,  and  but  few  Europeans  have  met  with  it  in  its  wild  state. 
Some  young  birds  that  were  in  captivity,  never  went  on  the  ground  unless  obliged  to 
do  so,  but  showed  a  wonderful  capability  in  stretching  to  a  great  distance  from  their 
perch,  sometimes  with  their  heads  perpendicularly  downward  so  as  to  pick  a  fruit 
from  off  the  floor  of  their  cage.  Another  beautiful  species  is  A.  madagascariensis, 
from  Madagascar  and  the  island  of  Nossibe.  It  is  of  a  general  indigo-blue  color 
glossed  with  violet ;  the  tail,  which  is  rounded,  is  red ;  the  eyes  are  encircled  with  a 
naked  red  skin;  the  feet  are  red.  This  bird  dwells  in  the  forest,  frequenting  the 
topmost  boughs  of  the  tallest  trees.  Its  flesh  is  said  to  be  inferior  to  that  of  other 


PIGEONS. 


255 


pigeons.     The  first  primary  of  the  birds  of  this  genus  is  distinguished  by  possessing  a 
deep  notch  in  the  inner  web. 

We  now  come  to  Treron,  including  the  green-pigeons.  This  is  a  well-marked 
division,  containing  a  goodly  number  of  species,  of  plump  form,  clothed  in  a  green 
plumage  varied  with  ash  and  maroon,  with  considerable  yellow  on  the  wings,  and 
orange  hues  on  lower  part  of  body.  The  genus  has  been  divided  into  many  genera 


FIG.  122.  —  Alectromas  pulcherrima. 

or  sub-genera,  but  it  will  be  quite  sufficient  to  consider  such  species  as  shall  be  noticed 
under  the  genus  above  given.  These  birds  go  in  flocks,  and  are  stated  to  be  contin- 
ually climbing  about  the  branches,  when  searching  for  fruits,  like  squirrels,  and  the 
strong  muscles  of  the  legs  enable  them  to  hang  over  and  seize  a  fruit  and  then  recover 
their  position  without  difficulty.  They  are  good  for  food,  but  have  a  tough  skin 
They  are  found  in  India  and  Malasia,  Africa,  Japan,  Madagascar,  China,  etc.  We 
have  only  space  to  notice  one  or  two.  T.  pliwiiicopterus  (placed  sometimes  in  a  genus 
Crocopus),  is  found  over  all  Bengal  and  upper  India,  eastward  into  Assam.  It  breeds 


256 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


*acca 


in  the  wild  jungles  and  thick,  damp  forests,  feeds  on  fruits,  and  will  readily  eat 
plantains  in  confinement.  The  top  of  the  head  and  side  of  the  neck  are  ash-gray ;  the 
neck  and  breast  bright  yellow  green ;  abdomen  bright  yellow  in  the  middle ;  there  is 
a  pale  yellow  bar  across  the  wing,  the  upper  parts  are  green;  the  tail  ash-gray  above, 
tinged  with  green,  under-coverts  maroon  with  white  tips.  T.  sphenurus  has  a  wedge- 
shaped  elongated  tail,  with  the  usual  green  plumage,  but  the  breast  is  brightly  tinged 
with  orange  buff.  The  male  has  a  very  agreeable  note,  prolonged  and  musical,  having 
some  resemblance  to  the  human  voice  in  singing.  It  is  a  native  of  the  Himmalehs. 

T.fulvicollis  from  Ma- 
Borneo,  dif- 
the     other 

species  by  having  the 
head  and  neck  chestnut. 
The  genus  Drepa- 
noptilus,  with  one  spe- 
cies, D.  holosericeus, 
from  New  Caledonia, 
is  remarkable  chiefly 
for  the  peculiar  shape 
of  the  tips  of  the  wing 
feathers,  which  have 
the  outer  webs  notched, 
and  graduated  to  a  point 
beyond  the  shaft  and 
separate  from  the  inner 
webs.  The  plumage  of 
the  species  calls  to  mind 
that  of  the  members  of 
the  genus  Ptilopus  in 
which  this  bird  has  been 
frequently  included. 
The  general  color  is 
green,  throat  white. 
Five  silver-gray  bars 
cross  the  wing,  one 
reaching  the  back:  a 

FIG.  123.—  TreroH  waalii,  green-pigeon.  similar  bar   d'OSSCS  the 

tail ;  a  yellow  band  and 

a  black  one  traverse  the  breast.  Middle  of  breast  and  abdomen  greenish  yellow ;  rest 
of  under  parts  bright  yellow.  A  peculiar  character  of  this  bird  is  found  in  the  upper 
tail-coverts,  which  are  very  numerous  and  long,  and  regularly  placed  one  over  the 
other,  causing  this  part  to  be  unusually  thick. 

We  now  reach  the  great  genus  Ptilopus,  containing  between  seventy  and  eighty 
species,  or  over  one  fourth  of  all  known  pigeons.  The  genus,  like  many  others  in  the 
order  ColumbaB,  has  been  divided  into  many  genera  upon  various  pretexts,  more  or 
less  plausible,  but  none  are  of  sufficient  importance  to  make  their  retention  necessary. 
The  birds  of  this  genus  are  dispersed  throughout  the  islands  of  Java,  Sumatra,  Borneo, 
Philippines,  Moluccas,  Papuan,  and  the  various  archipelagos  and  islands  of  the  Pacific 


PIGEONS.  257 

Ocean  as  far  to  the  eastwards  as  the  Marquesas.  Many  islands  have  but  one  species, 
some  contain  a  number,  and  the  distribution  of  the  different  forms  is  often  puzzling, 
sometimes  almost  inexplicable.  But  this  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  geographical 
distribution  of  any  ornithological  group,  and  we  pass  on  to  consider  the  plumage  of 
these  birds.  This  is  most  varied  and  attractive,  the  colors  being  so  brilliant  and  con- 
trasting in  their  different  hues  as  to  challenge  admiration,  and  frequently  to  cause 
their  possessors  to  appear  among  the  loveliest  of  feathered  creatures.  The  members 
of  the  genus  have  been  divided  into  two  great  groups,  distinguished  by  having  the 
breast-feathers  bifurcate  and  non-bifurcate.  The  first  of  them  contains  from  twenty- 
five  to  thirty  species,  the  second  about  fifty.  Where  all  are  so  beautiful  it  is  difficult 
to  make  selections  to  present  as  examples  of  the  genus. 

Among  those  separated  as  having  the  front  and  top  of  head  purple  or  deep  rose, 
margined  with  yellow  or  pale  green,  may  be  mentioned  P.  roseicapillus,  from  the 
Ladrone  or  Mariana  Islands.  It  has  the  upper  part  of  the  breast  grayish  green,  feathers 
tipped  with  pearly  white ;  the  lower  part  crossed  by  a  green  band,  with  a  large,  deep  piirple 
spot  in  the  centre ;  abdomen  orange,  centre  yellowish  green  ;  under  tail-coverts  bright 
yellow,  rich  orange  at  their  tips.  Tail  pale  green,  tipped  broadly  with  yellowish 
white.  Another  more  beautiful  is  P.perousei,  from  the  Samoan,  Fiji,  and  Friendly 
isles.  The  forehead  and  crowrn  and  a  broad  band  across  the  back  are  dark,  purplish- 
red  ;  head,  neck,  and  throat,  abdomen,  flanks,  and  crissum  yellowish  white ;  feathers 
of  breast  split,  rose-red  at  their  base,  rest  yellowish  white.  Beneath  these  is  a  band  of 
reddish  orange ;  the  under  tail-coverts  are  dark,  purplish  red.  The  wings  are  pale  gray ; 
the  tail  grayish  white.  Bill  and  feet  black.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  a  more  beauti- 
fully arrayed  creature  than  is  this  bird.  It  is  about  eight  and  a  half  inches  in  length. 
It  dwells  in  the  mountain  defiles  of  the  islands  it  inhabits,  but  is  not  abundant.  The 
native  name  for  it  among  the  Fijis  is  manu-ma,  shame  or  modest-bird.  The  young 
are  so  differently  colored  that  they  might  easily  be  mistaken  for  a  distinct  species. 
Both  of  the  above  have  the  breast-feathers  bifurcate. 

Of  the  next  group  with  non-bifurcate  feathers,  which  has  nearly  double  the  num- 
ber of  members,  the  P.  insolitus  is  remarkable  for  having  the  forehead  and  base  of 
culmen  covered  by  a  large,  bony  protuberance,  rounded  in  shape  and  red  in  color. 
The  general  plumage  is  a  bright,  bronzy  green,  with  the  abdomen  deep  orange-crimson, 
and  the  under  tail-coverts  bright  yellow.  This  curious  species  is  a  native  of  New 
Ireland  and  Duke  of  York  Island  of  the  Louisiade  archipelago.  A  very  pretty 
species  —  the  smallest  of  the  genus  —  is  P.  nanus^  with  a  general  bronzy-green  plumage, 
a  gray  band  on  each  side  of  the  breast,  a  purple  spot  in  the  centre  of  the  abdomen, 
and  all  the  wing-coverts  tipped  with  yellow.  It  is  from  New  Guinea  and  Mysol. 
P.jambu,  from  Malacca,  Sumatra,  Borneo,  and  Luzon,  has  the  forehead,  crown,  and 
sides  of  face  scarlet ;  the  top  of  the  head  with  an  amethyst  tint ;  the  upper  part  of 
throat  and  chin  black ;  the  rest  of  under  parts  of  body  are  white,  washed  with  rose 
on  the  breast ;  the  under  tail-coverts  deep  chestnut ;  upper  parts  and  wings  dark 
green,  as  is  also  the  tail,  but  with  a  gray  band  at  the  tip.  Length,  ten  inches.  This 
species  is  common  in  certain  of  the  localities  it  frequents,  and  feeds  on  fruits,  especially 
of  the  different  species  of  Ficus.  Another  most  lovely  bird  is  P.  wallacei,  from  the 
Aru  and  Kei  islands ;  but  probably  the  most  brilliant  of  all,  so  far  as  color  may  be 
considered,  is  the  P.  victor,  from  the  Fiji  Islands.  This  feathered  gem  has  the  head 
and  throat  dull  olive-green,  and  the  entire  rest  of  plumage  bright  orange-carmine ; 
the  tail  is  brownish  orange,  graduating  into  pure  orange  at  the  tip.  This  dove  is  said 
VOL.  iv.  — 17 


258  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

to  be  the  glory  of  the  Fijian  forests.  It  breeds  in  November  and  December,  making 
a  rude  platform  of  small  twigs  for  a  nest,  about  ten  feet  from  the  ground,  and  lays 
two  pure  white  eggs.  It  feeds  on  many  kinds  of  berries  and  fruits. 

One  might  go  on  indefinitely  making  selections  from  these  lovely  birds,  but  our 
limits  forbid.  It  only  remains  to  notice  the  bird  which  leads,  through  a  chain  of 
other  species  of  Ptilopus  that  have  not  been  mentioned,  towards  the  genus  Carpo- 
phaga.  This  species  is  C.  magnificus,  from  Australia.  It  has  two  races  representing 
it  in  certain  of  the  Papuan  Islands,  and  also  in  Australia  at  Cape  York  and  Rocking- 
ham  Bay.  These  differ  from  the  species  named  mainly  in  size,  the  color  of  the 
plumage  not  being  appreciably  different.  It  has  the  head  and  neck  greenish-gray, 
becoming  light  green  on  side  of  breast ;  the  centre  of  throat  and  neck,  breast  and 
abdomen,  deep  purple ;  the  lower  part  of  abdomen  orange-yellow ;  under  tail-coverts 
yellowish-green ;  wings,  back,  and  tail  green,  and  a  yellow  bar  across  the  wing.  The 
total  length  varies  from  thirteen  to  nineteen  inches.  This  fine  bird  dwells  in  the 
brush  in  various  portions  of  Australia,  is  very  shy  and  retired  in  its  habits.  It  feeds 
upon  the  wild  fig  and  the  fruit  of  the  palms,  and  possesses  a  loud,  hoarse,  monotonous 
note  (frequently  uttered  by  the  male  in  the  breeding-season),  which  is  entirely  unlike 
that  of  any  other  bird.  The  sexes  resemble  each  other  in  plumage. 

Another  Australian  genus  is  Lopholalmus,  having  but  a  single  species,  L.  antarc- 
ticus.  This  is  a  very  fine,  large  bird,  remarkable  for  the  thick  double  crest  with 
which  its  head  is  adorned.  In  its  habits  it  is  strictly  arboreal  and  gregarious,  going 
in  flocks  of  many  hundred  individuals,  and  descending  upon  the  trees  which  bear  its 
favorite  fruit  in  such  multitudes  as  often  to  break  the  branches  by  their  weight.  Its 
flesh  is  rather  coarse  and  diy. 

The  last  genus  which  calls  for  notice  is  Carpophaga,  containing  thirty  or  forty 
species  of  large  size,  some  of  which  are  among  the  finest  of  this  family,  having  many 
rich  and  metallic  colors  on  the  upper  part  of  their  plumage.  The  feathers  of  the 
forehead  advance  on  the  soft  portion  of  the  bill,  and  the  tarsus  is  short,  and  the  feet 
broad,  enabling  them  to  grasp  firmly  the  branches.  Some  species,  separated  by  certain 
authors  as  Globicera,  have  a  fleshy  knob  on  the  base  of  the  bill,  which  is  most  largely 
developed  during  the  breeding  season  in  the  male  sex.  Their  distribution  is  very 
similar  to  that  of  the  members  of  Ptilopus,  being  found  on  many  of  the  islands  of  the 
various  eastern  archipelagoes.  A  very  large  species  with  a  powerful  bill,  from  the 
Marquesas,  was  described  as  Serresius  galeatus.  A  group  characterized  by  a  black 
and  white  plumage  have  been  united  by  some  writers  under  the  term  Myristicwora, 
but  with  the  exception  of  having  a  rather  short  tail,  they  differ  from  other  members 
of  Carpophaga  mainly  in  the  coloring  of  their  plumage,  hardly  a  generic  quality. 
Others  again  have  been  distinguished  by  the  various  terms  of  Phcenorhina,  Ducula, 
Zoncenas,  etc.,  but  these,  like  the  various  divisions  of  the  other  genera  already  no- 
ticed, can  at  most  only  be  considered  as  indicating  sub-generic  sections  of  Carpophaga, 
useful,  possibly,  in  grouping  the  species  together,  but  not  possessing  characters  of 
sufficient  importance  to  cause  them  to  stand  apart  by  themselves. 

A  fine  Indian  species  is  C.  sylvatica,  with  the  head,  neck,  and  under  parts  pearl- 
gray,  tinged  on  the  crown  with  vinaceous,  the  entire  upper  parts  and  tail  shining  cop- 
pery green  ;  under  tail-coverts  deep  chestnut ;  chin  and  orbital  feathers  white  ;  bill 
red  at  base,  bluish  white  at  tip,  irides  and  bare  skin  around  the  eyes  crimson ;  legs 
lake-red.  It  is  about  nineteen  inches  in  length.  This  fine  bird  is  found  in  forests  at 
low  elevations,  associates  in  small  parties  in  search  of  fruits,  and  visits  the  salt  swamps 


PIGEONS.  259 

on  the  Malabar  coasts  in  search  of  the  buds  of  Aricennia  and  similar  trees.  Its  call 
is  a  deep  moan,  likened  by  one  writer  to  the  croaking  of  a  bull-frog,  but  said  to  be 
somewhat  ventriloquial.  Its  flesh  is  excellent.  (7.  tricolor,  from  Australia,  various 
Papuan,  Moluccan,  and  Malayan  islands,  one  of  the  white  and  black  plumaged  birds,  is 
met  with  in  great  numbers  in  Australia  wherever  the  wild  nutmeg  is  found.  It  flies 
rapidly,  and  usually  at  such  a  height  as  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  a  gun.  It  is  said 
to  lay  only  one  egg.  C.  jjacifica,  from  various  islands  of  the  Papuan  and  Polynesian 
archipelagoes,  is  a  fine  species,  with  the  head  and  back  of  neck  ash-color ;  chin  white  • 
throat  and  lower  parts  of  body  vinaceous ;  upper  parts  shining  green  with  golden 
reflections ;  under  tail-coverts  chestnut ;  bill  with  a  round  elevated  knob  at  the  base 
black.  This  bird  is  very  common  in  the  Samoan  Islands,  wherever  fruit  or  berries 
are  found.  Many  are  caught  alive  and  tamed  by  the  natives,  who  esteem  them 
highly  as  pets,  and  carry  them  about  in  their  canoes  tied  to  long  cords.  The  birds 
very  seldom  attempt  to  fly  away,  but  are  generally  on  most  familiar  terms  with  their 
owners.  The  average  size  of  this  pigeon  is  between  sixteen  and  seventeen  inches. 

The  foregoing  is  a  very  brief  review  of  one  of  the  largest  and  most  important 
groups  known  to  ornithologists.  Of  great  value  to  man  from  the  edible  quality  of  the 
flesh,  they  supply  to  the  native  denizens  of  many  extensive  districts  of  the  globe  one 
of  their  principal  means  of  subsistence.  One  curious  fact  regarding  pigeons  is,  that 
these  birds  are  generally  absent  from  localities  where  monkeys  are  found ;  for  these 
nimble  quadrupeds,  being  tree-dwellers  and  very  destructive,  would  rob  the  open,  easily 
accessible  nests  of  the  birds  of  both  eggs  and  young,  and  soon  cause  the  extermina- 
tion of  the  species.  For  this  cause,  with  others,  pigeons  are  most  numerous  in  islands 
of  the  sea,  and  in  countries  usually  destitute  of  predatory  animals  and  reptiles. 

D.  G.  ELLIOT. 


260  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


ORDER  XV.  —  ACCIPITRES. 

Among  birds,  as  among  mammals,  we  find  certain  forms  specially  fitted  for  the  pur- 
suit, capture,  and  use  as  food  of  many  other  animals.  Among  those  which  are  pre- 
eminent in  the  destruction  of  the  higher  forms  of  life  are  the  groups  of  eagles  and 
owls.  These  are  typical  birds  of  prey,  and  if  we  add  to  them  the  vultures,  which  at 
first  thought  we  might  be  slow  to  do,  and  a  single  and  singular  long-legged  and  long- 
named  bird  of  South  Africa, — the  serpent-eater  or  secretary  bird — we  shall  have 
before  us  representatives  of  the  four  groups  which  go  to  make  up  the  order  Accipitres, 
otherwise  known  as  Raptores  or  Raptatores. 

Living  entirely  on  animal  substances,  which  they  are  frequently  put  to  their  wits' 
ends  to  obtain,  we  should  expect  that  many  features  of  their  organization  would  bear 
directly  on  the  manner  of  detecting,  securing,  and  appropriating  their  food.  And  in 
fact  all  the  members  of  the  order  are  at  once  recognizable  by  a  glance  at  the  structure 
of  the  bill  and  feet,  various  though  the  modifications  of  these  parts  may  be.  The 
strongly  hooked  bill,  provided  with  a  cere,  only  occurs  elsewhere  among  the  parrots, 
and  there  the  feet  are  totally  different,  two  toes  pointing  forward  and  two  backward, 
as  in  cuckoos  and  woodpeckers. 

The  cere  (Latin  cera,  wax)  is  a  membrane  sheathing  the  base  of  the  xipper  jaw, 
commonly  soft  and  smooth,  but  frequently  horny  and  wrinkled,  in,  or  at  the  edge  of 
which  the  nostrils  open.  The  bill  itself,  very  strongly  built,  is  short  and  stout,  with 
cutting  edges  and  arched  tip,  forming  an  admirable  instrument  for  tearing  flesh  or 
skin,  and  even  breaking  bones.  This  character  is  shown  in  all  the  members  of  the 
group,  however  much  they  may  differ  in  other  respects,  and  the  adaptation  to  flesh- 
eating  habits  is  so  marked  that  it  is  hardly  possible  for  anyone  to  mistake  an  accipi- 
trine  bird  for  anything  else.  The  feet  are  always  strong  and  four  toed,  three  in  front 
and  one  behind ;  but  the  owls  and  the  fish-hawk  (Pandiori)  have  the  outer  toe  versatile 
—  turning  either  way  indifferently.  As  the  feet  are  the  most  active  instruments  in 
securing  prey,  we  should  expect  them  to  vary  much  with  the  character  of  the  food 
and  the  habits  of  the  species,  and  such  is  in  fact  the  case.  Among  those  which  feed 
mainly  on  dead  animals  or  refuse  of  any  kind,  the  toes  are  clumsy  and  not  fitted  for 
grasping,  and  the  claws  are  usually  blunt,  weak,  and  little  curved;  while  amongst 
those  which  attack  living  birds  or  other  animals,  —  often  larger  than  themselves,— 
the  toes  are  very  flexible  as  well  as  strong,  and  the  claws,  or  talons,  are  very  long, 
much  curved,  and  extremely  acute. 

Doubtless  the  eye  of  a  falcon  or  eagle  is  the  most  perfect  organ  of  sight  in  exis- 
tence, far  surpassing  that  of  any  other  animal,  including  man  himself.  Not  only  are 
they  able  clearly  to  distinguish  minute  objects  at  a  distance,  but  in  darting  down  from 
a  height  they  must  have  the  power  to  adjust  the  eye  to  distance  with  a  rapidity  and 
nicety  simply  marvellous.  What  must  the  eye  of  an  osprey  be,  that  he  may  be  able, 
from  a  height  of  even  a  hundred  feet,  to  distinguish  beneath  the  wind-roughened  water 
a  fish  so  small  that  you  might  cover  it  with  your  hand,  and  not  only  see,  but  know 
whether  it  be  only  a  few  inches  or  a  few  feet  below  the  surface?  And  what  kind  of 
sight  is  that  which  enables  the  barn-owl  to  follow  and  clutch  in  the  darkness  the  bat 
which  you  can  scarcely  follow  with  your  eye  in  the  early  twilight  ? 

All  the  birds  of  prey  are  not  quick  flyers,  but  their  powers  of  endurance  are  unex- 


BIRDS   OF  PREY.  261 

celled  and  perhaps  only  equalled  among  such  sea-birds  as  the  petrels.  Many  of  them 
walk  well,  but  slowly,  when  on  the  ground,  while  a  few  are  able  even  to  run ;  but 
these  are  exceptions,  the  great  majority  being  only  able  to  progress  with  much  diffi- 
culty on  the  ground,  and  these  always  by  hopping  instead  of  walking.  There  is  little 
evidence  that  any  of  them  possess  unusual  keenness  of  scent,  the  general  impression 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  But  we  shall  recur  to  this  again. 

In  eating  they  often  swallow  much  which  is  indigestible,  such  as  bones,  scales,  hair, 
feathers,  etc.,  and  these  substances  are  afterwards  ejected  from  the  mouth  in  large 
balls  or  rolls,  technically  known  as  castings.  Their  nesting  habits  vary  much  in 
the  different  groups,  but  the  birds  are  always  monogamous  and  are  believed  frequently 
to  remain  paired  for  life.  The  eggs  are  commonly  few,  rarely  exceeding  six,  often 
only  one.  The  period  of  incubation  is  longer  than  in  most  other  aerial  birds,  and 
the  young  at  first  are  covered  with  down*  are  quite  helpless,  and  for  an  unusually  long 
time  entirely  dependent  on  the  parents. 

In  size  the  Accipitres  vary  from  the  tiny  finch-falcon  (Microhierax)  of  the  East 
Indies,  less  than  six  inches  in  length  and  weighing  only  a  few  ounces,  to  the  Lammer- 
geyer  and  griffon-vulture  of  the  Alps  and  Pyrenees,  with  an  expanse  of  ten  feet  or 
more  and  a  weight  of  eighteen  or  twenty  pounds. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  at  this  point  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  it  is 
among  the  largest  birds  of  the  order  that  we  find  the  most  remarkable  power  of  flight, 
that  is,  the  longest  sustained  and  that  which  is  apparently  accomplished  with  the  least 
effort.  The  fact  that  a  crane,  an  albatross,  a  vulture,  or  an  eagle  can  rise  from  the  sur- 
face after  a  slight  impetus  is  obtained,  and  then  ascend  in  'circles'  without  any 
perceptible  motion  of  the  wings,  until  actually  lost  to  sight  in  the  clear  sky,  is  so  well 
known  as  hardly  to  need  mention,  but  the  "  way  of  an  eagle  in  the  air,"  the  real 
manner  in  which  this  is  accomplished,  is  often  spoken  of  as  an  unsolved  mystery. 
That  it  is  not  so,  any  person  with  fair  opportunities  of  observing  the  phenomena,  and 
a  moderate  amount  of  patience  and  common  sense,  may  easily  satisfy  himself.  The 
points  he  will  notice,  though  probably  not  in  the  particular  order  here  mentioned,  will 
be  about  as  follows :  — 

First,  the  bird  must  in  some  manner  get  a  fair  start,  either  by  running  a  short 
distance,  by  flapping  the  wings,  by  spreading  them  against  the  breeze,  or,  if  the 
ground  be  uneven,  by  gliding  slightly  downward  from  an  elevation.  Then  it  will  be 
noticed  that  if  there  is  actually  no  breeze  at  all  (which  will  rarely  happen  unless  in  a 
small  and  closely  hill-girt  valley)  the  circling  bird  will  be  utterly  unable  to  rise  with- 
out flapping ;  each  complete  turn  will  bring  him  back  to  a  point  close  to  his  starting- 
place,  or  at  least  not  higher. 

When  the  bird  is  able  to  rise  without  flapping,  it  will  be  found  that,  while  gaining 
in  height  at  every  turn,  he  is  also  drifting  off  before  the  wind,  so  that  the  successive 
rings  of  his  spiral  are  never  vertically  over  each  other.  Should  the  observer  ever  be 
fortunate  enough  to  stand  on  a  mountain  side  and  see  an  eagle  rise  past  him  in  this 
way  from  the  valley  below  to  the  open  air  above,  he  will  not  only  be  convinced  of 
this,  but  of  much  more  ;  for  he  will  see  that,  throughout  one  half  or  more  of  each  coil  of 
the  spiral,  the  bird  not  only  does  not  rise,  but  actually  sacrifices  some  elevation  for  the 
sake  of  gaining  speed,  and  this  is  in  that  part  of  the  circuit  during  which  he  is  gliding 
with  the  wind  and  across  it ;  the  instant  he  once  more  turns  to  meet  it  he  begins  to 
rise,  soon  converting  most  of  his  momentum  into  elevation,  or,  in  other  words,  gaining 
height  at  the  expense  of  speed.  When  his  headway  is  almost  gone,  he  slowly  turns 


262  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

away  from  the  wind,  sweeps  with  increasing  velocity  around  another   incomplete 
circle,  and  towards  its  close  rises  another  step  on  his  airy  staircase. 

Sometimes,  impatient  apparently  of  the  slight  gain  at  each  turn,  a  circle  will  be 
finished  with  a  vigorous  flap  or  two  in  the  face  of  the  wind,  and  then  the  steady 
circling  motion  be  resumed  again. 

Of  course  the  lower  currents  of  air  may  often  have  a  different  direction  or  velocity 
from  the  upper  ones,  and  this  doubtless  often  enables  the  soaring  bird  to  retrieve  much 
of  his  loss  due  to  lateral  drift,  or  even  sometimes  to  pass  readily  in  what  seems  to  be 
the  very  wind's  eye.  Undoubtedly,  if  the  bird  were  willing  and  able  to  keep  its 
wings  inclined  at  the  proper  angle  to  the  breeze  without  circling,  it  could  rise  in  much 
the  same  manner  as  a  paper  kite,  drifting,  however,  rapidly  to  leeward,  but  it  would  not 
be  an  economical  use  of  either  time  or  strength.  The  rapid  wheeling  in  wide  curves 
gives  a  bird  complete  control  of  its  wings  and  enables  it  to  preserve  its  balance  per- 
fectly without  a  thought,  and  so  take  advantage  of  every  breath  that  blows.  One 
need  only  reflect  for  a  moment  how  much  easier  it  is  to  roll  a  plate  or  wheel  in  a 
straight  line  on  its  edge  than  to  balance  it  there  when  at  rest,  in  order  to  realize  the 
advantage  gained  through  the  continuous  and  rapid  motion. 

It  is  obvious  also  that  in  two  birds  of  different  weights,  but  with  relatively  the 
same  wing-surface,  the  heavier  bird  will  have  the  advantage  over  the  lighter,  through 
the  greater  steadiness  which  the  greater  weight  insures.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that 
only  the  large  birds  of  prey  rise  in  this  way.  The  pigeon-hawk,  Falco  columbarius, 
and  many  other  small  falcons,  avail  themselves  of  this  power,  but  it  is  certainly  seen 
on  a  grander  scale,  if  not  in  higher  perfection,  among  the  eagles,  vultures,  and  largest 
falcons.  This  is  not  the  place  to  enlarge  on  such  a  subject,  but  it  is  introduced  be- 
cause so  many  of  the  birds  of  prey  are  experts  in  this  kind  of  flight,  which  is  less 
commonly  understood,  perhaps,  than  the  more  usual  mode  of  progression  by  vigorous 
wing-beats. 

It  only  remains  to  say  that  probably  our  utmost  stretch  of  imagination  does  not 
enable  us  properly  to  conceive  how  slight  is  the  loss  resulting  from  friction  of  the  ail-, 
and  at  the  same  time  how  great  the  lifting  power  of  an  almost  imperceptible  breeze 
on  a  bird  moving  rapidly  against  it. 

In  general,  the  food  of  all  members  of  the  order  consists  of  the  flesh  of  vertebrates, 
the  exceptions  being  comparatively  few,  and  mostly  in  the  direction  of  insect-feeding. 
Of  the  forms  which  subsist  on  living  prey,  the  great  majority  probably  feed  on  other 
birds,  to  which  diet  is  added  a  liberal  proportion  of  mammals.  A  much  smaller  frac- 
tion of  the  whole  draws  the  bulk  of  its  supplies  from  the  reptiles,  while  fewer  members 
still  feed  largely  on  fish.  This  latter  fact  is  rather  surprising,  considering  the  abun- 
dance and  accessibility  of  such  food. 

The  influence  which  the  Accipitres  exert  among  birds  and  other  vertebrates  is  an 
extremely  salutary  one,  though  we  lack  the  data  for  determining  to  what  extent  they 
aid  in  holding  noxious  forms  in  check,  it  being  very  certain  that  many  of  them  are 
indiscriminate  feeders,  capturing  beneficial  as  often  as  harmful  species.  It  is  ex- 
tremely improbable,  however,  that  they  have  ever  been  instrumental  in  the  entire 
extinction  of  species,  and  in  most  cases  it  may  well  be  questioned  whether  the  judi- 
cious weeding  out  of  weakly  forms  is  not  one  of  their  most  important  benefactions. 

In  the  taking  and  killing  of  prey  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  feet  are  invari- 
ably the  efficient  weapons,  the  beak  being  rarely  used  until  after  the  victim  is  dead. 
Even  the  insect-eating  kites  and  falcons  clutch  their  minute  prey  with  their  feet,  after- 


BIRDS   OF  PREY.  263 

wards  transferring  it  to  the  bill.  In  a  similar  manner  all  materials  for  the  nest  and 
food  for  the  young  are  carried  in  the  claws ;  and  in  combat  with  each  other,  or  in  the 
repulse  of  intruders  from  their  nests,  the  same  members  —  aided  it  may  be  by  the 
wings  —  are  depended  upon.  Anyone  who  has  attempted  to  approach  a  wounded  eagle 
or  hawk  will  remember  the  characteristic  attitude  assumed  by  the  bird,  which,  throw- 
ing itself  on  its  back,  awaits  the  attack  with  wide-spread  threatening  talons. 

In  their  relations  to  man,  the  Accipitres  are  at  present  serviceable  in  several  ways, 
among  which  their  destruction  of  vermin  and  their  work  as  scavengers  are  the  most 
important.  Although  their  flesh  is  eaten  by  many  tribes  of  savage  or  half-civilized 
men,  there  are  strong  reasons  why  it  would  never  be  universally  popular,  even  if  easily 
obtainable,  and  we  suspect  that  the  simile  "  tough  as  a  boiled  owl "  is  as  truthful  as  it 
is  trite.  Many  members  of  the  Falconidse,  however,  have  been  made  eminently  ser- 
viceable to  man,  in  providing  him  with  game  at  a  time  when  sporting-arms  were  too 
primitive  to  yield  very  satisfactory  results  in  the  way  of  bird-flesh ;  while  falconry  as 
a  pastime  has  been,  in  the  past,  one  of  the  most  universal  and  exciting  field-sports 
which  the  world  has  ever  known.  This,  however,  will  be  noticed  when  we  come 
to  consider  the  true  falcons. 

As  to  the  number  of  distinct  species  included  under  the  head  of  Accipitres,  there 
is,  for  various  reasons,  the  widest  divergence  of  opinion,  but  we  shall  probably  not  be 
far  out  of  the  way  if  we  say  that  there  are  from  four  hundred  to  four  hundred  and  fifty 
good  species  in  all,  of  which  about  two  thirds  are  diurnal  birds  and  the  remainder  owls. 

As  already  stated,  we  shall  consider  the  order  as  consisting  of  four  primary  groups, 
which  may  be  artificially  distinguished  as  follows :  The  first  family,  the  Gypogeran- 
idae,  or  serpent-eaters,  have  the  head  feathered,  the  eyes  looking  laterally,  the  nostrils 
separated  by  a  bony,  imperforate  partition,  the  legs  very  long,  the  hind  toe  on  a  level 
with  the  rest,  the  outer  toe  not  versatile,  the  claws  blunt  and  but  slightly  curved.  It 
embraces  but  a  single  diurnal  species  from  South  Africa. 

The  American  vultures  form  the  second  family,  the  Cathartidae.  These  have  the 
head  naked,  the  eyes  looking  laterally,  the  nostrils  not  separated  by  an  imperforate 
bony  partition,  but  communicating  with  each  other,  the  legs  of  moderate  length,  the 
hind  toe  somewhat  above  the  rest,  the  outer  toe  not  versatile,  and  the  claws  varying 
with  the  species.  Only  six  or  eight  species  are  known,  all  diurnal,  and  confined  to 
America. 

The  third  family,  the  Falconidas,  embraces  some  three  hundred  diurnal  species  of 
eagles,  hawks,  falcons,  the  Old  World  vultures,  etc.  These  may  have  the  head 
feathered  or  naked ;  they  have  the  eyes  looking  laterally,  the  nostrils  separated  by  a 
bony,  imperforate  partition,  legs  of  moderate  size,  the  hind  toe  on  the  same  level  with 
the  rest,  the  outer  toe  not  versatile,  except  in  a  single  species  (the  osprey),  the  claws 
variable. 

The  owls,  or  Strigida?,  have  the  eyes  looking  directly  forward,  the  nostrils  as  in  the 
last  family,  the  legs  moderate,  the  hind  toe  on  the  same  level  with  the  rest,  the  outer 
toe  always  versatile,  the  claws  always  sharp  and  much  curved.  About  one  hundred 
and  fifty  species  are  known,  nocturnal,  and  inhabiting  all  parts  of  the  world. 

In  qualification  of  this  diagnosis  we  may  add  that  a  few  of  the  Falconidaj  are 
somewhat  crepuscular  in  habit,  while  at  least  one  member  of  the  Strigidse  is  diurnal. 

The  singular  South  African  secretary,  Gypogeranus  serpentarius,  although  unques- 
tionably belonging  among  the  birds  of  prey,  is  so  entirely  unlike  the  rest  of  them 
that  it  must  of  necessity  stand  as  the  type  and  only  member  of  a  peculiar  family,  the 


264 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


GYPOGERANID^E.  Some  of  the  characteristics  of  this  family  have  already  been  noticed, 
and  to  these  we  may  add  that  the  bill  is  shorter  than  the  head,  the  upper  mandible 
arched  from  the  very  base,  and  nearly  half  covered  by  the  cere.  The  neck  and  wings 


FIG.  124. —  Gypoyeranus  serpentarius,  secretary-bird. 

are  long,  the  first  five  primaries  of  about  equal  length,  and  emarginate  on  the  inner 
webs.  The  tail  is  unusually  long,  the  two  middle  feathers  very  much  lengthened ;  the 
legs,  and  especially  the  tarsi,  remarkably  long,  the  hind  toe  only  about  half  as  long  as 
the  outer  one.  The  skeleton  also  is  peculiar  in  several  respects. 


SEC  RE  TAR  Y-BIRD.  265 

The  name  secretary  comes  from  the  long  and  beautiful  black  or  g'.ay  plumes 
which  spring  from  the  back  of  the  head,  and  might  suggest,  to  a  person  of  consid- 
erable imagination,  a  bunch  of  quills  stuck  over  a  clerk's  ear.  The  secretary  is 
remarkable  not  less  for  the  reptilivorous  propensities  which  have  given  it  the  other 
name  of  serpent-eater  than  for  its  singular  personal  appearance. 

Its  length  from  bill  to  tip  of  tail  is  over  four  feet,  but  just  about  half  of  this  is  tail, 
while  the  neck  is  longer  in  proportion  than  in  any  other  bird  of  the  entire  order,  thus 
leaving  but  a  small  fraction  of  the  whole  length  for  the  body.  This  is  itself  quite 
slender  and  mounted  on  strong  legs  longer  than  those  of  a  sand-hill  crane,  the  tarsus 
alone  being  at  least  thirteen  inches  in  length.  The  general  color  of  the  adult  is  a 
clear,  light  gray,  the  sides  of  head  and  throat  with  some  white  streaks.  The  wings, 
lower  back,  thighs,  and  abdymen  are  black,  while  the  breast  and  tail-coverts  are  white. 
Finally,  the  cere  and  bare  skin  about  the  eye  are  yellow,  and  the  legs  and  feet  are  of  a 
dull  flesh-color. 

Although  a  well-known  bird  throughout  nearly  the  whole  of  South  Africa,  it  seems 
to  be  nowhere  very  abundant,  travelers  of  late  years  stating  that  it  is  unusual  to  see 
more  than  two  or  three  pairs  in  the  course  of  a  day's  riding  in  any  part  of  the  country, 
and  they  are  usually  so  shy  as  to  be  approached  only  with  great  difficulty.  Although 
the  wings  are  very  long  and  strong,  it  is  rare  to  see  the  birds  flying,  and  under  ordinary 
circumstances  they  are  seen  stalking  about  in  pairs  with  a  most  deliberate  gait. 
If  pursued,  they  first  endeavor  to  escape  by  running,  which  they  do  easily  and  with 
surprising  swiftness,  only  taking  wing  when  pushed  very  hard. 

The  farmers  of  the  Cape  frequently  domesticate  secretaries,  and  they  are  said 
readily  to  become  tame  and  familiar.  In  most  of  the  settled  parts  of  the  country  they 
are  closely  protected  by  law,  and  heavy  fines  are  imposed  for  killing  them.  Their 
favorite  food  is  said  to  be  frogs  and  toads,  but  they  seem  to  be  always  hungry,  and  so 
never  very  notional  about  their  food,  if  it  only  be  abundant.  Le  Vaillant  records  that 
the  stomach  of  one  which  he  examined  contained  eleven  rather  large  lizards,  eleven 
small  tortoises,  a  great  number  of  insects,  mostly  entire,  and  three  snakes  as  thick  as  a 
man's  arm. 

In  attacking  a  snake  it  would  seem  that  they  never  pounce  upon  it  from  a  height, 
in  the  manner  of  hawks  and  eagles,  but  first  alight  at  a  little  distance  and  then  stride 
up  to  the  attack.  These  combats  must  be  extremely  interesting  if  we  can  believe  the 
accounts  of  eye-witnesses. 

When  the  snake  strikes,  the  bird  either  evades  the  blow  by  skipping  to  one  side  or 
the  other,  jumping  backward,  or  springing  into  the  air,  or  else,  as  frequently  happens, 
he  simply  receives  the  venomous  thrust  of  his  antagonist  on  the  broad,  stiff  feathers 
of  the  outer  half  of  the  long  wing,  with  which  he  knocks  the  reptile  down,  following 
up  the  fall  with  a  vigorous  kick.  His  extreme  agility  enables  him  in  a  very  short  time 
to  baffle  and  overcome  a  snake  of  four  or  five  feet  in  length,  whereupon  he  finally 
seizes  him  near  the  head  with  his  bill,  and,  holding  the  body  down  with  one  foot 
proceeds  to  swallow  him.  In  case  a  snake  proves  unusually  hard  to  manage  on 
the  ground,  the  dauntless  bird  watches  his  opportunity,  seizes  his  adversary 
close  to  the  head,  and,  flying  aloft  to  a  considerable  height,  lets  him  drop  on  the 
hard  ground,  which  is  usually  sufficient  to  prepare  him  for  the  final  ceremony  of 
swallowing. 

The  nest,  which  is  quite  bulky,  is  always  placed  on  the  top  of  a  lofty  tree  when 
one  is  to  be  found,  but  in  scantily  wooded  regions  a  bush  usually  serves  the  same 


266 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


purpose.     The  eggs,  generally  but  two,  are  dull  white,  dotted  with  light  brown  at  the 
obtuse  ends. 

The  American  vultures,  constituting  the  family  CATHARTID^E,  are  peculiar  in  having 
the  hind  toe  inserted  above  the  level  of  the  rest,  and  the  nostrils  perforated,  that  is, 
opening  into  each  other  through  the  bill,  owing  to  the  absence  of  the  bony  partition 
which  separates  them  in  all  other  members  of  the  order.  There  are  many  other  points 
of  interest  in  their  structure,  such  as  the  extreme  shortness  of  the  hind  toe,  and  the 
slight  flexibility  of  the  others;  the  comparatively  short,  blunt,  and  slightly  curved 
claws ;  the  decidedly  long  tarsus ;  the  somewhat  lengthened  and  obtusely  pointed, 
slightly  hooked  bill;  the  nakedness  of  the  head,  etc.  The  cranial  structure  is  also 
peculiar,  and  it  was  Huxley's  demonstration  of  these  osteological  peculiarities  which 


FIG.  125.  —  Cathartes  atratus,  carrion-crow,  black  vulture. 

has  led  to  the  separation  of  the  American  birds  from  the  Old  World  vultures,  with 
which,  until  recently,  they  have  always  been  associated. 

As  their  name  implies,  these  birds  are  cleansers  or  scavengers,  living  mainly  on 
carrion  and  other  refuse,  but  frequently  attacking  small,  weak,  or  sickly  animals  when 
other  supplies  fail. 

The  smallest  bird  of  the  group,  at  least  in  extent  of  wing,  is  the  carrion-crow  or 
black  vulture,  Cathartes  atratus,  so  abundant  in  the  Gulf  states,  extending  as  far  north 
as  North  Carolina,  and  ranging  over  almost  the  whole  of  Central  and  South  America. 

It  is  exceedingly  useful  as  a  scavenger,  and  in  many  states  is  very  justly  protected 
by  law,  and  has  become  as  abundant  and  unsuspicious  about  the  city  streets  as  the 
pigeons  themselves.  Wilson,  describing  the  scene  about  the  freshly  skinned  carcass 
of  a  horse,  says :  "  The  ground  for  a  hundred  yards  around  it  was  black  with  carrion- 


VULTURES. 


267 


crows :  many  sat  on  the  tops  of  sheds,  fences,  and  houses  within  sight ;  sixty  or  eighty 
on  the  opposite  side  of  a  small  river.  I  counted  at  one  time  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
seven,  and  I  believe  there  were  more,  besides  several  in  the  air  over  my  head  and  at 
a  distance.  I  remarked  the  vultures  frequently  attack  each  other,  fighting  with  their 
claws  or  heels,  striking  like  a  cock  with  open  wings,  and  fixing  their  claws  into  each 
other's  heads.  On  observing  that  they  did  not  heed  me,  I  stole  so  close  that  my  feet 
were  within  one  yard  of  the  horse's  legs  and  again  sat  down." 

This  species  is  nearly  black,  about  two  feet  long,  and  has  an  extent  of  wings  of 
about  five  feet.     The  head  and  much  of  the  neck  are  bare  of  feathers,  but  the  plu- 


Fiu.  lliti. —  (.'athurtcs  aura,  turkey-buzzard. 

mage  runs  up  on  the  back  of  the  neck  to  a  considerable  distance.  The  only  bird 
which  could  be  mistaken  for  the  carrion-crow  is  the  turkey-buzzard,  Cathartes  aura, 
but  if  the  two  birds  have  once  been  seen  side  by  side  they  can  hardly  be  confounded. 
The  latter  bird  is  of  a  more  brownish  color,  the  neck  is  bare  all  around,  the  tail  is 
rounded  instead  of  square,  and  the  manner  of  flight  is  quite  different,  the  present 
bird  sailing  habitually  by  the  hour,  while  the  former  flaps  the  wings  vigorously  every 
few  moments.  The  turkey-buzzard  is  found  all  over  the  United  States  except  in  the 
northeastern  part,  but  is  most  abundant  toward  our  southern  border.  It  occurs  also 
in  the  West  Indies  and  in  South  America.  Both  this  and  the  preceding  species  breed 


268 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


on  the  ground  or  in  a  hollow  log  or  stump,  making  no  nest,  but  laying  a  pair  of 
spotted  eggs  on  the  rotting  wood  or  decayed  leaves. 

Among  the  largest  birds  of  the  Continent  must  be  reckoned  the  Calif ornian  vul- 
ture, Cathartes  californianus,  which  attains  sometimes  the  size  of  average  specimens 
of  the  condor.  It  is  found  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  the  Pacific,  and  in  flight, 
food,  and  breeding  habits,  so  far  as  known,  it  resembles  quite  closely  the  turkey- 
buzzard. 


FIG.  127.  —  Sarcorhampkus  papa,  king-vulture. 

Beyond  question  the  bird  of  this  group  whose  appearance  is  most  striking  is  the 
king-vulture,  Sarcorhamphus  papa,  a  native  of  tropical  America,  most  abundant  in 
Brazil,  but  found  as  far  south  as  Paraguay,  and  as  far  north  as  Mexico,  and  probably 
Arizona.  Most  of  the  plumage  is  pure  or  creamy  white,  rather  more  buffy  tinted  on 
breast  and  belly,  while  the  large  wing  and  tail  feathers  are  deep  black.  The  skin  of  head 
and  neck  is  naked,  or  only  hairy,  and  most  brilliantly  colored.  Waterton  gives  the 
following  description  of  these  parts.  '-'  The  throat  and  back  of  the  neck  are  of  a  fine 


CONDOR.  269 

lemon  color;  both  sides  of  the  neck,  from  the  ears  downwards,  of  a  rich  scarlet; 
behind  the  corrugated  part  there  is  a  white  spot.  The  crown  of  the  head  is  scarlet, 
betwixt  the  lower  mandible  and  the  eye,  and  close  by  the  ear  there  is  a  part  which 
has  a  fine  silvery-blue  appearance.  Just  above  the  white  spot  a  portion  of  the  skin  is 
blue  and  the  rest  scarlet ;  the  skin  which  juts  out  behind  the  neck,  and  appears  like 
an  oblong  caruncle,  is  blue  in  part  and  in  part  orange.  The  bill  is  orange  and  black, 
the  caruncles  on  the  forehead  orange,  and  the  cere  orange,  the  orbits  scarlet,  and  the 
irides  white." 

Unlike  its  near  relative,  the  condor,  it  is  strictly  a  bird  of  the  forest,  not  often  met 
with  among  the  mountains,  but  preferring  the  wooded  banks  of  rivers,  the  depths  of 
impenetrable  swamps,  and  the  margins  of  broad  savannas  or  stagnant  marshes.  It 
gets  its  common  name  of  '  king '  from  the  belief  of  the  Indians  that  the  other  vultures 
stand  in  awe  of  it,  and  will  not  venture  to  eat  until  after  the  royal  appetite  is  satisfied ; 
and  there  appears  to  be  considerable  ground  for  this  belief,  although  its  size  is  less 
than  that  of  the  turkey-buzzard,  and  it  seems  to  be  even  more  sluggish. 

The  condor,  Sarcorhamphus  gryphus,  has  usually  been  considered  the  largest  of 
the  birds  of  prey,  and  the  most  absurd  stories  have  been  told  of  its  strength  and  dar- 
ing. In  point  of  fact  there  are  several  Old  World  species  fully  as  large,  and  some  of 
them  probably  a  little  larger,  while  the  Californian  vulture  frequently  reaches  the 
same  size.  Probably  the  condor  never  exceeds  twelve  feet  in  expanse  of  wing,  and 
even  this  size  can  be  attained  but  rarely,  the  average  being  probably  within  a  few 
inches  of  nine  feet.  In  an  article  by  Professor  Orton  on  "  The  Condors  of  the  Equa- 
torial Andes,"  we  are  told  that  "  Hnmboldt  never  found  one  to  measure  over  nine 
feet ;  and  the  largest  specimen  seen  by  Darwin  was  eight  and  a  half  feet  from  tip 
to  tip.  An  old  male  in  the  Zoological  Gardens  of  London  measures  eleven  feet. 
Von  Tschudi  says  he  found  one  with  a  spread  of  fourteen  feet  ten  inches,  but  he  in- 
validates his  testimony  by  the  subsequent  statement  that  the  full-grown  condor  meas- 
ures from  twelve  to  thirteen  feet." 

Yet  up  to  the  time  when  Humboldt  visited  the  Andes  and  actually  measured  the 
freshly  killed  birds,  the  wildest  statements  were  made  with  regard  to  the  size  and 
strength  of  the  condor,  from  thirty  to  forty  feet  being  set  down  as  a  fair  figure  for  the 
expanse  of  wing.  Humboldt  himself  was  at  first  deceived,  and  was  astonished  to 
find  that  birds  which,  while  perched  on  the  lofty  summits  of  the  volcanic  crags,  ap- 
peared truly  gigantic,  were  in  reality  always  less  than  four  feet  in  length,  and  with  an 
expanse  of  wing  never  over  nine  feet.  Perhaps  the  illusion  may  be  in  part  accounted 
for  by  the  lack,  in  such  situations,  of  all  objects  for  comparison,  but,  as  Darwin  has 
thoughtfully  suggested,  it  may  be  "fully  as  much  owing  to  the  transparency  of  the  air 
confounding  objects  at  different  distances,  and  likewise,  partly  to  the  novelty  of  an 
unusual  degree  of  fatigue  arising  from  a  little  exertion,  habit  being  thus  opposed  to 
the  evidence  of  the  senses." 

The  strength  of  the  condor  has  also  been  much  exaggerated,  and  the  stories  of  its 
carrying  off  sheep,  and  even  children,  in  its  claws  are  at  once  shown  to  be  imaginary, 
not  only  by  the  failure  to  establish  a  single  authentic  case  of  the  kind,  but  by  the 
structure  of  the  foot  itself,  which  is  not  well  adapted  for  grasping,  the  hind  toe  being 
very  small  and  above  the  level  of  the  rest,  while  the  claws  on  all  the  toes  are  blunt 
and  little  curved,  so  that  it  may  well  be  doubted,  not  that  the  condor  could  kill  a  sheep 
or  a  child,  but  that,  having  done  so,  it  could  then  grasp  it  and  carry  it  away.  This 
same  structure  of  the  foot  makes  it  difficult  for  the  condor  to  perch  on  a  tree,  espe- 


270 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


daily  on  a  small  limb,  and  so,  although  they  do  sometimes  roost  on  trees,  they  much 
prefer  to  rest  and  sleep  on  bare  rocks  and  the  ledges  of  sheer  precipices. 

They  are  said  to  be  such  sound  sleepers  that  they  are  easily  caught  with  a  noose 
while  roosting  at  night.  Although  frequently  descending  to  the  plains  at  the  foot  of 
the  mountains  for  food,  their  favorite  haunts  are  among  the  peaks  of  the  higher 
Andes,  not  rarely  above  the  line  of  perpetual  snow,  and  they  rise  easily  above  the 


JfiG.  128.  —  Sarcorkcaupktu  yryphus,  condor. 

highest  peaks,  sweeping  in  graceful  circles  far  above  the  snow-capped  volcanoes,  or 
gliding  thence  in  a  few  seconds  almost  to  the  sea  level  and  the  torrid  heat  of  the 
plains. 

Although  they  feed  mostly  on  carrion,  they  are  equally  fond  of  fresh  meat,  and 
often  kill  lambs,  goats,  and  the  young  of  cattle  and  deer.  Probably  the  guanaco  and 
vicuna  furnish  a  goodly  share  of  their  food.  They  watch  from  an  immense  height 
the  movements  of  the  puma,  and,  as  soon  as  he  withdraws  satisfied  from  his  dead 
game,  descend  and  speedily  finish  what  remains. 


CONDOR.  271 

As  the  condor  is  confined  to  the  comparatively  narrow  chain  of  the  Andes,  but 
ranges  from  the  Strait  of  Magelhaen  to  eight  or  ten  degrees  north  of  the  equator,  its 
nesting-time  would  be  expected  to  vary  with  the  latitude,  and  probably  the  eggs  are 
laid  between  November  and  March.  The  spot  selected  for  this  purpose  is  commonly 
an  inaccessible  ledge  or  shelf  on  some  precipice  in  the  heart  of  the  Cordilleras.  Two 
white,  unspotted  eggs,  three  and  one  half  to  four  inches  long,  are  laid  on  the  bare 
rock,  and  perhaps  a  few  sticks  gathered  loosely  about  them.  It  is  at  least  seven 
weeks  before  they  hatch,  and  the  young  birds  are  not  able  to  fly  until  more  than 
a  year  old,  and  even  then  they  hunt  and  roost  with  the  parent  birds  for  a  year  or 
two  longer.  Thus  their  development  is  slower  than  that  of  any  other  known  species 
of  bird. 

When  first  hatched,  the  young  condor  is  covered  with  rather  scanty,  whitish 
down,  which  soon  deepens  in  color  and  increases  in  length  and  thickness,  but  is  not 
replaced  by  the  true  feathers  until  the  bird  is  nearly  as  large  as  its  parents.  The 
adult  male  is  glossy  black,  with  a  broad  white  bar  across  each  wing,  and  a  collar  or 
ruff  of  snow-white  down  about  the  neck,  above  which  the  neck  is  unfeathered  and 
covered  with  wrinkled,  dull  red  skin.  The  forehead  has  a  fleshy  or  cartilaginous 
comb  or  caruncle,  the  throat  is  wattled,  and  there  is  a  large,  pendulous  wattle  on 
the  upper  part  of  the  breast.  The  terminal  part  of  the  bill  is  ivory  white,  the  rest 
dark.  The  adult  female  lacks  the  comb,  the  wattles  are  smaller  or  wanting,  there 
is  less  white  on  the  wings,  and  the  dark  colors  are  duller  than  in  the  male. 

Before  reaching  this  condition  the  young  birds  wear,  for  one  or  more  years,  a 
pretty  uniformly  brown  dress,  and  in  this  stage  are  called  by  the  natives  of  the  Peru- 
vian Andes  '  condor  pardo,'  or  brown  condor.  The  comb  of  the  male  usually  makes 
its  appearance  before  the  downy  collar,  which  latter  is  not  developed  before  the 
second  year,  and  is  not  at  first  white. 

Whatever  may  be  the  case  under  natural  conditions,  in  confinement  this  species 
does  not  acquire  its  full  plumage  for  several  years,  as  shown  by  a  specimen  received 
at  the  London  Zoological  Gardens  in  1877,  which  "was  in  nearly  the  same  uniform 
brown  plumage  "  six  years  later,  and  was  therefore  considered  by  Mr.  Sharpe  to  be  an 
undcscribed  species,  which  he  named  Sarcorhamphus  cequatorialis.  A  specimen  in 
the  Central  Park  menagerie  at  New  York,  however,  which  at  the  age  of  six  years  was 
precisely  like  this  'new'  species,  subsequently  acquired  the  full  plumage  of  the  true 
condor,  of  which  therefore  probably  but  one  species  should  be  recognized.  Humboldt 
says  that  the  name  condor  is  from  a  word  in  the  language  of  the  Incas,  signifying  to 
smell,  and  adds :  "  There  is  nothing  more  astonishing  than  the  almost  inconceivable 
sagacity  with  which  the  condor  distinguishes  the  odor  of  flesh  from  an  immense 
distance."  This  belief  in  the  extraordinary  power  of  smell  possessed  by  carrion- 
vultures  is  largely  an  inherited  or  traditional  one,  and  was  long  ago  shown  to  be 
without  foundation.  That  they  have  some  power  of  smell  is  well  known,  and  Owen 
has  even  shown  that  in  the  turkey-buzzard  the  olfactory  nerves  are  highly  developed. 
Recognizing  this  fact  in  the  anatomy  of  the  bird,  there  is  yet  very  little  evidence  that 
the  power  is  ever  used  in  the  detection  of  food. 

Audubon's  careful  experiments  on  the  black-vulture,  Cathartes  atratus,  make  it 
certain  that,  in  that  species,  sight,  principally,  if  not  solely,  guides  the  bird  to  its  prey. 
The  perfectly  dry,  stuffed  skin  of  a  common  deer,  placed  in  the  attitude  of  death, 
attracted  a  vulture  within  a  few  moments,  though  there  was  nothing  eatable  about  it ; 
after  satisfying  itself  of  which,  by  walking  over  and  tugging  at  it,  the  bird  circled 


272  NATURAL  HISTORY  QF  BIRDS. 

about  over  the  field  until  it  espied  a  small  snake,  not  thicker  than  a  man's  finger, 
upon  which  it  at  once  pounced.  Moreover,  a  large  and  putrid  carcass  of  a  hog  care- 
fully covered  by  canes  and  brush  so  as  to  be  invisible,  remained  undiscovered  by 
the  vultures  in  spite  of  the  intolerable  stench  it  sent  out,  though  they  frequently 
passed  by  accident  quite  near  it,  and  the  dogs  at  once  discovered  it.  Yet  a  small, 
freshly-killed  pig  hidden  near  the  same  place  was  at  once  traced  out  by  the  vultures, 
by  the  blood  which  was  allowed  to  run  from  it  as  it  was  carried  to  its  hiding- 
place. 

Bachman  subsequently  repeated  some  of  these  tests  at  Charleston,  S.  C.,  and 
added  some  new  and  perfectly  convincing  ones.  The  rough  painting  of  a  sheep, 
skinned  and  cut  open,  soon  brought  vultures  to  examine  and  tug  at  it,  and  though  the 
experiment  was  repeated  scores  of  times  it  never  failed,  on  each  fresh  exposure,  to 
attract  the  hungry  birds.  A  wheelbarrow-load  of  tempting  carrion  was  next  covered 
by  a  single  sheet  of  thin  canvas,  above  which  bits  of  fresh  meat  was  strewn.  The 
fresh  meat  was  soon  eaten,  but  although  the  vultures  must  frequently  have  had  their 
bills  within  an  eighth  of  an  inch  of  the  carrion  beneath,  they  did  not  discover  it. 

While  at  Valparaiso  in  1834,  Darwin  experimented  on  twenty  or  thirty  condors 
which  were  kept  in  a  garden  at  that  place.  They  were  tied  in  a  long  row  at  the  foot 
of  a  wall,  each  bird  by  a  single  rope,  and  Darwin  walked  backward  and  forward  before 
them,  at  a  distance  of  about  ten  feet,  with  a  piece  of  fresh  meat  in  his  hand,  wrapped 
securely  in  a  piece  of  white  paper.  No  notice  whatever  was  taken  of  it  by  the  birds. 
He  then  threw  it  on  the  ground  within  a  yard  of  an  old  male  condor,  who  looked  at 
it  carefully  for  a  moment  and  paid  no  further  attention.  With  a  stick  it  was  pushed 
closer  and  closer,  until  he  touched  it  at  last  with  his  beak,  when  instantly  the  paper 
was  torn  off,  while  every  bird  in  the  long  row  began  struggling  and  flapping  its  wings. 

The  evidence  on  the  other  side  of  the  question  is  very  meagre.  Darwin  tells  us 
that  a  "  gentleman  mentioned  at  a  meeting  of  the  London  Zoological  Society  that  he 
had  twice  seen  the  carrion-hawks  in  the  West  Indies  collect  on  the  roof  of  a  house 
when  a  corpse  had  become  offensive  from  not  having  been  buried ; "  and  a  case  is  cited 
by  Mr.  Gosse  in  his  "  Birds  of  Jamaica,"  where  the  stench  from  the  putrid  contents 
of  a  soup-pot  in  a  house  caused  one  vulture  after  another,  as  he  passed  over,  to 
descend  toward  the  house  and  sometimes  take  several  tui-ns  about  it  before  reluctantly 
resuming  his  course.  There  is  nothing  however,  in  either  of  these  cases  that  would 
justify  us  in  ascribing  any  unusual  power  of  smell  to  the  vultures  even  if  we  admit 
that  their  actions  were  consequent  on  the  odors  they  perceived,  for  the  same  odors 
were  perfectly  perceptible  to  men  in  the  neighborhood  at  fully  as  great  a  distance  as 
that  at  which  the  vultures  are  supposed  to  have  discovered  them. 

On  the  whole,  when  we  remember  the  disgusting  character  of  much  of  the  vulture's 
food,  as  well  as  the  similar  odor  which  of  necessity  the  bird  usually  bears  about  with 
it,  we  can  hardly  see  how  it  would  be  possible  for  it  to  detect  at  a  distance  the 
odor  even  of  can'ion, —  much  less  that  of  perfectly  fresh  meat  or  of  living  animals. 
The  obvious  and  simple  explanation  of  ninety-nine  one-hundredths  of  these  remarkable 
discoveries  was  first  pointed  out  by  Audubon  and  has  been  almost  universally 
accepted  since. 

Probably  in  most  regions  where  vultures  of  any  species  are  fairly  abundant,  every 
nook  and  corner  of  the  surface  is  carefully  scrutinized  many  times  a  day,  and  by  many 
pairs  of  hungry  eyes.  Wheeling  in  graceful  curves  at  varying  heights,  some  scarcely 
higher  than  the  house-tops,  others  only  visible  to  the  human  eye  as  mere  moving 


VULTURES.  273 

specks  in  the  blue  sky  —  each  bird  is  keeping  silent  watch  not  only  of  all  that  tran- 
spires below  him,  but  of  every  movement  of  his  more  or  less  distant  companions. 
Thus  it  is  sufficient  if  but  one  bird  discover  anything  eatable ;  his  change  of  move- 
ment at  once  signals  his  discovery  to  his  nearest  companion,  who  hastens  to  share  the 
feast.  His  eagerness  betrays  his  secret  to  other  watchful  eyes,  and  so  by  an  almost 
faultless,  yet  unintended,  system,  the  news  is  noiselessly  spread  for  miles  almost  before 
the  original  discoverer  has  reached  his  prize.  If  the  find  be  small,  such,  for  example, 
as  a  dead  rat  or  small  snake,  the  lucky  finder  disposes  of  it  without  assistance  and  soon 
resumes  his  regular  and  well-understood  motions,  thus  checking  the  arriving  guests 
almost  as  soon  as  they  have  received  their  invitations. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  supply  of  food  in  prospect  is  large,  the  invitation  may  be 
spread  indefinitely,  and  if  the  meat  be  fresh,  and  covered  by  a  hide  too  tough  to  be  at 
once  torn,  there  is  nothing  to  do  but  to  wait  until  decomposition  shall  have  softened 
it,  or  some  carnivorous  quadruped  shall  make  an  opening,  thus  giving  time  for  some  of 
the  birds  to  come  from  great  distances,  often,  perhaps,  a  hundred  miles  or  more. 

The  great  bulk  of  the  diurnal  birds  of  prey  are  included  in  the  family  FALCONTD^E, 
to  which  we  now  turn  our  attention.  Here  we  find  the  largest  as  well  as  the  smallest 
of  the  Accipitres,  and  the  one  similar  plan  on  which  all  are  constructed  is  expressed 
in  so  many  different  ways,  and  with  such  endless  variations  of  detail,  that  at  first  one 
is  sorely  puzzled  to  know  which  should  be  considered  the  higher  and  which  the  lower 
forms.  It  would  be  impossible,  however,  to  arrange  the  species  in  any  linear  series 
which  should  show  with  even  tolerable  accuracy  their  true  relations,  and  we  shall 
hence  simply  assume  that  the  vultures  are  the  lowest,  and  the  falcons  the  highest,  and 
arrange  the  intervening  groups  as  best  we  may,  merely  remarking  that  while  we  here 
recognize  eight  sub-families,  as  being  more  in  conformity  with  general  usage,  half  as 
many  would,  perhaps,  answer  equally  well,  and  there  is  much  to  be  said  in  favor  of 
Mr.  Ridgway's  proposition  to  make  but  two,  namely,  the  Buteoninae  and  Falconing. 
The  purely  osteological  characters,  however,  on  which  these  are  founded  are  hardly 
so  suitable  for  the  present  purpose  as  the  more  superficial  ones  by  which  the  more 
numerous  divisions  which  we  here  adopt  are  usually  defined. 

These  sub-families  are  :  The  Vulturinae,  or  Old  World  vultures ;  the  Aquilin®,  in- 
cluding the  eagles  and  buzzards ;  Pandionince,  with  its  single  species,  the  osprey ; 
Circinaa,  the  harriers ;  Milvinae,  the  kites ;  Polyborinae,  the  carrion-buzzards ;  Accipi- 
trinae,  the  true  hawks ;  and  Falconinoe,  the  falcons. 

Collectively,  the  Falconidte  may  be  defined  as  those  diurnal  Raptores  with  imper- 
forate  nostrils,  in  which  the  legs  are  either  short  or  of  only  moderate  length,  the  tarsus 
never  exceeding  six  inches.  If,  for  the  moment,  we  leave  out  of  consideration  the 
Vulturina?,  whose  structure  will  be  noticed  shortly,  we  may  add  that  the  head  is  al- 
ways largely  feathered,  the  bill  strongly  hooked,  and  the  claws  curved  and  sharp. 
The  minor  modifications,  as  well  as  the  habits,  of  the  birds  comprised  in  this  populous 
family  will  be  most  conveniently  noted  under  the  sub-families  to  which  they  belong. 

The  Vulturinas,  or  Old  World  vultures,  form  a  group  of  carrion-feeding  Raptores, 
which  may  be  recognized  by  the  following  characters :  Head  and  neck  more  or  less 
destitute  of  feathers,  either  bare  or  else  bristly  or  downy,  no  true  feathers  on  the  top 
of  the  head.  Feet  robust  and  strong,  but  not  very  flexible ;  hind  toe  inserted  at  the 
same  level  as  the  rest.  Size  large,  length  from  bill  to  tip  of  tail  two  to  four  feet. 
Young  fed  at  first  by  regurgitation,  later  probably  by  food  carried  to  them  in  the 
claws  by  the  old  birds. 
VOL.  iv.  — 18 


274  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

There  is  now  no  doubt  that  the  so-called  true  vultures,  i.  e.,  Old  World  vultures^ 
are  simply  modified  buzzards  or  eagles,  adapted  for  an  almost  exclusive  diet  of  carrion. 
Much  as  they  have  been  modified,  they  still  retain  all  the  essential  characters  of  the 
Falconidae.  The  partial  nakedness  of  the  head  and  neck,  together  with  the  weakness 
of  the  feet  and  bluntness  of  the  claws,  are  the  principal  external  differences  from 
the  other  members  of  the  family,  while  the  internal  anatomy  is  very  similar  in  both. 
Like  the  other  Falconid®,  they  commonly  construct  bulky  nests,  or  use  such  nests  al- 
ready constructed  by  other  birds,  and  this  fact,  together  with  the  bringing  of  food  to 
their  young,  shows  a  palpable  difference  in  the  prehensile  power  of  the  foot  between 
these  and  the  American  vultures  ;  for  few  birds  are  able  to  fly  with  any  considerable 
weight  in  the  bill,  and  the  Accipitres  habitually  use  the  feet  for  this  purpose  when  it 
becomes  necessary  to  transport  food  or  building-materials. 

In  the  countries  bordering  the  Mediterranean  no  less  than  six  species  of  vulture  are 
of  regular  if  not  common  occurrence,  and  four  of  these  occur  in  southern  Europe ; 
the  remaining  two,  Gyps  ruppelli  and  Gyps  qfricanus,  are  African  species,  only  reach- 
ing the  Mediterranean  at  the  northern  limit  of  their  range.  Three  of  the  four  which 
occur  in  Europe  are  among  the  largest  of  living  birds  of  prey,  having  a  length  of 
almost  four  feet,  and  an  extent  of  wings  of  nine  or  ten  feet.  They  are  the  crested 
black-vulture,  Vultur  monachus  (otherwise  known  as  the  Arabian  or  cinereous- vulture), 
the  griffin  or  fulvous-vulture,  Gypsfulvus,  and  the  Nubian  or  eared-vulture,  Otogyps 
auricularis,  sometimes  improperly  called  the  sociable  vulture.  The  other  species,  the 
Egyptian  vulture,  Neophron  percnopterus,  is  much  smaller,  measuring  only  twenty- 
five  inches  in  length,  thus  corresponding  in  size  quite  closely  with  the  black-vulture, 
Cathartes  atratus,  of  America. 

The  crested  black- vulture,  the  type  and  only  species  of  the  genus  Vultur,  is  found 
throughout  southern  Europe  and  northern  Africa,  extending  eastward  through  Asia 
to  China.  Its  plumage,  when  adult,  is  dull,  sooty  black,  with  brownish  reflections  in 
certain  lights,  and  only  relieved  by  the  livid  flesh  color  of  the  bare  skin  about  the  neck, 
the  base  of  the  bill,  and  the  feet.  The  head  and  throat  are  completely  covered  with 
short,  soft,  downy,  black  feathers,  which  run  down  to  a  point  on  the  throat.  The  neck, 
which  with  this  exception  is  bare,  is  encircled  by  a  ruff  of  pointed,  downy  feathers, 
longest  at  the  back.  Immature  birds  are  much  brownei*.  The  nostrils  are  very  small 
and  almost  circular,  thus  differing  from  those  of  all  other  members  of  the  sub-family. 
In  Europe  it  seems  to  be  most  abundant  along  the  southern  Danube  and  in  Spain. 
Its  nest,  which  is  of  immense  size,  is  almost  invariably  placed  on  a  tree,  sometimes 
high  up,  sometimes  not  far  from  the  ground,  but  commonly  on  the  steeper  slopes  of 
mountains,  or  near  their  summits.  The  single  egg  usually  laid  in  each  nest  is  from 
three  and  a  quarter  to  four  inches  in  length,  and  about  two  and  a  half  to  two  and 
two-thirds  inches  in  breadth,  and  richly  spotted  and  blotched  with  red.  Several  nests 
are  frequently  found  within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  each  other.  This  species  is  ordi- 
narily slow  and  heavy  in  its  action,  but  spends  many  hours  each  day  sailing  at  great 
heights  watching  for  food.  In  Sardinia,  where  it  is  quite  common  but,  as  elsewhere, 
rather  shy  and  suspicious,  Mr.  A.  B.  Brooke  found  its  nest,  containing  a  single  young 
one,  on  the  first  of  June.  The  nest  "  was  built  high  up  in  the  mountains,  on  the  very 
top  of  an  old  stunted  ilex,  forming  a  large  shallow  platform  about  five  feet  long  by 
four  broad."  Of  this  bird's  voracity  the  same  observer  gives  the  following  instance : 
"  On  one  occasion  I  had  placed  the  skinned  carcass  of  a  moderate-sized  sheep  in  an 
open  vineyard  surrounded  by  thick  cover,  in  hope  of  attracting  some  birds  of  prey. 


VULTURES.  275 

I  had  sat  by  it  for  several  hours  without  anything  having  perceived  it,  and,  getting 
tired  of  waiting,  moved  away  two  hundred  or  three  hundred  yards.  I  had  scarcely 
done  so  when  a  common  kite  (Milvus  ictinus),  flying  by,  caught  sight  of  the  meat,  and 
after  soaring  round  once  or  twice,  lit ;  he  was  hardly  down  when  a  cinereous  vulture 
appeared  at  a  great  height,  rapidly  descending  in  circles,  which  became  smaller  and 
smaller  as  he  reached  the  ground ;  he  was  followed  in  quick  succession  by  two  ravens, 
another  kite,  another  cinereous  vulture,  and  an  eagle  (Aquila  bonelli,  I  think),  which 
latter,  however,  did  not  light,  but  kept  soaring  round  and  round. 

"  In  the  mean  time  I  stalked  to  the  spot  as  quickly  as  possible,  and  managed  to 
kill  a  vulture,  and  then  to  my  surprise,  on  looking  at  the  sheep,  found  literally  nothing 
left  but  the  clean-picked  ribs,  backbone,  and  head.  I  feel  quite  sure  that  I  am  over 
the  mark  when  I  say  six  or  seven  minutes  was  the  outside  limit  of  the  time  the  vul- 
tures were  on  the  ground,  and  one  bird  not  more  than  half  that  time.  The  one  I  shot 
was  a  fine  old  female,  weighing  sixteen  and  a  quarter  pounds ;  the  weight  of  a  male 
I  afterwards  shot  was  only  fifteen  pounds. 

"  The  length  of  the  female  in  the  flesh  was  forty-one  inches ;  from  carpal  joint  to 
end  of  wing  thirty  inches.  Vultures  do  not  appear  to  begin  to  hunt  very  early  in  the 
morning,  but  wait  until  the  sun  is  well  up ;  and  few  are  to  be  seen  during  the  extreme 
heat  of  the  day,  which  seems  to  show  that  they  rest  at  that  time.  Their  power  of 
going  without  food  must  be  very  great,  as  it  is  improbable  that  a  comparatively  small 
island  like  Sardinia  supplies  enough  dead  carcasses  to  give  each  bird  a  meal  every  day. 
These  birds  hunt  over  an  enormous  extent  of  country ;  the  pace  with  which  they  soar 
through  the  air,  when  going  from  one  point  to  another,  can  only  be  realized  from  the 
inconceivable  rapidity  with  which  they  pass  out  of  sight  on  a  clear  day  when  flying  at 
great  heights."  There  seems  to  be  no  evidence  that  this  species  commonly  attacks 
living  animals  of  any  kind. 

The  griffon-vulture,  Gyps  fulvus,  may  be  taken  as  the  type  of  a  genus  containing 
three  or  four  good  species  and  as  many  more  doubtful  ones,  or  perhaps  moi-e  correctly 
geographical  races  which  are  candidates  for  specific  distinction.  The  griffon  is  in  size 
and  habits  very  nearly  like  the  preceding  species,  but  differs  much  from  it  in  color, 
the  large  wing  and  tail  feathers  alone  being  black,  all  other  parts  quite  light-colored, 
or  mottled  with  light  and  dark.  The  nest  also  is  usually  placed  on  cliffs  or  among 
rocks,  and  contains  a  single  large  white  egg,  without  spots.  Gyps  riippelli,  indicus, 
and  bengalensis  are  similar  birds,  the  first  from  Africa  and  the  two  others  from  India 
and  the  Malay  peninsula. 

Mr.  R.  C.  Beavan,  writing  of  the  vultures  of  India,  says  the  Bengal  vulture 
"breeds  in  Maunbhoom  in  February,  choosing  for  the  purpose  almost  invariably  a 
large  semul  or  cotton  tree,  which  at  that  time  of  the  year  loses  its  leaves  and  puts 
forth  its  fine  scarlet  flowers ;  hence  the  nest,  which  is  generally  placed  at  the  junction 
of  two  large  limbs,  or  at  the  diverging  point  of  several  branches  from  the  trunk, 
is  plainly  visible,  but  not  easy  to  get  at ;  for  the  vulture  chooses  the  largest  trees  it 
can  find,  and  most  of  them  are  smooth,  large  in  girth,  and  devoid  of  branches  near  the 
ground.  The  nest  is  circular,  compactly  built  of  fresh  twigs  with  the  leaves  on. 
Eggs  two,  dirty  white,  frequently  blotched  with  red,  which,  however,  is  either  blood 
or  dirt,  for  it  is  removable  by  brushing  with  soap  and  water.  On  my  way  down 
to  the  plains  from  Simla  in  October,  1866,  I  came  across  several  of  this  species,  which 
I  have  found  abundantly  distributed  in  every  part  of  the  plains  of  India  hitherto  vis- 
ited by  me.  On  the  occasion  alluded  to,  numbers  of  cattle  had  been  used  for  the 


276 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


purpose  of  carrying  down  baggage  from  Simla  to  the  plains,  and,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
several  had  died  on  the  way. 

"  One  which  I  found  on  the  roadside  was  surrounded  by  crowds  of  these  vultures. 
On  going  up  to  examine  it,  I  disturbed  about  forty  of  them,  most  of  which  flew  up 
into  the  neighboring  trees.  On  going  near  the  carcass,  I  was  surprised  to  hear  a  rum- 
bling noise  proceeding  from  its  inside.  There  was  a  good-sized  hole  dug  out  by  the 
bills  of  these  birds  in  the  neck  of  the  carcass,  and  also  another  near  its  anus,  while  the 


FIG.  129.  —  Gyps  riippelli,  Kiippell's  vulture. 

stomach  was  swollen  out  and  distended  as  if  with  air.  On  hitting  this  with  my  stick 
it  appeared  to  be  filled  out  by  something  inside,  and  in  a  few  minutes,  to  my  great 
astonishment,  I  found  that  there  were  more  vultures,  all  alive,  inside  the  carcass! 
Two  following  each  other  in  quick  succession  shortly  afterwards  walked  out  through 
the  hole  in  the  neck  of  the  bullock,  and  the  first  immediately  flew  off  to  a  neighboring 
tree,  whilst  the  other  was  so  gorged  he  could  not  do  more  than  waddle  off  to  a  rock 
close  by,  on  which  he  sat,  whilst  I  left  him  and  concluded  my  journey." 


VULTURES. 


277 


The  genus  Otogyps  is  distinguished  by  its  bare  head,  with  fleshy  folds  arising 
beneath  the  ears  and  falling  down  the  sides  of  the  neck,  forming  the  so-called  ear- 
lappets.  The  Nubian  vulture,  Otogyps  auricularis,  is  found  only  in  Africa,  and  the 
most  typical  specimens  only  in  the  southern  part.  The  Pondicherry  vulture,  0.  calvus, 
occurs  in  India,  and  thence  eastward  to  Siarn.  It  is  much  smaller  and  darker  than 
the  preceding,  has  a  small  ruff  of  black  feathers  about  the  neck,  and  the  inner  face  of 


FlG.  130.—  Otogyps  calvus,  Pondicherry  vulture. 

the  thigh  is  bare.  It  is  rather  a  solitary  bird,  rarely  more  than  two  or  three  being 
seen  together,  nests  usually  in  trees,  and  lays  white  eggs. 

The  genus  Neophron  probably  comprises  but  two  species,  percnopterus  and  pilea- 
tus,  the  latter  confined  to  Africa,  the  former  having  a  much  wider  distribution.  In 
India,  a  smaller  race  of  percnopterus  is  found,  sometimes  considered  a  distinct  species 
under  the  name  ginginianus,  while  in  tropical  Africa  a  similar  race  of  the  more 
southern  pileatus  exists. 

The  typical  Egyptian  vulture,  N~.  percnopterus,  is  sometimes  found  in  northern 
Europe,  and  has  once  or  twice  occurred  in  England.  It  is  abundant  in  all  the  coun- 


278  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

tries  surrounding  the  Mediterranean  and  Red  seas,  as  well  as  throughout  Africa  and 
in  northwestern  India.  Owing  to  its  very  light  color  it  is  frequently  called  the  white- 
vulture  ;  in  Africa  the  Dutch  colonists  call  it  the  white-crow,  and,  as  it  frequently 
figures  in  the  hieroglyphs  of  Egypt,  it  is  also  known  as  '  Pharaoh's  chicken.'  Wher- 
ever it  is  abundant  its  usefulness  as  a  scavenger  is  recognized,  and  it  is  carefully  pro- 
tected by  law  as  well  as  frequently  by  superstition,  so  that  in  nearly  all  the  cities  and 
towns  of  southeastern  Europe,  and  in  fact  wherever  it  is  found  in  tolerable  abundance, 
it  is  one  of  the  most  familiar  objects  in  the  streets,  and  a  group  of  them  may  often  be 
seen  wrangling  for  some  scrap  of  offal  among  the  very  feet  of  the  horses  and  camels 
of  a  market-place.  With  the  giffons  and  several  other  species,  it  is  a  never-failing 
attendant  on  the  deserted  battle-field,  and,  with  the  help  of  the  jackal  and  hyena, 
desecrates  many  a  lonely  cemetery.  According  to  Mr.  F.  G.  C.  Taylor,  in  and  about 
Constantinople  it  is  very  abundant,  sitting  on  the  roofs  of  the  houses,  and  bi*eeding  on 
the  ruined  walls  and  towers  of  Stamboul.  The  eggs,  three  or  four  in  number,  and 
unlike  those  of  other  Old  World  vultures  (except  V.  monachus),  are  strongly  blotched 
with  brown  and  red,  the  markings  often  completely  obscuring  the  ground  color.  The 
young  birds  are  of  a  blackish  brown  color,  after  the  first  year  becoming  more  yellowish, 
but  not  assuming  the  final  plumage  of  the  adult  —  mostly  white,  with  the  large 
feathers  of  the  wing  black  —  until  the  third  year.  It  is  stated  that  the  bill  of  the 
male,  which  is  ordinarily  yellow,  deepens  in  color  to  a  clear  orange  during  the  breeding 
season. 

The  transition  from  the  vultures  to  the  eagles  and  buzzards  is  a  natural  and  not 
very  abrupt  one,  when  we  consider"  that  at  least  two  of  the  genera  which  we  now 
take  up  have  been  sometimes  included  in  one  group  and  sometimes  in  the  other, 
according  to  the  fancy  or  convic.tion  of  the  author  handling  the  subject. 

Under  the  head  of  Aquilinae,  we  propose  to  consider  those  forms  which  are  com- 
monly placed  in  two  separate  groups,  the  Aquilinre  or  eagles,  and  the  Buteoninae  or 
buzzards.  Our  reason  for  this  is  simply  that  the  two  groups  are  not  fairly  separable; 
that  while  marked  differences  aside  from  size  undoubtedly  exist  between  a  golden- 
eagle  (Aquila),  and  a  '  hen-hawk '  (Buteo),  and  even  between  small  groups  of  which 
these  two  are  typical  members,  yet  in  the  presence  of  the  vast  number  of  forms  which 
are  admitted  to  be  very  closely  related,  but  which  cannot  come  into  either  group  so 
long  as  the  groups  themselves  are  separated,  we  cannot  do  less  than  merge  the  two  in 
one  and  include  all  the  most  nearly  related  forms.  The  trouble  is,  however,  that 
having  done  this,  having  opened  our  doors  to  these  homeless  robbers,  we  are  in  a  fail- 
way  to  be  looked  upon  as  an  asylum  for  discontents,  or  rather  for  those  semi-orphans 
whose  parentage  we  may  indeed  know,  but  whose  ancestry  is  as  yet  involved  in 
obscurity.  Thus  the  harriers  will  be  wanting  to  come  in  next,  then  some  of  the  kites,  and 
perhaps  all  of  the  hawks.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  only  thing  to  do  would  be 
to  give  each  applicant  a  rigid  examination  and  admit  him  if  possible.  But  at  least  let 
us  quarantine  the  carrion-buzzards  (Polyborinas)  as  long  as  possible,  and  especially 
let  us  be  careful  not  to  add  insult  to  injury  in  the  case  of  the  osprey  by  forcing  him 
into  any  closer  relations  with  a  group  the  very  name  of  which  must  always  call  up 
painful  recollections. 

But  to  return  to  facts :  the  Aquiline  group  which  we  have  introduced  may  be  in 
general  negatively  characterized  as  follows.  Bill  not  toothed  as  in  the  falcons,  the 
cutting  edge  of  upper  mandible  even  or  sinuate ;  face  without  the  imperfect  disk  of 
the  harriers ;  the  bony  shiel^.  over  the  eye  usually  prominent ;  legs  and  feet  heavier 


EAGLES.  279 

and  shorter  than  those  of  the  hawks ;  tarsus  evidently  shorter  than  the  tibia,  usually 
scutellate  in  front  and  behind,  or  else  feathered ;  claws  always  long,  much  curved  and 
sharp ;  wings  various,  but  usually  rather  short,  broad,  and  rounded.  In  the  progress 
from  youth  to  maturity  the  changes  in  plumage  are  generally  several,  and  frequently 
the  successive  stages  are  very  unlike  each  other.  In  other  cases,  although  the  young 
plumage  is  very  unlike  that  of  the  adult,  the  latter  is  assumed  very  gradually  and 
almost  imperceptibly.  In  very  many  cases  marked  changes  of  general  color  resulting 
from  the  change  in  color  of  the  feathers  themselves  without  the  loss  of  any  old,  or  the 
gain  of  any  new  ones.  The  time  required  to  obtain  the  adult  dress  is  also  very  different 
in  different  species,  and  probably  varies  considerably  in  individuals  of  the  same  species. 
In  not  a  few  the  young  birds  molt  at  once  into  the  mature  dress,  in  others  this  is 
not  obtained  for  at  least  five  or  six  years,  and  there  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  occa- 
sionally there  are  individuals  which  never  assume  it,  though  they  may  live  to  old  age. 
Moreover  the  various  stages  peculiar  to  any  given  species  are  not  necessarily  passed 
through  by  every  individual,  and  even  if  they  are,  all  do  not  assume  them  in  the  same 
order.  Finally,  melanism  is  of  frequent  occurrence,  not  only  black  individuals  occa- 
sionally appearing  in  almost  every  species,  but  black  races  are  not  infrequent,  in  which 
case  the  melanism  may  be  (?)  only  temporary,  or,  as  seems  more  often  to  be  the  case, 
the  abnormal  coloration  is  permanent.  Much  of  what  has  been  said  here  with  regard 
to  variation  of  plumage  is  applicable  equally  to  other  sub-families,  but  as  it  is  particu- 
larly noticeable  among  the  buzzards  and  eagles  I  have  dwelt  on  it  here. 

In  the  light  of  all  these  facts  it  will  readily  be  seen  how  difficult  is  the  discrimina- 
tion of  species,  and  how  perplexing  the  literature  of  the  subject  through  the  descrip- 
tion as  valid  species  of  all  the  different  forms  which  a  single  one  may  show.  As  an 
extreme  illustration  of  the  ease  with  which  species  are  manufactured  we  may  men- 
tion that  in  1875  a  European  ornithologist  of  some  prominence  described  as  "new"  a 
species,  the  only  example  of  which  was  then  living  in  the  Zoological  Gardens  at  Ant- 
werp. This,  according  to  his  own  description,  was  extremely  similar  to  a  well-known 
and  variable  species,  and  moreover  he  had  actually  never  seen  the  bird  he  described 
as  new.  We  can  therefore  hardly  be  surprised  when  he  mentions  as  one  of  the  char- 
acteristics of  his  new  species  that  it  is  "  silent  in  confinement." 

Too  much  reliance  has  often  been  placed  on  the  change  or  permanency  of  plumage 
in  captive  birds ;  and  while  such  specimens  are  frequently  invaluable,  and  we  are  in- 
debted to  them  for  much  of  our  true  knowledge  of  change  in  plumage,  yet  we  should 
never  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  birds  living  under  abnormal  conditions  are  very  liable 
to  become  abnormal  themselves. 

The  age  which  birds  of  prey  attain  is  very  uncertain,  and  the  data  on  this  point 
very  meagi-e.  The  general  statement  has  always  been  that  "  eagles  probably  live  to 
be  at  least  one  hundred  years  old."  Many  cases,  indeed,  are  on  record  where  eagles 
are  believed  to  have  lived  more  than  one  hundred  years,  but  we  know  of  no  instance 
where  this  was  absolutely  known  to  be  true.  At  least  one  authentic  instance  has  been 
recorded,  however,  of  a  white-tailed  eagle,  Halicetus  albicilla,  which  lived  in  confine- 
ment until  upwards  of  eighty  years  old. 

The  eagle-vulture,  Gypohierax  angolensis,  of  West  Africa,  combines,  as  its  name 
suggests,  some  characters  of  both  the  eagles  and  vultures.  Its  size  and  general  bear- 
ing would  place  it  with  the  former,  but  its  carrion-eating  habits,  coupled  with  the  bare 
skin  of  the  sides  of  the  head,  suggest  the  vultures.  It  is  a  beautiful  bird  in  its  appear- 
ance, especially  when  seen  seated  solitary,  as  its  custom  is,  on  the  bare  top  of  some 


280  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

commanding  tree,  giving  a  wide  outlook  over  river  and  forest.  Its  plumage  is  mainly 
snowy  white,  the  wings  and  tail  alone  being  mostly  black,  the  latter  with  a  broad  ter- 
minal white  band.  The  legs  and  feet  are  pink,  and  the  bare  skin  about  the  head 
flesh-colored.  Though  it  ordinarily  lives  on  carrion  it  has  been  known  to  stoop  at 
living  prey,  Mr.  H.  T.  Ussher  having  shot  one  in  the  act  of  striking  a  kid  tethered  in 
the  woods  as  a  bait  for  a  leopard. 

The  bearded-vulture  or  Lammergeyer,  Gypaetus  barbatus,  is  one  of  the  most  noted 
of  all  the  birds  of  prey,  holding  much  the  same  place  with  regard  to  the  Pyrenees,  Alps, 
and  Himmalehs  that  the  condor  holds  in  the  Andes. 

A  bird  of  magnificent  proportions  and  savage  aspect,  it  is  nevertheless  much  less 
harmful  than  many  of  the  smaller  eagles,  though  tradition  accuses  it  of  the  most 
daring  attacks  on  chamois,  mountain  goats,  and  even  mountaineers  themselves.  The 
mode  of  attack  commonly  ascribed  to  it  as  follows:  Watching  stealthily  for  an 
unguarded  moment,  when  its  victim  is  near  the  edge  of  a  precipice,  it  sweeps  down 
with  tremendous  velocity,  and,  by  the  force  of  its  rush,  followed  up  perhaps  by  blows 
of  the  wings,  forces  its  half-stunned  and  bewildered  quarry  over  the  brink,  afterwards 
descending  itself  to  feast  at  leisure  on  the  lifeless  body. 

Dresser,  in  his  "  Birds  of  Europe,"  says  of  this  habit :  "  Many  of  these  accounts 
are  greatly  exaggerated.  It  partakes  far  more  of  the  vulture  in  its  habits  than  of  the 
eagle,  feeds  on  carrion  and  such  refuse  as  it  can  pick  up,  sometimes  doubtless  attack- 
ing weakly  lambs  or  catching  mountain  hares.  There  are,  however,  authentic  records 
of  its  having  attacked  children  when  impelled  by  hunger." 

Mr.  Salvin,  who  found  several  pairs  breeding  in  the  Atlas  range  in  northern 
Africa,  says  that  their  food  there  consisted  principally  of  land-tortoises,  Testudo 
mauritanica,  which  they  carried  to  some  height  in  the  air,  letting  them  fall  on  a  stone 
to  break  the  shell. 

Another  observer,  writing  of  its  habits  in  Greece,  says :  "  The  Lammergeyer  may 
be  observed  floating  slowly  at  a  uniform  level  close  to  the  cliffs  of  some  deep  ravine, 
where  his  shadow  is  perhaps  projected  on  the  wall-like  rocks.  If  the  ravine  has 
salient  and  re-entering  angles,  he  does  not  cut  across  from  point  to  point,  but  pre- 
serves the  same  distance  from  the  cliff,  and  when  he  disappears  at  any  lateral  fissure, 
you  feel  sure  of  the  very  spot  where  he  will  emerge  on  turning  the  corner  of  the 
precipice.  Marrow-bones  are  the  dainties  he  loves  the  best,  and  when  the  other 
vultures  have  picked  the  flesh  off  any  animal  he  comes  in  at  the  end  of  the  feast  and 
swallows  the  bones,  or  breaks  them  and  swallows  the  pieces  if  he  cannot  get  the 
marrow  out  otherwise.  The  bones  he  cracks  by  taking  them  to  a  great  height  and 
letting  them  fall  upon  a  stone.  This  is  probably  the  bird  that  dropped  a  tortoise  on 
the  bald  head  of  poor  old  ./Eschylus." 

In  color  the  adult  male  Lammergeyer  shows  strong  contrasts,  most  of  the  under 
parts  and  the  neck  being  rich,  light  rusty  yellow ;  the  wings,  back,'  and  tail  blackish 
brown  with  white  shaft-streaks ;  the  forehead  and  crown  creamy  white,  the  sides  of 
the  head  and  a  bunch  of  long  black  bristles  on  the  chin  jet  black.  The  iris  is  pale 
orange,  but  the  sclerotic  membrane  is  blood  red,  giving  the  bird  an  almost  diabolical 
look  when  excited.  Full  grown  individuals  range  from  three  to  four  feet  in  length, 
and  have  an  extent  of  wings  of  nine  or  ten  feet. 

The  bulky  nest  is  usually  placed  in  some  inaccessible  cleft  or  cavern  in  the  face  of 
a  cliff,  and  the  single  egg  (rarely  one  more)  is  dull  yellow,  clouded  or  washed  with 
rusty.  The  birds  are  much  sought  after  on  account  of  their  feathers,  and  their  nests 


EA  GLES.  281 

are  likewise  robbed  whenever  they  are  found  in  accessible  places ;  the  eggs,  from  their 
rarity  in  collections,  always  bringing  a  good  price.  Hence  the  Lammergeyer  is  fast 
disappearing  from  Europe,  being  now  very  rarely  seen  in  Switzerland,  where  it  was 
once  common,  though  still  found  in  some  numbers  in  Spain,  where  it  has  been  less 
persecuted. 

A  second  species  of  Gypaetus,  G.  meridionalis,  is  credited  to  northeastern  Africa, 
and  is  said  to  be  easily  distinguished  by  having  the  lower  part  of  the  tarsus  bare.  It 
also  differs  somewhat  in  head  markings,  but  all  the  differences  are  so  slight,  and  the 
characters  themselves  so  variable  in  the  true  Lammergeyer,  that  probably  it  will  prove 
to  be  merely  a  geographical  race  of  this  bird. 

We  give  the  following  anecdote  of  this  species  on  the  authority  of  Rev.  J.  G. 
Wood,  who  says :  "  Bruce  gives  a  graphic  and  amusing  narrative  of  the  cool  audacity 
that  was  displayed  by  one  of  these  birds.  The  author,  with  a  number  of  his  attend- 
ants, were  seated  on  the  summit  of  a  mountain,  engaged  in  cooking  their  dinner, 
when  a  Lammergeyer  came  slowly  sailing  over  the  ground,  and  boldly  alighted 
close  to  the  dish  of  boiled  meat  around  which  the  men  were  sitting.  Undismayed 
by  their  shouts  of  distress,  he  quietly  proceeded  to  reconnoitre  the  spot,  while  the 
men  were  running  for  their  spears  and  shields,  and,  going  up  to  the  pot  in  which 
some  goat's  flesh  was  boiling,  he  inserted  his  foot  for  the  purpose  of  abstracting 
the  meat.  Not  being  prepared  for  the  sudden  scalding  which  ensued,  he  hastily 
withdrew  his  foot  and  fastened  on  a  leg  and  shoulder  of  goat's  flesh  which  were 
lying  on  the  dish,  carrying  them  away  before  he  could  be  intercepted.  The  attend- 
ants were  quite  afraid  of  the  bird,  and  assured  Mr.  Bruce  that  it  would  return  in 
a  short  time  for  more  meat.  Accordingly,  in  a  very  few  minutes,  back  came  the 
Lammergeyer,  but  was  evidently  rather  suspicious  at  the  look  of  Mr.  Bruce,  who 
had  taken  up  his  rifle  and  was  sitting  close  to  the  pan  of  meat.  In  spite  of  the  shouts 
of  the  attendants,  the  bird,  which  evidently  held  in  the  greatest  contempt  the  warlike 
capabilities  of  the  natives,  and  was  not  prepared  for  European  weapons  and  hands, 
settled  on  the  ground  about  ten  yards  from  the  meat,  and  the  next  instant  was  lying 
dead  on  the  earth  with  a  rifle-ball  through  its  body.  When  brought  to  the  scales  the 
dead  bird  was  found  to  weigh  twenty-two  pounds,  and  the  expanse  of  its  wings  was 
eight  feet  four  inches,  although  it  was  undergoing  its  moult  at  the  time." 

Most  of  the  typical  eagles  are  included  under  the  genei'a  Aquila  and  Haliaetus^  each 
of  which  comprises  from  five  to  twenty  species  distributed  through  all  countries,  but 
perhaps  most  poorly  represented  in  North  America,  where  we  have  only  one  species 
of  each  genus,  viz.,  the  golden-eagle,  Aquila  chrysaetus,  common  to  Europe,  Asia, 
and  North  America,  and  the  bald-headed  eagle,  Haliaetus  leucocephalus,  peculiar  to 
North  America.  The  Old  World  white-tailed  sea-eagle,  H.  albicilla,  which  very 
closely  resembles  a  large  and  poorly  colored  bald-eagle,  is  found  in  Greenland,  but  not 
elsewhere  in  North  America,  though  abundant  in  Europe  and  Asia  and  even  in  Kams- 
chatka  and  the  Aleutian  Islands. 

In  Aquila  the  tarsus  is  feathered  to  the  toes ;  in  Haliaetus  only  about  half  way 
from  heel  to  toes.  The  members  of  the  genus  A quila  are  often  spoken  of  as 'true 
eagles '  as  distinguished  from  the  equally  large  but  less  regal  Haliaeti,  which  are 
certainly  more  addicted  to  fishing,  and  perhaps  oftener  feed  on  carrion,  but  in  this 
latter  particular  there  is  little  choice.  Other  writers  call  both  these  genera 'true' 
eagles,  relegating  to  the  '  so-called  eagles '  the  related  genera  Haliastur,  Helotarsus^ 
Nisaetus,  and  almost  any  hawk  or  buzzard  of  large  size. 


282 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


We  may  take  as  our  type  Ox  the  eagles  the  golden-eagle  just  referred  to,  one  of 
the  largest  of  its  genus,  and  unfortunately  far  from,  common  in  America.  It  ranges 
from  Mexico  northward,  being  most  abundant  in  mountainous  regions,  where  it 
usually  nests  on  inaccessible  cliffs,  and  lays  two  or  three  eggs,  which  are  commonly 
brown-spotted,  though  occasionally  white  like  those  of  the  bald-eagle. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  it  ranges  somewhat  further  south,  being  abun- 
dant in  the  Atlas  mountains  of  northern  Africa,  and  of  common  occurrence  in  India, 


FIG.  131 .  —  Aquila  moyilnik,  imperial  eagle. 

and,  though  everywhere  a  mountain-loving  bird,  in  the  two  last-named  places,  it  not 
unfrequently  nests  in  trees.  In  Great  Britain  at  one  time  both  this  and  the  sea-eagle 
were  verging  on  extinction,  owing  to  the  bounties  paid  for  their  destruction  on 
account  of  their  depredations  on  flocks.  It  is  now,  however,  not  uncommon  in  Scot- 
land, and  in  some  localities  there  even  seems  to  be  increasing  in  numbers,  probably 
owing  to  two  causes  combined,  one  the  protection  granted  it  by  the  owners  of  many 
large  estates,  and  the  other  that  extended  to  it  by  the  shepherds  and  mountaineers 


EAGLES. 


283 


themselves,  who  have  learned  that  a  large  price  can  be  obtained  for  its  eggs,  and  so, 
after  robbing  a  nest  once  each  season,  allow  a  second  set  of  eggs  to  be  hatched  and 
the  young  to  be  reared.  The  American  bird  has  usually  been  considered  a  variety  of 
the  Old  World  species,  and  distinguished  by  the  name  canadensis.  The  only  points, 
however,  in  which  the  two  forms  differ,  are  the  slightly  larger  size  and  darker  plum- 
age of  the  American  bird,  the  latter  point  being  most  easily  recognized  in  the  young. 
The  adults  range  in  length  from  two  and  one  half  to  three  feet,  and  the  wings  spread 
from  six  to  seven  feet. 


FIG.  132.  —  HaliaStus  vocifer,  African  sea-eagle. 

The  smallest  member  of  the  genus  is  the  dwarf-eagle,  Aquila  pennata,  a  native  of 
southern  Europe,  north  Africa,  and  India,  which  measures  only  eighteen  inches  or  two 
feet  in  length.  Other  notable  species  are  the  king-eagle,  A.  heliaca,  of  southeastern 
Europe  and  Asia,  equalling  the  golden  in  size,  and  supposed  by  many  to  be  the 
species  once  adopted  as  the  emblem  of  the  Roman  empire;  the  imperial  eagle, 
A.  mogilnik,  but  slightly  inferior  to  the  last,  and  with  about  the  same  range; 
A.  verreauxi,  of  south  Africa,  and  A.  ( Uroaetus)  audax,  the  bold  or  wedge-tailed 


284  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

eagle  of  Australia.  This  latter  differs  from  all  the  other  members  of  the  genus  in 
having  the  long  tail  strongly  graduated,  the  outer  feathers  being  five  or  six  inches 
shorter  than  the  middle  ones. 

Severtzoff,  in  his  "Fauna  of  Turkestan,"  says  of  the  king-eagle,  A.  heliaca, 
"During  summer  it  is  found  in  all  parts  of  Turkestan,  but  breeds  only  in  the  salt 
plains  near  Jorteck.  During  the  breeding-season  it  is  only  found  near  its  breeding- 
haunts,  but  frequently  wanders  and  changes  its  residence  during  the  winter.  Like 
other  eagles,  it  breeds  only  every  alternate  year.  So  soon  as  the  young  are  full- 
grown  they  commence  to  change ;  but  the  plumage  changes  very  slowly.  During  the 
winter  the  moult  is  arrested,  and  recommences  in  the  spring  of  the  following  year ; 
and  they  never  breed  whilst  this  moult  is  progressing." 

Among  the  sea-eagles,  the  North  American  bald-eagle,  Haliaetus  leucocephalus,  is 
a  familiar  example,  and  too  well  known  to  need  description.  Of  about  the  same  size 
as  the  golden-eagle,  it  differs  much  from  it  in  habits,  haunting  the  shores  of  lakes  and 
rivers,  but  especially  the  sea-shore,  living  mainly  on  fish,  which  it  sometimes  catches 
for  itself,  sometimes  robs  the  osprey  of,  and  probably  most  often  finds  cast  up  dead 
on  the  shore.  The  nest  is  most  frequently  placed  on  a  high  tree,  but  in  sections 
where  suitable  trees  are  not  to  be  found,  it  places  its  nest  on  rocky  cliffs  or  precipitous 
banks.  The  eggs,  which  are  laid  very  early  in  the  season,  are  never  (normally)  less 
than  two,  which  is  the  regular  number,  though  sometimes  three  or  four  are  laid. 
They  are  nearly  spherical,  dull  white,  unspotted,  and  average  about  three  inches  by 
two  and  three-quarters. 

The  finest  bird  of  the  genus  is  undoubtedly  the  northern  sea-eagle,  Haliaetus 
pelagicus,  of  noitheastern  Asia.  It  is  readily  recognized  by  its  large  size,  with 
extremely  large  bill,  cuneate  or  graduated  tail  (of  fourteen  feathers),  and  white 
thighs,  shoulders,  rump,  and  tail,  the  other  parts  being  brown.  The  African  sea- 
eagle,  H.  vocifer,  is  remarkable  for  a  coloring  unusual  in  this  group.  The  head,  neck, 
breast,  and  tail  are  pure  white,  the  remainder  of  the  under  parts,  including  the 
thighs,  sides  of  body,  and  under  wing-coverts,  deep  chestnut ;  while  the  upper  parts 
are  brown  or  black.  It  is  a  comparatively  small  bird,  being  little  more  than  half  the 
size  of  the  bald-eagle,  and  closely  approaching  in  size  the  common  red-tailed  hawk, 
Buteo  borealis.  This  is  the  smallest  eagle  of  the  genus  unless  we  except  the  nearly 
related  If.  vociferoides  of  Madagascar,  which  is  of  the  same  size  and  with  somewhat 
similar  colors.  Like  the  other  members  of  the  genus,  these  birds  feed  largely  on  fish, 
and  are  seldom  found  at  any  great  distance  from  water. 

Closely  allied  to  Haliaetus,  if  indeed  it  is  not  really  congeneric,  is  the  peculiar 
fishing-eagle,  Polioaetus  ichthyaetus,  of  India  and  the  East  Indies  generally,  an  eagle 
with  almost  the  exact  habits  of  the  osprey  (Pandiori),  subsisting  entirely  on  fish,  and 
with  its  external  anatomy  much  modified  to  suit  its  requirements,  its  talons  being 
much  curved,  very  sharp,  and  rounded  almost  precisely  as  in  that  species.  Two 
species  are  known. 

Here  may  be  mentioned  a  small  group  of  two  or  three  species  very  closely  allied 
on  the  one  hand  to  Aquila,  from  which,  however,  they  are  distinguished  by  their 
longer  legs,  and  on  the  other  to  the  hawk-eagles,  Spiza'etus  and  allies.  The  most 
familiar  member  of  the  group  in  Europe  is  Bonelli's  eagle,  Nisaetus  fasciatus,  a 
common  bird  of  the  Mediterranean  region,  and  extending  eastward  to  India. 

Under  the  name  of  hawk-eagles  are  grouped  a  dozen  or  more  raptors  of  medium 
or  large  size,  and  often  of  striking  plumage,  belonging  to  several  genera,  mainly 


EAGLES. 


285 


Spizaetus  (or  Limnaetus)  and  its  subdivisions,  Lophoaetus,  Spiziastur,  etc.  Several 
of  the  species  are  beautifully  crested,  as,  for  example,  Lophoaetus  occipitalis,  of 
South  Africa,  one  of  the  smaller  species,  but  with  a  black  occipital  crest  over  four 
inches  long.  This  is  rather  a  sluggish  bird,  feeding  much  on  rats,  but  frequently 
helping  himself  to  poultry  also.  The  crowned-eagle,  Spizaetus  coronatus,  which  has 
nearly  the  same  range  as  the  last,  is  a  much  larger  bird,  with  the  under  parts  richly 
banded  with  black  on  a  buff  ground,  and  an  ample  occipital  crest  of  long,  blackish 


FIG.  133.  —  L'ircaetus  gatlicus,  serpent-eagle. 

. 

brown  feathers.  Several  species  are  also  found  in  Central  and  South  America,  among 
which  are  the  crested  Spiziaetus  (Lophotriorchis)  isidori,  and  S.  ornatus. 

Probably  the  Malayan  black-eagle,  Neopus  malayensis,  belongs  with  this  group, 
though  its  remarkably  small  outer  toe  and  claw  —  almost  aborted  it  would  seem  — 
might  be  taken  as  an  indication  of  other  affinity.  This  species  is  crestless. 

An  interesting  bird,  related  to  those  just  mentioned,  is  the  short-toed  or  serpent- 
eagle,  Circaetus  gallicus,  which  inhabits  the  countries  about  the  Mediterranean,  and 


286 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


extends  northward  into  central  Europe,  and  eastward  into  India.  It  is  plainly  but 
prettily  marked,  the  under  parts  being  mostly  white,  profusely  spotted  with  brown,  while 
the  upper  parts  are  pretty  uniform  dark  brown.  It  feeds  almost  exclusively  on  reptiles, 
particularly  frogs,  lizards,  and  snakes.  Canon  Tristram,  in  writing  of  this  bird,  says : 
"They  will  often  dash  down  to  the  field  below,  sweep  for  a  few  minutes  like  a 
harrier,  and  then,  seizing  one  of  the  great  black  ground  snakes  or  a  Tropidonotus  in 


yidantnsis,  Guiana  engle. 


a  ditch,  sit  down  and  occupy  some  minutes  in  killing  the  reptile,  after  which  they 
carry  their  prize  away  in  their  claws,  not,  like  many  other  eagles,  devouring  it  on  the 
spot." 

There  are  several  other  species  of  this  genus,  all  crestless  or  only  slightly  crested, 
while  as  many  more  with  conspicuous  crests  have  been  separated  under  the  generic 
name  of  /Spilornis.  Members  of  both  genera  might  properly  be  called  short-toed 
eagles,  and  all  seem  to  have  rather  similar  reptile-feeding  habits,  with  a  preference  for 
snakes. 


EAGLES.  287 

Amongst  the  scores  of  other  species  belonging  to  this  populous  sub-family,  it  is 
only  possible  for  us  to  notice  a  few  of  the  most  striking  or  typical.  The  species  thus 
far  spoken  of  seem  rather  closely  related  to  the  eagles,  and  perhaps  more  especially  to 
Aquila.  There  are  many  others,  however,  which  would  naturally  be  associated  with 
the  buzzards,  although  from  their  size  many  of  them  are  called  eagles,  and  at  once 
suggest  the  Haliaetus  type;  while,  finally,  not  a  few  are  referred  by  naturalists 
almost  as  often  to  one  group  as  the  other.  An  example  of  this  latter  class  is  seen  in 
the  short-tailed  eagle,  Helotarsus  ecaudatus,  from  the  lower  half  of  Africa,  remarkable 
for  its  rich  maroon  and  black  plumage,  crested  head,  extremely  short  tail,  and  coral- 
red  legs  and  feet. 

Tropical  and  South  America  furnish  us  with  a  group  of  three  remarkably  large, 
crested  species,  usually  referred  to  as  many  genera,  which  may  collectively  be  fairly 
called  buzzard-eagles.  The  smallest  is  the  Guiana  eagle,  Morphnus  guianensis,  in 
which,  however,  the  tail  is  longer,  both  proportionally  and  actually,  than  in  either  of 
the  others,  if  not  indeed  than  in  any  other  eagle  whatever,  the  Australian  wedge- 
tailed  eagle  possibly  excepted.  The  wings,  on  the  contrary,  are,  as  in  the  two  following 
genera,  rather  short  and  rounded,  these  birds  being  better  fitted  for  pouncing  suddenly 
and  at  short  range  on  their  prey,  than  for  lofty  sailing  and  long  stoops,  while  the 
lengthened  but  very  strong  tail  must  be  of  great  use  in  the  close  and  tortuous  pursuit 
of  birds  among  the  dense  forests  which  these  birds  love  to  make  their  homes.  This 
eagle  inhabits  the  dense  forests  of  the  Amazon  as  well  as  those  of  Guiana,  but  is 
almost  exclusively  a  foi'est  inhabiter,  rarely,  if  ever,  ranging  over  the  open  country. 

Harpyhaliaetus  coronatus  is  another  crested  form,  but  little  inferior  in  size  to  the 
bald-eagle,  of  a  pretty  uniform  ashy  brown  color,  with  white-tipped  upper  tail-coverts, 
and  two  white  bars  on  the  tail,  a  narrow  one  at  tip,  and  a  broad  one  in  the  middle. 
Though  a  powerfully  built  bird,  and  on  occasion  a  daring  hunter,  it  frequently,  like  so 
many  of  its  'nobler'  relatives,  contents  itself  with  carrion.  Described  by  Azara  as 
long  ago  as  1802,  it  is  still  a  rare  bird  in  collections,  though  fairly  abundant  in  some 
parts  of  southern  South  America. 

The  harpy-eagle,  Thrasaetus  harpyia  (also  known  as  Harpyia  destructor),  is  one  of 
the  most  powerful  birds  of  prey  in  the  world.  In  total  length  it  is  slightly  greater 
than  the  golden-eagle,  owing  to  the  great  length  of  tail.  In  expanse  of  wings,  how- 
ever, it  is  rather  less ;  but  when  we  come  to  compare  the  proportions  of  beak  and 
claws,  and  the  strength  of  the  bony  framework,  it  is  evident  that  the  harpy  is  without 
a  rival.  Dr.  Oswald,  in  the  "American  Naturalist "  for  March,  1878,  thus  describes 
its  physique :  — 

"A  square,  strong  head,  armed  with  a  most  viciously  curved,  powerful  bill,  that 
can  crush  a  man's  finger-bones  without  any  special  effort,  and  dislocate  the  neck  of  a 
squirrel-monkey  by  a  single  wrench.  Broad,  compact  wings,  moved  by  shoulder 
muscles  of  enormous  strength,  and  a  pair  of  stout  legs  feathered  to  below  the  tarsi, 
that  terminate  in  claws  of  such  extraordinary  power  and  sharpness  that  they  leave 
marks  on  the  skin  of  a  quadruped,  and  even  on  the  tough  leather  of  a  Mexican 
saddle,  like  the  bite  of  a  wild-cat.  The  harpy  is  often  killed  for  the  sake  of  its 
feathers — I  mean  for  the  feather-bed  value  of  its  plumage  —  by  the  Mexican  Indians, 
and,  if  plucked,  yields  about  four  pounds  of  soft,  grayish-white  down,  beside  the  stiff 
wing  and  tail  feathers  and  the  bristling  tuft  which  crowns  its  head.  This  plumage  is 
so  elastic,  so  compact,  and  so  firmly  imbricated,  that  buckshot,  striking  the  wings  or 
the  breast  of  the  bird  at  a  certain  angle,  glance  off  or  fail  to  penetrate  to  vital  parts ; 


288 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


and  monkeys  or  foxes  which  in  their  death-struggle  snap  at  what  they  mistake  for  the 
throat  of  their  captor,  shut  their  fangs  upon  a  mass  of  elastic  down,  which  baffles 
their  efforts  till  the  grip  of  the  destructor  closes  upon  their  own  throats. 

"  The  harpy  can  overtake  the  swiftest  birds  of  the  tropical  woods,  and  in  spite  of 
its  size  steers  its  way  through  the  labyrinth  of  forest  trees  and  hanging  vines  with 


FIG.  135.  —  ThrasaMus  harpyia,  harpy-eagle. 

amazing  skill,  and  rarely  fails  to  rise  with  a  pheasant,  a  woodcock,  or  a  small  mammal 
in  its  claws,  after  plunging  like  a  meteor  from  the  clouds  into  the  leafy  maze  of  the 
tierra  caliente" 

When  adult,  its  general  color  above  is  gray,  while  the  head  and  neck  all  round,  as 
well  as  the  entire  underparts,  are  white,  excepting  the  long  crest  feathers,  and  an 
indistinct  chest-band,  which  inclines  to  gray.  The  tail-feathers  are  brown,  crossed 


EAGLES.  289 

with  six  imperfect  bands  of  black,  with  which  color  the  interspaces  also  are  plenti- 
fully mottled.  The  immature  bird  is  very  different  —  one  of  the  characteristic  phases 
being  almost  white  below,  with  a  broad  band  of  glossy  black  feathers  across  the  chest, 
the  tail  with  five  black  bands  and  a  white  tip. 

According  to  the  writer  above  quoted,  the  food  of  the  harpy  in  southern  Mexico 
is  very  varied,  for  he  "  attacks  and  kills  heavy  old  turkey-cocks,  young  fawns,  sloths, 
full-grown  foxes  and  badgers,  middle-sized  pigs,  and  even  the  black  sapajou  monkey 
(Ateles  paniscus),  whose  size  and  weight  exceed  its  own  more  than  three  times.  He 
shows  a  great  latitude  of  taste,  and  seems  to  devour  with  equal  relish  a  fat  iguana 
lizard,  a  young  woodcock,  or  a  tough  old  monkey.  He  can  catch  fish,  too  ;  does  not 
disdain  the  black  water-snakes  that  glide  through  the  shallow  ponds  of  the  coast  jun- 
gles, and  even  anticipates  the  trick  of  the  tortoise-hunters,  that  uncover  the  oily  eggs 
which  the  caret  turtle  has  covered  with  the  sand  of  the  shallow  river  banks. 

"  But  during  the  larger  part  of  the  year  he  seeks  his  quarry  on  the  trees  of  his 
native  woods,  and  causes  more  distress  and  dire  commotion  among  the  tribes  of  the 
gallinaceous  tree-birds,  raccoons,  frugivorous  rodents,  and  monkeys  than  all  their  other 
enemies  taken  together.  His  tyranny  over  the  kingdom  of  the  air  tolerates  no  rival ; 
the  falcons  and  the  Aquila  chrysaetos  have  to  confine  themselves  to  the  icy  rocks  of 
the  upper  Sierra,  the  Strix  bubo  and  other  owls  are  bound  under  heavy  penalties  to 
keep  the  peace  during  daylight,  and  the  sea-eagle  is  pursued  for  miles  with  implaca- 
ble fury  whenever  he  ventures  to  trespass  upon  the  rivers  of  the  tierra  caliente."  Of 
the  breeding  habits  of  this  remarkable  bird  our  author  gives  the  following  account : 
"  As  soon  as  the  lengthening  days  of  the  year  approach  the  vernal  equinox,  the  hen 
harpy  begins  to  collect  dry  sticks  and  moss,  or  perhaps  only  lichens,  with  a  few  claws' 
full  of  the  feathery  bast  of  the  Arauca  palm,  if  her  last  year's  eyrie  has  been  left  undis- 
turbed. Her  favorite  roosting-places,  the  highest  forest  trees,  especially  the  Adan- 
sonia  and  the  Pinits  balsamifera,  and  the  more  inaccessible  rocks  of  the  foot-hills, 
are  commonly  also  chosen  for  a  breeding-place ;  and  it  is  not  easy  to  distinguish  her 
compact-built  eyrie  on  the  highest  branches  of  a  wild  fig-tree  from  the  dark-colored 
clusters  of  the  Mexican  mistletoe  (  Viscum  rubrum),  which  frequents  the  same  tree- 
tops.  The  eggs  are  white,  with  yellowish-brown  dots  and  washes,  and  about  as  long, 
though  not  quite  as  heavy,  as  a  hen's  egg.  Of  these  eggs  the  harpy  lays  four  or  five, 
but  never  hatches  more  than  two ;  or,  if  the  Indians  can  be  believed,  feeds  the  first 
two  eaglets  that  make  their  appearance  with  the  contents  of  the  remaining  eggs.  The 
process  of  incubation  is  generally  finished  by  the  middle  of  March,  if  not  sooner ; 
and  from  that  time  to  the  end  of  June  the  rapacity  of  the  old  birds  is  the  terror  of 
the  tropical  fauna,  for  their  hunting  expeditions,  which  later  in  the  year  are  restricted 
to  the  early  morning  hours,  now  occupy  them  for  the  larger  part  of  the  day.  From 
the  garden-terrace  of  El  Pinal,  —  a  little  villa  on  the  ridge  of  the  Organos  moun- 
tains,—  I  frequently  watched  a  pair  of  harpies  that  had  their  nest  in  the  crags  below. 
The  hen  bird,  which  could  be  recognized  by  her  larger  size  and  the  greater  energy  of 
her  movements,  generally  made  her  appearance  a  few  minutes  before  sunrise,  mount- 
ed to  the  upper  sky,  as  if  to  study  the  meteorological  probabilities  for  the  coming  day, 
and  then  proceeded  to  business.  After  wheeling  at  an  elevation  of  some  hundred 
feet  over  the  tree-tops  in  a  circle,  or  rather  in  a  contracting  spiral,  for  a  couple  of 
minutes,  she  commonly  would  stop  short,  hover  with  quivering  wings  for  a  second 
or  two,  and  then  dive  into  the  leafy  ocean  below,  with  a  headlong  rapidity  that  could 
hardly  be  followed  by  the  eye,  but  evidently  with  a  practical  purpose,  for  her  descents 
VOL.  iv.  — 19 


290  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

were  generally  succeeded  by  the  ascent  of  a  cloud  of  birds,  or  the  shrill  piping  of  the 
squirrel-monkeys  (  Callithrix  sciurus),  and  the  exultant  scream  of  the  wild  huntress 
from  the  depths  of  the  forest.  Then  followed  a  pause,  devoted  to  domestic  duties, 
during  which  the  thanksgiving  duet  of  the  eaglets  ascended  from  the  cliffs,  and  very 
soon  after  one  or  both  parents  reappeared  in  the  upper  air  to  resume  the  work  of 
destruction.  The  callow  harpies,  with  their  pendant  crops,  their  misshapen,  big  heads, 
and  their  preposterous  claws,  resemble  embryo  demons  or  infantine  chimeras,  rather 
than  any  creatures  of  nature  ;  but  they  grow  very  rapidly,  and  their  appetite  during 
the  first  six  months  of  their  existence,  is  almost  insatiable. 

"  The  Incas  and  Aztec  noblemen  trained  harpy-eagles  like  falcons,  and  preferred 
them  to  tame  panthers,  which  were  used  by  pot-hunters  to  capture  deer  and  young 
peccaries.  Devega,  the  biographer  of  Cortez,  says  that  the  satrap  of  a  Mexican 
province  presented  the  Great  Captain  with  a  hunting-eagle  called  El  Hidalgo  del  airey 
the  prince  of  the  air,  whose  value  was  estimated  at  the  price  of  ten  slaves ;  and  adds, 
that  the  only  bodily  injury  which  Cortez  ever  received,  during  his  adventures  in  Mex- 
ico, was  inflicted  by  this  eagle,"  which,  dying  from  a  wound  inflicted  by  Cortez  in  a 
fit  of  passion,  "  before  he  resigned  himself  to  death,  raised  his  head  once  more,  grabbed 
the  first  finger  of  the  right  hand  of  his  cruel  master,  and  bit  it  through,  —  crushed  it 
completely,  '  so  as  not  to  leave  the  world  unavenged,'  as  Devega  says." 

The  range  of  this  species  is  from  southern  Mexico  southward  over  all  the  tropical 
forests  of  America,  —  as  far,  at  least,  as  Bolivia  and  southern  Brazil. 

Turning  now  to  birds  which  more  nearly  conform  to  our  idea  of  buzzards,  we  may 
mention  the  genus  Urubitinga  (in  which  we  include  Leucopternis),  a  group  peculiar 
to  tropical  America,  whence  about  a  dozen  species  are  known.  They  are  good-sized 
buzzards,  which  at  once  suggest  the  Buteones  by  their  size,  proportions,  and  habits. 
Among  them  are  some  very  beautiful  birds ;  for  example,  U.  ghiesbreghti  of  Mexico, 
which  is  snowy  white  with  the  exception  of  wings  and  tail,  which  have  bold  markings 
of  deep  black.  IT.  anthracina,  the  anthracite-buzzard  of  Cuba,  Central  America,  and 
southward,  is  the  very  opposite  of  this  species  as  regards  color,  being  deep  black  all 
over,  with  the  exception  of  a  broad  white  band  across  the  middle  of  the  tail,  and  a 
narrow  white  edging  at  its  tip.  This  bird  has  been  taken  in  Arizona. 

Other  American  genera,  closely  allied  to  the  foregoing,  but  which  we  have  only 
space  to  mention,  are  Asturina,  Buteogallus,  Buteola,  and  Busarellus,  — this  last  being 
remarkable  for  the  long-hooked  bill,  as  well  as  for  having  the  soles  of  the  feet  thickly 
studded  with  rough  papilla  or  spicules  in  the  manner  of  the  osprey,  —  evident  adapta- 
tions for  the  better  catching  of  fish,  which  constitute  its  ordinary  food.  Gruber's 
buzzard  (  Onychotes  gruberi),  is  interesting,  not  only  for  its  peculiarities  of  structure  — 
which  leave  it  without  near  relatives  among  the  buzzards  —  but  because  only  two 
specimens  have  ever  been  discovered,  both  probably  taken  in  California.  "  The  elon- 
gated legs,  reaching  considerably  beyond  the  rather  short  tail,  the  close  thigh-plumes, 
the  long  and  extremely  acute  claws  (somewhat  like  those  of  JRostrhamus,)  with  the 
short,  rounded,  and  very  concave  wing,  are  its  most  striking  peculiarities." 

The  genus  Archibuteo,  consisting  of  only  two  species,  resembles  the  typical  buz- 
zards (Buteo)  in  nearly  all  points  but  one,  namely  the  feathering  of  the  tarsi,  for 
these  differ  from  those  of  all  others  of  the  sub-family,  except  Aquila,  in  being  densely 
feathered  in  front  to  the  very  base  of  the  toes ;  the  hinder  aspect  of  the  tarsus,  how- 
ever, is  entirely  unfeathered.  The  wings  are  also  proportionally  longer  than  in  JJtiteo, 
in  this  respect  also  resembling  the  genus  Aquila.  Both  species  are  found  in  North 


BUZZARDS. 


291 


America,  —  the  squirrel-hawk,  or  ferrugineous  buzzard  (Archibuteo  ferrugineus),  being 
confined  to  the  western  side  of  the  continent,  while  the  rough-legged  buzzard  (A. 
lagopus)  reaches  from  Atlantic  to  Pacific,  and  is  found  in  Europe  as  well.  In  its  nor- 
mal plumage  it  is  generally  ashy-brown,  with  various  lighter  and  darker  markings, 
and  a  tendency  to  form  a  dark  zone  across  the  lower  breast  and  abdomen,  while  the 
tail  is  largely  white  toward  the  root.  But  melanism  is  of  very  frequent  occurrence, 
and  in  this  condition  the  bird  is  almost  entirely  black.  After  much  controversy,  and 


«*MBRm&^333 

FIG.  136.  —  Archibuteo  lagopus,  rough-legged  buzzard. 

many  years  of  uncertainty,  it  is  now  definitely  settled  that  this  black  phase  is  entirely 
independent  of  age,  sex,  or  locality,  though  it  is  well  to  note,  in  this  connection,  that 
in  Europe,  where  the  light-colored  bird  is  abundant,  black  individuals  are  of  extremely 
rare  occurrence,  only  one  or  two  such  being  on  record. 

In  America,  the  rough-legged  buzzard  seldom  nests  as  far  south  as  the  United 
States,  but  from  the  plains  of  the  Saskatchewan  northward  it  breeds  abundantly,  com- 
monly placing  its  bulky  nest  in  trees,  but  sometimes  on  cliffs,  or  even  at  the  edge  of 


292 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


a  precipitous  mud-bank  on  the  border  of  a  stream  or  lake.  The  eggs  vary  in  number 
from  three  to  five,  and  are  of  a  creamy-white  color,  sometimes  with  faint  and  obscure 
darker  blotches,  usually  qiiite  heavily  marked  with  spots  and  dashes  of  brown. 

The  last  group  of  this  sub-family  which  we  shall  take  up  is  the  genus  Buteo, 
which  includes  the  true  buzzards,  the  number  of  which  varies  according  to  the  esti- 
mates of  different  authorities  as  to  varieties  and  geographical  races.  Probably  there 
are  at  least  twenty-five  well-marked  species  distributed  in  all  parts  of  the  world, 
except  Australia,  and  perhaps  half  this  number  are  found  in  America. 

The  common  '  hen-hawks '  (Buteo  borealis  and  J?.  lineatus)  of  the  eastern  United 
States  are  familiar  examples  of  the  genus,  and  represent  about  the  average  size.    Their 


FIG.  137.  —  Buteo  vulgarly,  common  buzzard. 

habits  are  too  well  known  to  need  extended  description,  and  they  may  "be  seen,  sum- 
mer or  winter,  sweeping  in  graceful  curves  over  the  country,  rising  and  falling  in 
spirals,  unless  after  noting  prey,  when  they  sometimes  dart  down  hundreds  of  yards  in 
a  very  few  seconds.  Although  they  feed  much  on  birds  and  rabbits,  and  are  frequent 
visitors  to  the  farm-yard,  they  seem  to  have  a  special  predilection  for  squirrels ;  and 
in  regions  extensively  wooded  with  pines,  where  the  red-squirrel  is  most  abundant, 
these  noisy  little  rodents  must  form  a  large  part  of  the  Buteo's  food. 

Probably  the  white-tailed  buzzard,  J3.  pterocles  (albocaudatus)  of  South  America 
represents  nearly  the  maximum  size  in  the  genus,  its  length  being  about  two  feet,  the 
wing  eighteen  and  one  half  inches,  and  tail  seven ;  but  females  of  the  African  and 
Himalayan  B.  ferox,  which  is  not  uncommon  in  south-eastern  Europe,  sometimes 


FISH-HA  WK.  293 

exceed  this  size,  the  tail  especially  being  longer.  If  now  we  take  the  broad-winged 
buzzard  (B.  pennsylvanicus)^  only  sixteen  inches  long,  wing  eleven  inches,  and  tail 
seven,  we  have  about  the  minimum. 

The  type  of  the  genus  is  the  common  buzzard  (13.  vulgaris),  of  Europe,  now  quite 
scarce  in  Great  Britain,  and  entirely  confined,  as  a  resident,  to  a  few  large  wooded 
tracts.  In  northern  Africa  and  eastern  Europe  it  is  replaced  by  the  smaller  African 
buzzard  (B.  desertorum),  probably  only  a  geographical  variety  of  vulgaris.  In  Amer- 
ica, too,  a  species  (Swainson's  buzzard,  B.  swainsoni),  is  recognized,  which  is  very 
near  the  European  vulgaris,  if  not  actually  the  same.  Like  some  other  North  Amer- 1 
icau  Falconidse,  it  has  a  large  range,  occurring  under  one  name  or  another  from  the 
Arctic  Ocean  to  Patagonia.  Nearly  all  the  species  of  this  large  genus  are  more  or 
less  subject  to  melanism,  a  good  example  of  a  rather  stable  race  of  this  kind  being 
the  western  form  of  the  red-tailed  hawk  (23.  borealis),  known  usually  under  the  sub- 
specific  title"  of  cahtrus,  a  buzzard  of  very  different  appearance  from  the  eastern  type, 
but  specifically  identical,  as  shown  by  the  intermediate  forms,  which  show  every  pos- 
sible gradation.  Such  cases  as  these,  coupled  with  the  great  differences  due  to  age, 
and  the  wide  individual  variations,  have  brought  confusion  little  less  than  hopeless 
into  our  lists. 

Although  but  one  species  of  osprey  (Pandion*)  probably  exists,  yet  its  peculiari- 
ties warrant  its  separation  from  the  eagles,  with  which  it  has  usually  been  associated, 
and  necessitate  the  formation  of  a  sub-family  (Pandioninae)  for  its  reception.  This 
may  be  characterized  as  follows :  Outer  toe  reversible,  all  the  toes  without  basal  webs ; 
superciliary  shield  rudimentary ;  tibia  long,  closely  and  evenly  feathered ;  plumage 
without  aftershafts.  As  there  is  but  one  genus,  with  a  single  species,  the  following 
characters  may  be  added  without  attempting  to  grade  them :  The  bill  is  strong,  tooth- 
less, but  with  a  very  long,  sharp  hook  ;  the  tarsus  reticulate,  feet  very  large,  toes  with 
the  under  surface  roughened  by  close-set  papilla ;  all  the  claws  of  the  same  length, 
(unique  among  Falconidaa),  long,  much  curved,  and  extremely  sharp,  not  grooved 
beneath,  but  smooth,  and  nearly  round,  the  middle  one  channelled  on  the  inside. 
Feathers  rather  harsh  and  stiff ;  wings  long  and  pointed  ;  tail  rather  short. 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  hawk  or  an  eagle  better  fitted  for  its  trade  than  is  the 
well-known  fish-hawk  or  osprey.  The  plumage  is  such  that  the  bird  may  remain 
immersed  for  several  seconds  in  the  water  without  wetting  the  feathers,  and  the  pow- 
erful wings  enable  it  to  rise  lightly  after  its  plunge,  and  lift  with  ease  the  slippery 
prey  which  is  helpless  in  the  grasp  of  the  marvellously  perfect  feet. 

The  osprey  is  found  in  almost  all  countries  of  the  globe,  but  as  yet  it  is  not  known 
to  occur  in  Iceland  or  New  Zealand.  It  breeds,  however,  in  such  widely  separated 
places  as  Hudson's  Bay  and  the  Red  Sea,  Kamtschatka  and  Florida.  The  habits  of 
the  bird  seem  to  vary  somewhat  in  different  countries,  and  through  persecution  in 
some  places,  or  peculiarly  favoi'able  circumstances  in  others,  the  location  of  the  nest 
varies  considerably.  All  along  the  Atlantic  seaboard  of  the  United  States  it  breeds 
abundantly ;  and  the  nests,  conspicuously  placed  on  the  tops  of  large,  dead  trees,  are 
visible  from  long  distances,  and  where  the  species  is  abundant  several  nests  may  fre- 
quently be  seen  from  the  same  point.  Indeed,  instances  are  known  of  scores  or 
even  hundreds  of  pairs  nesting  close  together,  and  in  organized  communities. 

The  European  bird,  on  the  contrary,  is  nowhere  abundant,  being  usually  met  with 
only  singly  or  in  pairs,  and  much  more  frequently  about  fresh  water  than  along  the 
seashore.  In  Great  Britain  the  bird  is  now  rarely  met  with,  except  as  a  straggler, 


294  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

though  a  few  pairs  are  still  known  to  breed  each  summer  on  some  of  the  least  fre- 
quented Scottish  lakes.  But  the  secret  of  these  localities  is  jealously  guarded  by  the 
possessors,  as  the  eggs  are  among  the  most  coveted  prizes  of  the  British  collector,  and 
no  hardship  is  too  great  to  be  endured  in  obtaining  them. 

In  Europe  this  species  usually  nests  on  cliffs  or  rocky  islets  in  fresh-water  lakes, 
rarely  on  trees,  while  in  America  precisely  the  reverse  is  true  of  it.  The  eggs  are 
from  two  to  four  —  usually  three  —  generally  so  heavily  blotched  with  deep  brown 
and  red  as  almost  to  hide  the  lighter  ground-color.  The  European  bird  is  rather 
smaller  than  the  American,  and  there  is  a  corresponding  difference  in  the  size  of 
the  egg. 

The  food  of  the  osprey  consists  almost  entirely  of  fish,  which  it  catches  for  itself, 
usually  by  a  headlong  plunge.  I  am  not  aware  that  any  particular  species  is  pre- 
ferred, but  the  smaller  sizes  are  undoubtedly  oftenest  captured.  It  is  said  that  occa- 
sionally an  osprey  miscalculates  the  size  of  its  prey,  and  strikes  its  talons  into  a  fish 
which  it  is  unable  to  manage  —  in  which  case,  being  unable  to  withdraw  them  [?],  it  is 
ignominiously  drowned.  The  pictures,  therefore,  which  one  often  sees,  representing 
this  bird  seated  triumphantly  on  a  dead  salmon  of  a  weight  apparently  of  fifteen  or 
twenty  pounds,  which  it  has  incidentally  transported  to  a  convenient  mountain-top, 
are  presumably  artistic  licenses,  —  not  photographs. 

The  long  and  closely  feathered  tibia,  the  reversible  outer  toe,  long  and  peculiar 
claws,  and  roughened  soles,  seem  perfectly  adapted  for  effective  fishing ;  and  when  we 
add  to  this  the  strength  of  wing,  compactness  of  plumage,  and  remarkable  power  of 
sight  possessed  by  this  bird,  we  must  admit  that  here  is  indeed  a  "complete  angler" 
in  one  volume. 

The  harriers,  Circina?,  form  a  small  group  of  slender,  graceful,  non-arboreal  Falcon- 
idas,  which  may  be  further  described  as  having  the  bill  rather  weak,  without  any 
notch,  but  with  the  tomia  usiially  strongly  sinuate.  The  legs  are  long  and  rather 
weak,  the  tai-sus  about  as  long  as  the  tibia,  unfeathered,  and  scutellate  both  in  front 
and  behind ;  the  toes  are  rather  short,  and  the  claws,  though  of  no  great  size,  are  very 
sharp ;  the  wings  and  tail  are  long,  the  former  straight  and  but  slightly  concave,  thus 
giving  an  easy,  gliding  flight  which  the  birds  seem  able  to  keep  up  indefinitely,  or  at 
least  until  they  strike  something  worth  stopping  to  eat ;  the  plumage  is  soft  and  loose, 
and  the  face  has  an  imperfect  ruff,  which  faintly  suggests  the  owls. 

The  sub-family  consists  essentially  of  the  genus  Circus,  which  is  probably  indivi- 
sible into  larger  groups  than  species.  Of  these  there  are  from  ten  to  twenty,  —  at 
present  we  have  not  the  material  to  say  with  certainty  how  many  there  may  be.  Usu- 
ally the  sexes  are  unlike  in  color  (quite  unusual  among  Falconida?)  and  size,  the 
females  being  larger  and  darker;  and  the  young  also  differ  materially  from  the  adults, 
though  in  a  general  way  resembling  the  females.  Add  to  this  the  wide  range  of  some 
species,  with  the  resultant  climatic  variation,  and  the  determination  of  species  becomes 
a  problem  of  no  ordinary  difficulty. 

North  America  has  but  one  species,  the  marsh  hawk  or  harrier,  Circus  cyaneus 
(hudsonius),  now  considered  to  be  a  mere  geographical  race  of  the  common  hen- 
harrier, Circus  cyaneus,  of  Europe.  The  North  American  form  is  abundant  in  suita- 
ble localities ;  that  is,  rather  flat  open  country,  from  the  Arctic  circle  to  Panama, 
southward  from  which  point,  as  far  as  La  Plata,  it  is  replaced  in  similar  situations  by 
a  larger  and  totally  different  species,  C.  maculosus,  when  we  again  meet  with  a  vai-iety 
of  cyaneus  —  slightly  smaller,  perhaps,  than  the  northern  form,  yet  doubtless  specifi- 


Pandion  haliattus,  fish-hawk,  osprey. 


HA  WKS.  295 

<;ally  the  same  —  to  which  the  name  cinereus  is  usually  applied.  This  form,  with 
macttlostts,  abounds  on  the  pampas  and  plains  of  Patagonia  as  far  as  the  strait  of 
Magelhaen,  and  also  occurs,  without  maculosus,  in  the  Falkland  Islands. 

All  the  harriers  are  remarkably  similar  in  habits,  preferring  comparatively  level, 
open  country,  and  with  a  fondness  for  wet  grounds.  They  rarely  rise  to  any  great 
height  in  the  air,  being  usually  content  to  sweep  along  close  to  the  ground,  now  glid- 
ing for  several  minutes  with  scarcely  a  motion  of  the  wings,  then  flapping  vigorously 
for  an  instant,  turning  and  returning  and  quartering  the  whole  ground,  ever  watching 
for  frog  or  mouse  or  sitting  bird,  and  following  each  discovery  by  a  rapid  dart,  or  a 
drop  and  clutch,  which  is  usually  effective.  Ordinarily  the  feet  are  not  visible  at  such 
times,  but  sometimes  the  bird  fails  to  make  a  capture,  and,  recovering  itself  before 
touching  the  ground,  you  may  see  the  dangling  legs  quickly  drawn  up  to  the  body 
again.  The  expanse  of  wing  is  unusually  large  for  the  size  of  the  body,  a  specimen 
which  spreads  four  feet  from  tip  to  tip  seldom  weighing  more  than  a  pound  or  a  pound 
and  a  half.  The  nest  is  almost  invariably  built  on  the  ground,  and  the  eggs,  three 
to  five  in  number,  are  nearly  white,  either  faintly  blotched  and  spotted,  or  immaculate. 

Three  species  are  generally  credited  to  Europe ;  one  has  been  mentioned  already, 
a  second  is  the  ash-colored  or  Montague's  harrier,  C.  cinerascens,  and  the  largest  is  the 
so-called  marsh  harrier,  C.  ceruginosus. 

Jardine's  harrier,  C.  assimilis,  of  Australia,  is  noteworthy  for  its  deviation  from 
the  ordinary  coloring  in  the  group,  the  head  and  much  of  the  upper  parts  being  dark 
chestnut  with  deep  black  streaks,  while  the  under  parts  are  bright  rufous,  sprinkled  all 
over  with  round  white  spots. 

Associated  with  the  harriers  by  many  authors  we  find  a  single  long-legged,  long- 
winged,  slenderly  built  bird  of  South  Africa  and  Madagascar,  to  which  the  generic 
name  Polyboroides  has  been  given,  from  its  superficial  resemblance  to  the  caracara 
(Polyborus)  of  America.  The  strong  bill  with  the  naked  skin  about  its  base,  and 
extending  back  around  the  eyes,  does  indeed  suggest  the  face  of  JPolyborus,  but  other 
points  in  structure  and  habits  seem  to  ally  it  more  nearly  to  the  hai'riers. 

Under  the  head  of  kites  are  usually  included  twenty  or  thirty  species  of  Falconi- 
dae,  of  most  parts  of  the  world,  principally  from  the  warmer  regions.  Although 
generally  recognized  as  a  sub-family,  the  elements  contained  in  it  are  very  dissimilar, 
some  of  the  members  showing  Buteonine  tendencies,  while  others  suggest  the  falcons. 
Compare,  for  example,  the  European  black  kite,  Milvus  migrans,  with  the  fish-eating 
eagle,  Haliastur  inclus,  of  India,  often  called  the  red-backed  or  Brahminy  kite ;  also 
the  Mississippi  kite,  Ictinia  £«#oerw/ea,  with  any  species  of  typical  falcon. 

In  general  the  kites  are  very  long-winged  and  small-footed  Falconida3,  with  a  short 
and  not  very  strong  bill,  which  is  never  truly  notched  like  a  falcon's,  though  the 
approach  to  it  is  sometimes  quite  close.  In  addition,  the  superciliary  shield  is  very 
variable,  being  small  or  almost  wanting  in  the  more  typical  genera,  but  evident  or  even 
prominent  in  others.  The  tarsus  is  much  shorter  than  the  tibia,  generally  more  or  less 
feathered,  and  the  exposed  portion  reticulate.  The  toes  are  short,  but  the  claws  are 
sometimes  lengthened  and  always  sharp.  The  wings  are  usually  narrow  and  pointed, 
and  the  tail  varies  from  square  to  emarginate,  and  often  very  deeply  forked.  Kites 
are  birds  of  very  strong  flight ;  many  of  them  feed  largely  on  insects,  and  eat  their 
prey  from  their  claws  while  flying.  Not  unfrequently  they  are  gregarious,  especially 
during  their  migrations. 

The  true  kites  are  limited  to  the  Old  World,  where  they  are  represented  by  half  a 


296 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


dozen  species  of  the  single  genus  Milvus,  of  which  the  common  or  red  kite,  Milvus 
ictinus,  is  the  type.  This  is  a  bird  of  comparatively  small  body,  but  with  wide- 
spreading  wings,  and  long,  deeply-forked  tail ;  the  female,  which  is  largest,  measuring 
about  twenty-seven  inches  in  length,  and  having  an  expanse  of  wings  of  over  five 
feet.  The  general  color  is  reddish  brown  streaked  with  black,  the  tail  being  rather 
lighter  red,  barred  with  deep  brown.  These  tail  feathers  are  in  considerable  demand 
for  use  in  the  manufacture  of  salmon  flies. 


FIG.  138.  —  Milvus  migrans,  black  kite,  and  M.  ictinus,  common  kite. 

This  species  was  formerly  one  of  the  most  familiar  of  British  birds  of  prey,  hav- 
ing, it  is  said,  been  abundant  as  a  scavenger  in  the  streets  of  London  three  or  four 
hundred  years  ago ;  but,  according  to  Professor  Newton,  it  is  now  one  of  the  rarest, 
being  restricted  to  a  few  wooded  districts,  where  a  small  remnant  still  exists.  The 
same  authority  says  Wolley  has  well  remarked  of  the  modern  Londoners  that  "  few 
who  see  the  paper  toys  hovering  over  the  parks  in  fine  days  of  summer  have  any  idea 
that  the  bird  from  which  they  derive  their  name  used  to  float  all  day  in  hot  weather 
high  over  the  heads  of  their  ancestors." 


KITES.  297 

Another  European  species  is  the  black  kite,  Milvus  migrans,  which  also  extends  all 
over  Africa.  This  is  of  smaller  size,  darker  plumage,  and  the  tail  is  less  deeply 
forked.  Other  species  are  the  Arabian  kite,  M.  cegyptius^  of  Africa,  and  the  pariah 
kite,  M.  govinda,  of  India.  These  four  are  all  quite  similar  in  general  appearance 
and  habits.  They  are  very  active  birds,  spending  much  of  the  time  on  the  wing, 
feeding  principally  on  small  mammals,  reptiles,  and  insects,  to  which  diet  several 
species  add  fish,  while  all  are  much  addicted  to  such  refuse  as  may  be  picked  up  about 
human  habitations.  Indeed  the  pariah  kite  of  India  does  valuable  service  of  this  kind 
directly  in  the  towns  and  villages  of  the  country,  earning  thus  its  common  name  of 
village  kite.  In  catching  fish  and  frogs,  a  favorite  habit  of  the  black  kite,  the  bird 
glides  down  to  the  water  and  seizes  with  a  thrust  of  the  foot  one  which  has  risen  to 
the  surface,  rarely  if  ever  plunging  into  the  water  in  the  manner  of  the  osprey. 
Milvus  isurus  is  a  very  closely  allied  but  crested  form,  inhabiting  Australia. 

Turning  now  to  the  less  typical  members  of  the  sub-family,  we  may  notice  first  the 
beautiful  little  black-winged  kites  (Elanus)  of  the  warmer  parts  of  both  Old  and  New 
AVorlds.  Several  species  are  usually  recognized,  but  all  are  so  similar  to  each  other 
that  it  would  be  difficult  to  discriminate  between  them  at  gunshot  range.  They  are 
seldom  more  than  fifteen  inches  in  length,  of  which  nearly  half  is  tail,  and  the  body 
color  is  either  white  or  very  light  gray,  sometimes  silvery  or  pearly,  while  the  shoulders 
are  always  black.  They  feed  mostly  on  insects  and  some  of  the  smallest  reptiles  and 
mammals.  The  black-winged  kite,  Elanus  cceruleus,  of  Africa  and  southern  Europe, 
may  be  taken  as  the  type.  The  only  American  species  is  the  very  similar  white-tailed 
or  black-shouldered  kite,  Elanus  leucurus.  A  very  different  yet  related  bird  is  the 
Mississippi  kite,  Jctinia  snbccerulea  (mississipfriensis),  which  is  rather  smaller,  and 
readily  distinguishable  by  the  decidedly  darker  general  color,  with  the  larger  part  of 
the  wings  and  tail  black,  the  latter  with  spots  on  the  inner  webs  of  the  feathers. 

Unquestionably  the  most  beautiful  bird  of  the  group  is  the  swallow-tailed  kite, 
Elanoides  forficatus,  of  the  wanner  parts  of  America,  extending  up  the  Mississippi 
valley  even  to  Minnesota.  The  beautiful  black  and  white  plumage,  extremely  long 
and  slender-pointed  wings,  and  deeply  forked  tail,  suffice  for  the  recognition  of  this 
bird  at  a  single  glance.  It  is  one  of  the  two  largest  American  kites,  its  length  from 
bill  to  tip  of  tail  being  about  two  feet,  while  the  wings  expand  rather  over  four  feet. 
The  head,  neck,  and  entire  under  parts  are  pure  white;  the  back,  wings,  and  tail, 
lustrous  black ;  the  rump  with  a  white  patch.  Its  flight  is  unrivalled  in  swiftness  and 
grace,  and  it  usually  takes  its  prey,  consisting  largely  of  insects,  on  the  wing,  tearing 
and  swallowing  it  as  it  flies.  Occasionally,  however,  when  capturing  a  snake  or  lizard, 
it  may  be  seen  to  alight  for  an  instant.  It  nests  in  trees,  laying  several  spotted  eggs, 
but  these  are  rare  in  collections,  and  the  nesting  habits  of  the  species  are  but  imper- 
fectly known.  It  frequently  associates  in  large  numbers,  while  feeding  on  insects  and 
while  migrating,  and  there  is  some  reason  to  suppose  that  it  may  occasionally  breed 
in  communities,  though  during  the  breeding-season  it  is  usually  met  with  only  in 
pairs. 

While  traveling  among  the  mountains  of  Guatemala,  Mr.  R.  Owen  observed  a 
large  flock  —  more  than  two  hundred  —  of  these  birds  engaged  in  the  pursuit  of 
a  swarm  of  bees,  which  they  caught  singly  with  their  feet,  and,  bringing  the  foot  for- 
ward and  bending  the  head  downwards  and  backwards  to  meet  it,  they  easily  and 
rapidly  transferred  the  prey  to  the  bill. 

A  closely,  allied,  fork-tailed  species  is  the  Nauclerus  riocot/ri  of  west  Africa,  a  bird 


298 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


of  very  similar  form  and  habits  to  the  swallow-tail,  but  much  smaller  and  of  less  strik, 
ing  appearance,  the  upper  parts  being  merely  ashy  and  dusky,  entirely  lacking  the 
deep  black  so  conspicuous  in  the  American  bird. 

In  the  kites  thus  far  mentioned,  the  bill  is  comparatively  short  and  broad,  though 
not  particularly  strong.  There  is  a  group  of  American  kites,  however,  which  are  very 
different  from  these,  and  in  which  the  bill  is  lengthened,  slender,  and  with  a  remarka- 
bly long  and  sharp  hook.  The  hook-billed  kite,  Rostrhamus  hamatus,  of  South 
America,  is  a  good  example  of  the  group,  and  appears  to  have  precisely  the  same 
habits  as  its  somewhat  more  northern  relative,  the  everglade-kite,  R.  sociabilis,  which 


FIG.  13!).  —  Ictlnia  subcierulea,  Mississippi  kite,  and  Elanoidesforficatus,  swallow-tailed  kite. 

occurs  in  some  numbers  in  the  Everglades  of  Florida.  These  birds  seem  to  be 
unusually  sociable  for  birds  of  prey,  several  being  usually  observed  together,  but  it  is 
questionable  if  this  habit  is  more  strongly  developed  here  than  in  other  species  of  the 
Milvinae. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  thing  in  connection  with  the  present  genus  is  the 
entirely  unexpected  nature  of  its  food.  We  should  naturally  expect  a  bird  of  this 
conformation  to  take  much  of  its  food  on  the  wing,  and  should  be  prepared  to  find 
that  winged  insects  or  active  reptiles,  such  as  lizards,  made  up  the  bulk  of  it,  although 
neither  of  these  suppositions  would  provide  an  adequate  explanation  of  the  long- 


KITES. 


299 


hooked  bill  or  the  long-clawed  feet.  It  is,  therefore,  not  a  little  disconcerting  to  find 
these  rapid  and  expert  flyers  preying  chiefly  on  some  of  the  slowest  of  existing 
animals,  namely,  fresh-water  snails.  In  Florida,  Mr.  Maynard  found  that  their  food 
consisted  largely  of  Pomus  depressus,  while  on  the  Rio  Uruguay  I  found  them  eating 
a  species  of  Ampullaria,  and  at  one  time  shot  a  specimen  as  he  circled  overhead  with 
a  large  mollusc  of  this  kind  in  his  claws.  Having  observed  the  facts,  it  is  easy  to  see 
the  adaptation  of  the  long,  slender  hook  with  which  the  bill  is  provided,  as  well  as  the 
use  of  the  sharp  and  lengthened  but  slightly  curved  claws ;  while  we  have  an  example 
of  the  uncertainty  which  may  attend  that  kind  of  reasoning  from  structure  to  function, 
which  is,  unfortunately,  too  often  depended  upon. 


Fro.  140.  —  Pernis  apivorus,  bee  kite. 

Allied  to  Eostrhamus  are  the  species  of  the  American  genus,  Cymindis,  which 
pass  through  so  many  changes  of  plumage,  and  are  so  perplexing  in  their  variations 
that  it  would  seem  unwise  for  any  person  without  scores  or  even  hundreds  of  speci- 
mens before  him  to  venture  an  opinion  as  to  the  actual  number  of  species  or  geo- 
graphical races.  The  genus  is  restricted  to  tropical  America,  and  one  species,  C.  cay- 
ennensis,  is  the  largest  of  the  New  "World  kites,  approaching  the  dimensions  of  Milmis 
ictinus  of  Europe. 

The  honey-buzzard  or  bee  kite,  Pernis  apivorus,  inhabiting  Europe  and  Africa,  and 
ranging  from  the  Arctic  Circle  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  is  a  bird  which  has  charac- 
ters allying  it  both  to  the  buzzards  and  to  the  kites,  while  in  many  points  it  differs  so 
decidedly  from  either  that  not  a  few  ornithologists  make  it  the  type  of  a  distinct  sub- 
family, Perninae. 


300  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

In  its  general  form  it  resembles  the  Buteones,  but  is  more  slenderly  built,  and  has 
a  longer  tail,  in  both  of  which  respects  it  resembles  the  kites.  The  sides  of  the  head, 
however,  are  softly  and  densely  feathered  to  the  very  base  of  the  bill,  in  this  respect 
differing  entirely  from  most  members  of  both  these  groups,  though  we  see  an  approach 
to  this  character  in  Elanoides.  It  gets  its  name  of  honey-buzzard  from  its  habit  of 
digging  up  or  breaking  open  the  nests  of  wasps  and  bees,  on  the  larvae  of  which  it 
delights  to  feed,  and  in  the  gathering  of  which  the  densely  feathered  head  is  proof 
against  the  stings  of  the  infuriated  insects.  It  probably  also  enjoys  the  honey,  which 
it  certainly  eats,  for  large  quantities  have  been  found  in  its  stomach,  accompanied  by 
but  very  few  larvae,  though  it  has  usually  been  supposed  that  the  honey  was  only 
eaten  by  accident  with  the  young  bees.  This  fondness  for  larvae  is  not  satisfied  with 
bees  alone,  for  the  bird  eats  larvae  of  various  other  insects,  as  well  as  worms,  small 
reptiles,  and  mammals,  and  has  even  been  found  gorged  with  maggots,  which  were 
obtained  from  the  carcass  of  a  dead  animal.  It  also  robs  the  nests  of  the  smaller 
birds,  and  is  much  persecuted  by  them  in  consequence. 

It  is  a  migratory  species,  spending  the  winter  in  Africa,  and  moving  northward  in 
the  spring,  frequently  traveling  in  large,  loose  flocks.  Of  these  migrations  as  observed 
at  Heligoland,  —  that  little  rock  in  the  North  Sea  so  famous  as  a  resting-place  for 
tired  migrants, — Mr.  J.  Cordeaux  tells  us  "Mr.  Gatke  says  this  is  by  far  the  most 
common  of  the  buzzards,  not,  however,  appearing  in  the  spring  before  it  really  has 
become  warm,  returning  southward  again  in  August  and  September.  Besides  single 
specimens,  and  two  and  three  at  a  time,  there  are  during  both  periods  of  migration, 
not  very  unfrequently,  such  flights  that  they  may  almost  be  termed  thousands,  not 
all  massed  together,  but  passing  over  from  mid-day  to  evening  in  batches  of  from  five 
to  fifteen,  or  twenty  to  fifty,  one  following  the  other  so  closely  that  the  first  batch  is 
not  out  of  sight  before  the  third  or  even  the  fourth  begins  to  show  already.  The  ver- 
nal migration  takes  place  about  the  latter  part  of  May,  or  a  little  earlier,  on  warm 
days  with  a  calm  clear  sky  and  easterly  wind." 

Contrary  to  the  general  rule  among  birds  of  prey,  it  is  very  late  in  nesting,  its 
eggs  being  seldom  laid  until  the  young  of  other  hawks  and  buzzai-ds  are  hatched  or 
even  half  grown.  The  nest,  —  frequently  the  deserted  one  of  another  kite,  — is  placed 
in  a  tree,  and  in  it  two  or  three  beautifully  marked  eggs  are  laid.  These  have  long 
been  counted  as  special  prizes  by  European  collectors,  and  perhaps  it  is  largely  owing 
to  this  demand  for  its  eggs  that  the  species  has  of  late  years  ceased  to  breed  abun- 
dantly in  places  where  it  formerly  did  so.  By  the  time  the  nest  is  built,  the  oaks  and 
beeches  are  in  full  leaf,  and  the  nest  consequently  difficult  to  find,  and  its  safety  is 
still  further  assured  by  a  curious  habit  of  the  birds  themselves,  which  leads  them  to 
line  and  decorate  the  nest  with  an  abundance  of  fresh  green  leaves,  which  they  renew 
as  fast  as  they  become  faded.  This  is  done  first  before  the  eggs  are  laid,  and  is  kept 
up  sometimes  until  after  they  are  hatched,  though  more  commonly  only  for  a  short 
time  after  laying.  One  or  two  other  species  of  this  genus  are  known. 

The  sub-family  Polyborinae,  carrion-buzzards,  is  a  small  group  of  eight  or  nine 
species,  all  confined  to  America,  and  only  two  of  them  found  above  Panama.  In 
their  habits  they  combine  characteristics  of  the  New  World  vultures  with  those  of 
ordinary  buzzards  and  eagles.  Structurally  they  are  easily  separable  from  both,  and 
although  externally  they  suggest  the  Aquilinae,  Ridgway  has  shown  that  osteologically 
they  are  nearer  the  falcons. 

They  may  readily  be  recognized  by  the  webbing  between  the  toes,  this  being  found 


CARRION  BUZZARDS.  301 

between  the  inner  and  middle  toe,  as  well  as  between  outer  and  middle,  as  in  most 
other  Falconidae  except  the  osprey.  In  addition  to  this,  the  bill  is  not  usually  toothed 
(the  only  exception  being  in  Milvago,  where  there  is  a  trace  of  a  tooth) ;  the  legs  are 
rather  long,  tarsi  little  feathered  in  front  above,  mostly  reticulate,  or  with  small  scales, 
only  really  scutellate  just  above  the  toes,  in  front ;  the  hind  toe  much  shorter  than 
any  of  the  others,  which  are  variable  in  length.  The  sides  of  the  head  are  also  more 
or  less  destitute  of  feathers.  Two  or  three  of  the  species  reach  the  size  at  which  most 
buzzards  gain  popular  recognition  as  eagles,  but  the  others  are  smaller. 

The  species  have  been  rather  naturally  grouped  in  three  genera,  namely,  Polyborus, 
with  one  or  two  species,  Milvago,  with  five  or  six,  and  Ibycter,  with  two.  Polyborus 
and  Milvago  are  chiefly  terrestrial ;  Ibycter  completely  arboreal.  The  legs  in  all  are 
decidedly  long,  the  toes  short  in  the  terrestrial  forms,  longer  in  the  arboreal.  The 
bill  of  Polyborus  is  much  the  strongest,  being  high,  laterally  compressed,  and  with 
narrow,  almost  linear  nostrils,  while  the  other  genera  have  the  bill  of  a  more  ordinary 
type,  and  the  nostrils  circular.  In  all  the  genera  there  is  a  patch  of  naked  skin  over 
the  crop,  not  noticeable,  however,  Avhile  the  crop  is  empty.  There  is  also  more  or 
less  unfeathered  and  often  brightly  colored  skin  about  the  face.  This  is  least  noticea- 
ble in  Milvago  chimango,  more  prominent  in  the  other  species  of  Milvago  and  in 
Polyborus,  and  reaches  its  maximum  in  Ibycter  americanus,  where  not  only  the  face 
and  sides  of  head  are  bare,  but  also  a  large  part  of  the  throat. 

The  caracara  eagle,  Polyborus  tharus,  is  an  abundant  bird  all  over  South  America, 
and  one  of  its  races  extends  as  far  north  as  Texas  and  Florida.  It  is  strongly  and 
rather  clumsily  built,  spending  much  of  its  time  on  the  ground,  where  it  walks  about 
easily  in  search  of  food.  On  the  wing  it  does  not  usually  give  the  impression  of  much 
strength  or  skill,  but  it  does  often  rise  to  a  great  height,  and  during  the  pairing 
season  frequently  goes  through  a  variety  of  aerial  evolutions.  It  feeds  on  animal 
matter  of  any  kind,  freshly  killed  or  putrid,  is  often  seen  associating  with  the  vultures 
(  Cathartes),  and,  like  them,  not  unfrequently  attacks  weak  or  sickly  animals.  On  the 
plains  of  La  Plata  it  is  hated  and  detested  by  the  sheep  farmers  for  its  habit  of 
attacking  new-born  lambs,  many  of  which,  in  spite  of  every  precaution,  are  annually 
killed  in  this  way.  Darwin  says  of  this  species :  "  Their  vulture-like,  necrophagus 
habits  are  very  evident  to  any  one  who  has  fallen  asleep  on  the  desolate  plains  of 
Patagonia,  for  when  he  wakes  he  will  see,  on  each  surrounding  hillock,  one  of  these 
birds  patiently  watching  him  with  an  evil  eye.  .  .  .  j^t  times  the  carrancha  is  noisy, 
but  is  not  generally  so  ;  its  cry  is  loud,  very  harsh,  and  peculiar,  and  may  be  likened 
to  the  sound  of  the  Spanish  guttural  g,  followed  by  a  rough  double  r  ;  when  uttering 
this  cry  it  elevates  its  head  higher  and  higher,  till  at  last,  with  its  beak  wide  open, 
the  crown  almost  touches  the  lower  part  of  the  back.  This  fact,  which  has  been 
doubted,  is  quite  true ;  I  have  seen  them  several  times  with  their  heads  backwards  in 
a  completely  inverted  position."  To  this  we  may  add  that  although  this  last  singular 
fact  is  confirmed,  if  confirmation  were  necessary,  by  many  other  observers,  it  can 
scarcely  be  a  very  common  performance,  since  we  ourselves,  during  an  uninterrupted 
acquaintance  of  about  eighteen  months  with  this  bird,  never  saw  more  than  a  slight 
elevation  of  the  head  while  its  cry  was  uttered. 

It  makes  a  bulky  nest  on  low  or  medium-sized  trees,  and  lays  two  or  three  hand- 
some, brown-spotted  eggs,  very  variable  in  precise  color  and  amount  of  markings. 
The  general  color  of  the  caracara,  or  carrancha,  as  it  is  called  on  the  Plata,  is 
blackish  brown  above,  with  fine  cross-bars  of  black  and  grayish  white  below.  The 


302 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


crown  of  the  head  is  dull  black,  the  bill  variable,  but  usually  bluish  white,  the  cere 
and  bare  space  about  the  eye,  orange-red.  The  northern  race  (auduboni)  seems 
to  differ  but  little  in  habits  or  appearance  from  the  southern  bird,  but  perhaps  the 
plumage  is  rather  less  barred. 

In  Milvago  we  have  a  very  different  bird,  though  the  habits  vary  considerably, 
according  to  species  and  locality.  Most  of  the  species  are  much  smaller  than  the 
caracara,  and  decidedly  more  active.  When  food  is  scarce,  they  may  be  seen  on  the 
wing  almost  all  day,  sweeping  about  from  place  to  place,  often  hovering  in  the 


FIG.  141. —  Polyborus  auduboni,  caracara. 

manner  of  kites  and  buzzards,  or  walking  about  on  the  ground  like  so  many  crows. 
They  are  almost  completely  terrestrial  in  habits,  sometimes  even  nesting  on  the 
ground. 

The  chimango,  Milvago  chimango,  the  smallest  species  of  the  genus,  is  the 
common  bird  of  southern  South  America,  and  especially  abundant  from  Paraguay 
southward.  Further  north  it  is  replaced  by  M.  chimachima,  while  in  the  Falkland 
Islands  a  much  larger  species,  M.  australis,  is  common.  Of  this  latter  species,  Mr. 
Darwin  says:  "They  live  on  the  flesh  of  dead  animals  and  on  marine  productions ; 
and  on  the  Ramirez  rocks  their  wrhole  sustenance  must  depend  on  the  sea.  They  are 


CARRION  BUZZARDS. 


303 


extraordinarily  tame  and  fearless,  and  haunt  the  neighborhood  of  houses  for  offal. 
If  a  hunting  party  kills  an  animal,  a  number  soon  collect  and  patiently  await,  standing 
on  the  ground  on  all  sides.  After  eating,  their  uncovered  craws  are  largely  protruded, 
giving  them  a  disgusting  appearance.  They  readily  attack  wounded  birds ;  a  cormo- 
rant in  this  state,  having  taken  to  the  shore,  was  immediately  seized  on  by  several, 
and  its  death  hastened  by  their  blows. 


FIG.  142.  —  Mllvago  australis,  and  Al.  chimachima,  chimachima. 

"  The  Beagle  was  at  the  Falklands  only  during  the  summer,  but  the  officers  of  the 
Adventure,  who  were  there  in  the  winter,  mention  many  extraordinary  instances  of 
the  boldness  and  rapacity  of  these  birds.  They  actually  pounced  on  a  dog  that  was 
lying  fast  asleep  close  by  one  of  the  party ;  and  the  sportsmen  had  difficulty  in  pre- 
venting the  wounded  geese  from  being  seized  before  their  eyes.  It  is  said  that 
several  together  (in  this  respect  resembling  the  carranchas)  wait  at  the  mouth  of  a 
rabbit-hole,  and  together  seize  on  the  animal  when  it  comes  out.  They  were  con- 
stantly flying  on  board  the  vessel  when  in  the  harbor ;  and  it  was  necessary  to  keep  a 


304  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

good  lookout  to  prevent  the  leather  being  torn  from  the  rigging,  and  the  meat  or 
game  from  the  stern.  These  birds  are  very  mischievous  and  inquisitive ;  they  will 
pick  up  almost  anything  from  the  ground ;  a  large,  black  glazed  hat  was  earned 
nearly  a  mile,  as  was  a  pair  of  the  heavy  balls  used  in  catching  cattle.  Mr.  Usborne 
experienced  during  the  survey  a  more  severe  loss  in  their  stealing  a  small  Rater's 
compass  in  a  red  morocco  leather  case,  which  was  never  recovered.  These  birds  are, 
moreover,  quarrelsome  and  very  passionate,  tearing  up  the  grass  with  their  bills  from 
rage.  They  are  not  truly  gregarious ;  they  do  not  soar,  and  their  flight  is  heavy  and 
clumsy ;  on  the  gi-ound  they  run  extremely  fast,  very  much  like  pheasants.  ...  It  is 
a  curious  circumstance  that  when  crying  out  they  throw  their  heads  upwards  and 
backwards,  after  the  same  manner  as  the  carrancha." 

The  species  of  Ibt/cter,  two  in  number,  are  inhabitants  of  the  heavily  wooded 
country  of  tropical  South  America ;  the  smaller  species,  Ibycter  ater,  apparently  not 
extending  north  of  Panama,  while  Ibycter  americana,  approaching  the  caracara  in 
dimensions,  is  found  in  Guatemala  and  Honduras  as  well.  The  plumage  in  both 
species  is  simple  black  and  white,  the  black  with  greenish  reflections.  In  ater,  this 
includes  the  entire  plumage  except  a  white  band  at  the  base  of  the  tail.  In  americana 
the  colors  are  "  black  with  steel  green  reflections,  the  abdomen,  thighs,  and  under 
tail-coverts  white ;  throat  and  bare  space  before  the  eye,  deep  red ;  cere,  blue ; 
mandibles,  yellow;  iris,  deep  red."  These  birds  keep  by  preference  to  the  trees,  and 
are  said  to  feed  largely  on  insects  instead  of  carrion. 

The  hawks,  Aceipitrinaa,  might  be  defined  as  those  Falconida?,  except  true  falcons, 
not  already  described,  and  differing  from  the  true  falcons  in  not  having  a  toothed  or 
notched  bill.  Or,  we  might  say  that  they  were  very  much  like  the  harriers,  Circinas, 
as  to  bill,  body,  tail,  and  perhaps  legs ;  but  with  very  different  wings.  But,  to  be 
more  explicit,  the  birds  which  we  group  here  under  the  name  Accipitrinas,  agree  with 
the  harriers  in  the  slender  form,  weak  and  un-toothed  bill,  long  tail  and  legs,  tarsus 
about  the  same  length  as  the  tibia,  and  superciliary  shield  prominent.  The  absence  of 
the  facial  '  ruff '  would  at  once  separate  them  from  the  Circinaa,  but  an  equally  impor- 
tant difference,  not  only  from  the  harriers  but  from  the  falcons  and  buzzards,  is  seen 
in  the  wings,  which  instead  of  being  long,  straight,  and  tapering,  as  in  the  harriers 
and  falcons,  or  broad,  flat,  and  obtuse  as  in  the  buzzards,  are  short  and  rather  rounded, 
but  very  concave  beneath,  so  that  their  flight  is  rapid  and  almost  'whirring,'  without 
the  power  of  lofty  soaring  or  of  long  continued  and  easy  gliding.  The  cutting  edge 
of  the  bill  is  also  usually  furnished  with  a  prominent  lobe  or  '  festoon  ; '  the  middle 
toe  is  often  very  long,  the  '  pads '  under  the  joints  on  all  the  toes  very  strongly  de- 
veloped ;  and  the  tarsal  envelope  very  various,  usually  more  or  less  feathered,  and  the 
bare  part  scutellate  in  front  or  behind  or  both,  sometimes  with  the  plates  fused  to- 
gether to  form  a  '  booted '  tarsus  (as  in  the  true  thrushes),  or  even  in  some  cases  par- 
tially reticulate. 

The  hawks,  while  numerous  individually  and  even  specifically  (there  are  sixty  or 
seventy  species),  are  all  contained  in  a  very  few  genera,  probably  nine  tenths  of  them 
in  the  genera  Astur  (goshawks),  and  Accipiter  (sparrow-hawks).  The  distinctions 
between  these  two  groups,  moreover,  are  very  slight,  so  slight  indeed  that  there  are 
very  many  species  which  to  ordinary  eyes  seem  to  have  as  good  a  right  under  one 
name  as  the  other.  In  general,  Astur  contains  the  larger  and  especially  the  stouter 
forms,  in  which  the  tarsus  is  more  extensively  feathered.  There  are,  moreover,  other 
points,  such  as  the  condition  of  the  tarsal  envelope,  which  should  be  taken  into  ac- 


HA  WKS. 


305 


count.  As  an  illustration  of  the  lack  of  uniformity  among  systematists  with  regard 
to  these  genera,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  of  two  prominent  authorities  who  published 
their  views  at  about  the  same  time  (1874),  one  refers  but  six  species  to  Astur,  while 
the  other  includes  thirty-one.  The  latter  author,  however,  allows  but  twenty-three 
species  to  the  genus  Accipiter,  while  the  former  admits  forty-five.  For  our  present 
purposes  it  makes  little  difference  which  we  follow  in  this  respect,  though  there  seems 
to  be  little  doubt  now  that  only  a  few  species  ought  to  be  included  among  the  gos- 
hawks. The  word  goshawk  is  evidently  only  a  corruption  of  goose-hawk,  and  though 


PIG.  143.  —  Astur  palumbarius,  goshawk. 

now  only  applied  to  birds  of  the  genus  Astur,  it  seems  probable,  as  Professor  Newton 
remarks,  that  it  was  originally  given  to  one  of  the  large  true  falcons,  which  might 
reasonably  be  supposed  to  prey  on  geese,  as  such  game  is  evidently  beyond  the  capacity 
of  Astur. 

The  goshawk  of  the  northern  United  States,  Astur  atricapillus,  is  by  many  be- 
lieved to  be  merely  a  geographical  race  of  the  European  goshawk,  A.  palumbarius. 
If  so,  it  is  certainly  a  larger  and  handsomer  form,  and  in  habits  the  two  are  very  simi- 
lar. The  adult  American  bird  is  one  of  the  handsomest  of  our  birds  of  prey,  the 
whole  top  of  the  head  being  pure,  deep  black,  the  rest  of  the  upper  parts  pure  bluish 
VOL.  iv.  —  20 


306  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

slate,  darkening  on  the  tail ;  below,  the  color  is  pure  white,  closely  and  finely  barred 
crosswise  with  slate.  The  chin  and  throat  lack  the  crossbars,  but  each  feather  has  a 
dark  shaft-stripe,  while  running  backward  from  above  and  behind  the  eye  is  a  broad 
white  stripe  finely  pencilled  with  black.  The  wings  and  tail  are  dark,  the  latter  with 
four  or  five  obscure  black  bands.  The  female,  which  is  largest,  measures  about  two 
feet  in  length,  with  a  spread  of  about  four  feet.  Like  most  of  the  other  members  of 
this  group,  the  goshawk  is  extremely  active  and  daring.  Strong  of  wing  and  stout  of 
heart,  it  is  both  bold  and  cunning,  and  its  attack  once  determined  on  is  usually  suc- 
cessful. It  is  a  northern  bird,  ranging  southward  in  winter,  yet  doubtless  often  breed- 
ing within  the  limits  of  the  United  States.  Audubon  says  of  its  habits,  — 

"  The  flight  of  the  goshawk  is  extremely  rapid  and  protracted.  He  sweeps  along 
the  margins  of  the  fields,  through  the  woods,  and  by  the  edges  of  ponds  and  rivers, 
with  such  speed  as  to  enable  him  to  seize  his  prey  by  merely  deviating  a  few  yards 
from  his  course,  assisting  himself  on  such  occasions  by  his  long  tail,  which,  like  a 
rudder,  he  throws  to  the  right  or  left,  upwards  or  downwards,  to  check  his  progress, 
or  enable  him  suddenly  to  alter  his  course.  At  times  he  passes  like  a  meteor  through 
the  underwood,  where  he  secui-es  squirrels  and  hares  with  ease.  Should  a  flock  of 
wild  pigeons  pass  him  when  on  these  predatory  excursions  he  immediately  gives  chase, 
soon  overtakes  them,  and,  forcing  his  way  into  the  very  centre  of  the  flock,  scatters 
them  in  confusion,  when  you  may  see  him  emerging  with  a  bird  in  his  talons,  and 
diving  towards  the  depth  of  the  forest  to  feed  upon  his  victim.  When  traveling,  he 
flies  high,  with  a  constant  beat  of  the  wings,  seldom  moving  in  large  circles  like  other 
hawks,  and  when  he  does  this  it  is  only  a  few  times  in  a  hurried  manner,  after  which 
he  continues  his  journey.  .  .  . 

"  It  is  a  restless  bird,  apparently  more  vigilant  and  industrious  than  many  other 
hawks,  and  seldom  alights  unless  to  devour  its  prey ;  nor  can  I  recollect  ever  having 
seen  one  alighted  for  many  minutes  at  a  time,  without  having  a  bird  in  its  talons. 

"  When  thus  engaged  with  its  prey,  it  stands  nearly  upright,  and  in  general,  when 
perched,  it  keeps  itself  more  erect  than  most  species  of  hawk.  It  is  extremely  expert 
at  catching  snipes  on  the  wing,  and  so  well  do  these  birds  know  their  insecurity,  that, 
on  his  approach,  they  prefer  squatting."  The  goshawk  nests  in  trees,  laying  three  or 
four  bluish-white  eggs,  rarely  faintly  blotched  and  spotted  with  brown. 

In  the  higher  parts  of  Ceylon  and  India,  and  in  many  of  the  East  Indian  Islands, 
is  found  the  smaller  Astur  trivirgatus,  with  a  conspicuous  occipital  crest ;  but  the 
most  singular  member  of  the  genus  is  the  Australian  goshawk,  Astur  novce-hollandice, 
sometimes  known  as  the  New  Holland  white-eagle.  This  is  apparently  a  permanent 
albino,  for  the  adult  plumage  is  pure  white,  the  cere,  gape,  and  legs  yellow,  the  bill 
black,  and  the  iris  pink.  The  young  bird  is  mostly  white  below  and  brown  above,  but 
nearly  all  the  dark  feathers  are  white  at  base. 

The  genus  Accipiter  includes  species  of  mostly  small  size  and  slender  form,  but 
otherwise  remarkably  like  the  goshawks  in  structure  and  habits.  In  England  they  are 
known  as  sparrow-hawks,  from  the  common  species,  Accipiter  nisus,  which  is  the 
sparrow-hawk  of  the  country.  In  the  United  States  we  generally  use  the  name 
sparrow-hawk  for  a  true  falcon ;  the  little  Falco  ( Tinnunculus)  sparverius,  and  the 
two  common  species  of  Accipiter  are  known,  the  smaller  as  the  sharp-shinned  hawk 
(A.  fuscus),  from  the  slender  tarsi,  and  the  larger  as  Cooper's  hawk  A.  cooperi,  or 
sometimes  as  the  chicken-hawk.  They  are  common,  active,  graceful  birds,  preying 
almost  entirely  on  birds  and  small  mammals,  which  they  rarely  lie  in  wait  for  and 


HA  WKS. 


307 


seize  as  they  pass,  more  commonly  —  especially  in  the  case  of  small  birds  —  chasing 
and  seizing  them  while  on  the  wing,  and  then  retiring  to  some  neighboring  dead  tree, 
or  more  secluded  spot,  to  dispose  of  their  game. 

They  nest  in  tall  trees  and  lay  from  three  to  six  eggs,  those  of  Cooper's  hawk 
being  usually  bluish-white  and  unspotted;  those  of  the  sharp-shinned  nearly  white, 
heavily  blotched  and  spotted  with  dark  brown. 


FIG.  144.  —  Accipiter  nisus,  sparrow-hawk. 

As  already  remarked,  the  species  of  this  genus  are  quite  numerous  and  found  in 
almost  every  part  of  the  world.  Their  habits  seem  to  be  essentially  the  same  every- 
where, and  while  the  tints  of  their  plumage  are  seldom  striking  and  never  brilliant, 
black,  white,  slaty  blues  and  red-browns  being  the  commonest,  —  yet  the  pattern  of 
coloration  always  gives  a  pleasing  effect.  In  size  there  is  no  great  variation,  Cooper's 
hawk,  with  a  length  of  less  than  eighteen  inches,  being  among  the  largest,  while  the 
smallest  is  probably  A.  tinus  of  South  America,  large  specimens  of  which  do  not 
exceed  a  foot  in  length,  while  small  males  measure  only  about  nine  inches. 


308  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

Closely  related  to  the  Accipiters,  but  separated  from  them  and  from  the  goshawks 
by  their  shorter  toes,  tubercled  nostrils,  and  somewhat  different  condition  of  the 
tarsal  envelope,  are  several  species  grouped  under  the  genus  Micrastur,  peculiar  to 
South  America,  and  similar  in  general  habits  to  the  foregoing ;  while  a  small  group 
restricted  to  Africa  has  a  typical  representative  in  the  singing-hawk  or  chanting  falcon, 
Melierax  canorus.  This  bird  is  nearly  as  large  as  a  goshawk  and  with  somewhat  sim- 
ilar habits,  being  possessed  of  great  courage,  and  with  the  power  of  very  rapid  flight, 
often  attacking  birds  much  larger  than  itself.  It  is  said  to  feed  mainly  on  birds  and 
small  mammals,  and  to  have  a  habit  of  hunting  quite  late  in  the  evening.  The  most 
peculiar  part  of  its  history,  however,  relates  to  its  voice ;  for  the  male  seems  to  have 
a  true  song,  which,  according  to  Le  Vaillant,  consists  of  decidedly  musical  notes  last- 
ing for  as  much  as  a  minute  at  a  time  and  repeated  at  short  intervals  for  hours  to- 
gether. The  song  is  usually  uttered  at  morning  and  evening,  sometimes  however  in 
the  middle  of  the  night,  always  while  the  bird  is  perched,  usually  on  a  tree  in  the 
vicinity  of  its  nest ;  and  although  at  other  times  a  noisy  and  suspicious  bird,  the  singer 
on  these  occasions  is  said  to  become  so  absorbed  in  its  own  music  as  to  be  easily 
approached  and  shot, 

A  similar  singing  habit  has  been  noticed  in  Asturinula  monogrammica,  a  much 
smaller  African  hawk,  and  not  generally  considered  to  be  closely  related  to  Melierax, 
though  Mr.  Gurney,  in  communicating  the  above  notice  of  its  vocal  powers  to  the 
London  Zoological  Society,  has  called  attention  to  the  precisely  similar  coloration 
of  cere,  bill,  and  feet,  in  the  two  cases,  these  parts  being  vermilion  red  in  both 
birds. 

Though  certainly  not  more  courageous  than  some  species  among  the  hawks,  and 
not  better  adapted  perhaps  for  the  work  they  do,  yet  the  true  falcons,  forming  the 
sub-family  Falconinas,  are,  by  almost  common  consent,  given  the  place  of  honor  among 
diurnal  birds  of  prey. 

They  represent  among  these  the  maximum  of  strength  in  its  most  compact  and 
available  form.     They  are  not  large  birds  ;  none  approach  the  eagles  in  size,  and  some 
are  among  the  very  smallest  of  Raptores,  —  not  larger  than  good  sized  sparrows ;  yet 
their  organization  makes  them  the  masters  of  birds  three  times  as  large  as  themselves, 
while,  from  the  very  ease  with  which  their  wants  are  supplied, 
they  remain   apparently  inactive  a  large  part  of  the  time,  and 
hence  often  get  the  credit  of  a  lazy,  or  at  best  fitful,  disposition. 
There  is  little  of  that  feverish  restlessness  about  them  which  is 
so  characteristic  of  the  hawks,  but  in  its  place  there  is  a  delib- 
erate earnestness  and  a  stubborn  perseverance  which  we  cannot 
fail   to  recognize   as   a  higher   quality  than   the  fretful  snap  or 
brilliant  dash  of  the  slender  Accipiter.     They  are  easily  recog- 
nized by  their  physiognomy. 

The  short,  strong  beak  has  an  acute  hook,  and  the  upper 
mandible  is  provided  near  the  end  with  a  strong  projecting 
FIG>  ^c^ulscens1  ftimu:  tooth5  which  shuts  into  a  corresponding  notch  at  the  tip  of  the 
lower  mandible.  The  only  approach  to  such  a  toothed  bill 
among  other  Accipitres  is  in  the  genus  Milvago  among  the  carrion  buzzards,  already 
noticed,  and  in  a  few  forms  among  the  kites,  where  it  never  assumes  the  precise  charac- 
ter seen  here.  The  legs  are  strong  and  rather  short ;  the  tarsus  usually  reticulate,  — 
never  really  scutellate  either  before  or  behind ;  the  middle  toe  very  long,  and  the  claws 


FALCONS.  309 

very  sharp  and  much  curved ;  the  tail  short  and  of  stiff  feathers,  while  the  wings  are 
long  and  very  sharply  pointed,  almost  straight,  and  very  slightly  convex. 

The  number  of  species  varies  with  different  authors  from  twenty-five  to  seventy- 
five,  depending  partly  on  the  status  allowed  the  numerous  geographical  races,  and 
partly  on  the  personal  equation  of  the  author.  Probably  most  systematists  would  be 
content  with  less  than  fifty. 

Taking  the  peregrine-falcon,  Falco  peregrinus,  as  the  type  of  the  genus  Falco,  and 
this  genus  as  the  typical  one  of  the  group,  the  principal  outliers  are  the  genera  Baza, 
Harpagus,  Jlierax,  and  Hieracidea. 

There  seems  to  be  a  tendency  all  through  the  diurnal  Accipitres  to  a  lengthening 
of  the  feathers  of  the  back  of  the  head,  and  nearly  every  group  contains  some  species 
in  which  this  is  more  positively  expressed  in  a  crest.  Even  the  goshawk,  Astur 
palumbarius,  shows  such  a  tendency,  especially  when  young ;  and  now  in  the  highest 
group,  the  Falconinag,  we  find  several  species  gathered  into  the  genus  Baza,  which 
are  conspicuous,  in  addition  to  their  striking  colors  and  double-toothed  bill,  for  a  long 
and  beautiful  crest.  As  an  example  of  this  beautiful  genus,  we  may  take  the  crested 
falcon,  Baza  lophotes,  a  native  of  India  and  Ceylon.  The  general  color  above,  includ- 
ing the  crest  and  tail,  is  glossy,  greenish  black ;  the  wings  partake  also  of  this  color, 
but  are  much  variegated  with  white  and  chestnut ;  the  upper  neck  and  throat  are 
deep  black,  while  the  lower  neck,  breast,  and  abdomen  are  creamy  white,  with  broad 
crossbars  of  rich  chestnut.  With  this  genus  are  often  associated  the  very  similar 
kite-falcons,  Avicida,  of  Africa. 

The  South  American  notched-falcon,  Harpagus  bideritatus,  probably  also  belongs 
here.  It  is  a  crestless  form,  with  double-notched  bill  (more  strongly  so  than  Baza), 
and  inhabits  the  wooded  regions  of  tropical  South  America.  The  colors  of  the  adult 
are  slaty  blue  above,  rich  chestnut  below ;  the  throat  white,  with  a  broad  median  line 
of  dull  black. 

The  tiny  finch-falcons,  Hierax,  of  the  East  Indies  are,  from  their  small  size,  among 
the  most  marvellous  of  the  falcons.  Though  only  five  and  one  half  to  six  and  one 
half  inches  in  length,  they  have  all  the  spirit  of  the  larger  falcons,  and  feed  largely  if 
not  entirely  on  birds  and  small  mammals.  One  of  the  commonest,  the  Bengal  falcon, 
Hierax  ccerulescens,  bluish  black  above  and  rusty  white  below,  has  been  seen  at  a 
single  foray  to  strike  ten  or  a  dozen  quail  before  alighting.  Two  or  three  species 
from  the  East  Indies  are  described,  and  another  from  the  Philippine  Islands,  but  they 
are  probably  not  all  tenable. 

The  sparrow-hawk  or  quail-hawk  of  New  Zealand,  Hieracidea  novce-zealandice,  is 
a  larger  species,  which,  according  to  Professor  Newton,  may  represent  the  more 
generalized  and  ancestral  type  from  which  both  kestrels  and  falcons  have  descended. 
Spiziapteryx  circumcinctus^  of  the  Argentine  Republic,  is  another  genuine  falcon  of 
small  size. 

We  now  come  to  the  genus  Falco,  with  the  peregrine  or  duck  hawk,  Falco  pere- 
grinus,  as  its  type.  Not  less  than  a  dozen  different  races  of  this  bird  have  been 
recognized,  and  most  of  them  described  as  species,  but  recent  writers  incline  to  the 
belief  that  there  is  but  one  valid  species,  which  is  almost  cosmopolitan.  Says  Pro- 
fessor Newton  of  this  species :  — 

"  From  Port  Kennedy,  the  most  northern  part  of  the  American  continent,  to 
Tasmania,  and  from  the  shores  of  the  Sea  of  Ochotsk  to  Mendoza  in  the  Argentine 
Republic,  there  is  scarcely  a  country  in  which  this  falcon  has  not  been  found.  Speci- 


310  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

mens  have  been  received  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  it  is  only  a  question  of 
the  technical  differentiation  of  species  whether  it  does  not  extend  to  Cape  Horn. 
Fearless  as  it  is,  and  adapting  itself  to  almost  every  circumstance,  it  will  form  its  eyry 
equally  on  the  sea-washed  cliffs,  the  craggy  mountains,  or  (though  more  rarely)  the 
drier  spots  of  a  marsh  in  the  northern  hemisphere,  as  on  trees  (says  Schlegel)  in  the 
forests  of  Java,  or  the  waterless  ravines  of  Australia." 


FIG.  146.  —  Falco  peregrinus,  peregrine  falcon. 

•  The  American  race  differs  slightly  if  at  all  in  habits  from  the  better  known  Euro- 
pean bird.  It  flies  with  great  swiftness  and  without  sailing,  but  when  on  the  lookout 
for  prey  rises  easily  in  a  spiral  to  a  considerable  height,  whence  it  generally  launches 
itself  like  an  arrow  directly  at  its  victim,  which  is  usually  killed  almost  instantly  by 
the  clutch  of  the  talons,  and  carried  off  to  be  eaten  at  leisure.  When  intent  on  its 
quarry  it  becomes  oblivious  to  everything  else,  and  its  natural  boldness  is  at  all  times 
surprising.  It  not  unfrequently  makes  its  appearance  at  the  report  of  a  gun,  and 
carries  off  a  wounded  bird  before  the  astonished  sportsman  can  recover  himself.  In 


FALCONS.  311 

America  it  almost  invariably  nests  on  ledges  of  rocks  in  precipitous  places,  rarely 
making  much  of  a  nest,  and  sometimes  laying  its  handsome  eggs  on  the  bare  rock,  or 
in  a  slight  hollow  scratched  in  the  debris  of  the  ledge.  These  are  three  or  four  in 
number,  usually  so  heavily  blotched  with  chocolate  and  red-brown  as  to  entirely 
obscure  the  ground  color,  which,  when  visible,  is  creamy  white. 

Although  ordinarily  nesting  as  above,  it  has  been  known  exceptionally  to  breed  in 
trees,  Mr.  N.  S.  Goss  having  given  an  account  of  his  observations  on  several  pairs 
which  he  found  nesting  in  the  timber  along  the  banks  of  the  Neosho  River  in  Kansas. 
In  one  case,  three  eggs  were  found  in  a  large  sycamore,  about  fifty  feet  from  the 
ground,  "  laid  on  the  fine,  soft,  rotten  wood  in  a  trough-like  cavity  formed  by  the 
breaking  off  of  a  hollow  limb  near  the  body  of  the  tree."  Another  pair  was  found 
nesting  in  a  knot-hole  in  a  cottonwood,  and  still  another  in  a  hollow  limb  of  a  giant 
sycamore. 

The  general  colors  of  the  adult  bird  are  dark  bluish  ash  above,  almost  black  on 
the  head,  lighter  on  the  tail.  Below,  creamy  white,  barred,  except  on  chin  and 
thi'oat,  with  black,  while  a  large  black  patch  extends  from  the  bill  backward  beneath 
the  eye,  and  downward  under  the  bill.  The  young  are  more  brownish  above,  and  are 
streaked  longitudinally  instead  of  barred  below,  said  to  be  a  characteristic  of  all  the 
larger  and  typical  falcons  before  the  first  real  moult.  Another  point  which  some 
systematists  make  much  of,  and  which  was  recognized  centuries  ago  by  falconers,  is 
the  fact  that  in  all  true  falcons,  the  iris  is  brown,  and  usually  quite  dark.  This 
is  probably  true  of  all  members  of  the  genus  Falco,  including  all  the  sub-genera 
except  Tinnunculus,  in  which  group  some  species  have  yellow  irides.  But  these 
yellow-eyed  birds  differ  much  from  their  relatives,  and  seem  to  have  lost  most  of  the 
spirit  of  the  true  falcons. 

The  largest  and  finest  of  all  the  falcons  are  the  gyrfalcons,  confined  to  the  colder 
portions  of  the  northern  hemisphere.  Just  how  many  species  there  are  is  still 
unsettled ;  some  naturalists  recognize  four  distinct  but  nearly  related  species ;  others 
believe  in  only  a  single  circumpolar  species,  in  which  they  consider  it  difficult  if  not 
impossible  to  distinguish  geographical  races.  The  four  forms,  be  they  species  or 
races,  are  certainly  very  much  alike  in  all  but  color  of  plumage,  and  this  is  extremely 
variable  even  in  individuals  belonging  to  the  same  '  race.' 

These  forms  are  thus  treated  by  Professor  Newton :  "  Next  to  the  typical  Falcons 
comes  a  group  known  as  the  'great  northern'  falcons  (Hlerofalco).  Of  these  the 
most  remarkable  is  the  gyrfalcon,  F.  gyrfalco,  whose  home  is  in  the  Scandinavian 
mountains,  though  the  young  are  yearly  visitants  to  the  plains  of  Holland  and  Ger- 
many. In  plumage  it  very  much  resembles  F.  peregrinus,  but  its  flanks  have  generally 
a  bluer  tinge,  and  its  superiority  in  size  is  at  once  manifest.  Nearly  allied  to  it  is  the 
Icelander,  F.  islandus,  which  externally  differs  in  its  paler  coloring,  and  in  almost 
entirely  wanting  the  black  mandibular  patch.  Its  proportions,  however,  differ  a  good 
deal,  its  body  being  elongated.  Its  country  is  shown  by  its  name,  but  it  also  inhabits 
South  Greenland,  and  not  unfrequently  makes  its  way  to  the  British  Islands.  Very 
close  to  this  comes  the  Greenland  falcon,  F.  candicans,  a  native  of  North  Greenland, 
and  perhaps  of  other  countries  within  the  Arctic  circle.  Like  the  last,  the  Greenland 
falcon  from  time  to  time  occurs  in  the  United  Kingdom,  but  it  is  always  to  be  distin- 
guished by  wearing  a  plumage  in  which  at  every  age  the  prevailing  color  is  pure  white. 
In  northeastern  America  these  birds  are  replaced  by  a  kindred  form,  F.  labradorus, 
first  detected  by  Audubon,  and  lately  recognized  by  Mr.  Dresser.  It  is  at  once  dis- 


312  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

tinguished  by  its  very  dark  coloring,  the  lower  parts  being  occasionally  almost  as 
deeply  tinted  at  all  ages  as  the  upper." 

The  habits  of  all  these  forms  are,  so  far  as  known,  essentially  the  same.  They  are 
birds  of  the  Arctic  regions,  and  even  in  winter  do  not  wander  far  southward.  Hoi. 
boll  states  that  in  Greenland  they  prey  mostly  on  waterfowl  and  ptarmigans,  nest  in 
inaccessible  cliffs  in  January  (!),  and  lay  eggs  similar  in  color  to  the  ptarmigans,  but 
twice  as  large.  MacFarlane,  however,  who  found  many  gyrfalcons  nesting  in  the 


FIG.  147.  —  Falco  lanarius,  lanner. 

neighborhood  of  Anderson  River,  says  that,  out  of  eighteen  nests  found,  all  were  in 
trees  except  two,  one  of  which  was  built  on  a  ledge  of  rocks  and  the  other  on  the 
ground  on  the  side  of  a  steep  hill.  The  earliest  nest  found  with  eggs  was  on  May 
10 ;  but  at  that  time  the  ground  was  still  covered  with  snow,  and  the  weather  was 
very  cold.  The  eggs  are  described  as  varying  much  in  general  color  and  marking, 
but  are  usually  of  a  reddish  or  yellowish  brown,  due  to  the  fine  and  even  spotting  of 
these  tints  on  a  lighter  ground.  Heavy  spots  and  blotches  are  unusual  in  these  eggs. 


FALCONS. 


313 


These  northern  falcons  or  gyrfalcons  are  said  to  be  the  only  ones  which  resemble 
the  peregrine  in  being  streaked  below  while  young,  and  cross-banded  when  adult. 

Another  falcon,  which  much  resembles  the  young  of  the  peregrine,  but  which  is 
streaked  below  at  all  ages,  is  the  lanner,  F.  lanarius,  of  southern  Europe,  north 
Africa,  and  southwestern  Asia.  Several  well-marked  races  of  this  form  are  found  in 
other  countries,  for  instance  the  lugger,  F.jugg&r,  of  India,  and  the  prairie-falcon,  F. 
mexicanuS)  of  Mexico  and  the  southwestern  territories  of  the  United  States. 


FIG.  148.  —  Falco  llthofalco,  merlin. 

A  better-known  American  bird  is  the  so-called  pigeon-hawk,  Falco  columbarius, 
which  occurs  throughout  the  whole  of  the  United  States.  Though  a  much  smaller 
bird  than  the  duck-hawk,  it  is  equally  bold  and  fearless,  and  frequently  kills  birds 
heavier  than  itself.  It  is  very  closely  allied  to,  if  not  identical  with,  the  European 
merlin,  F.  litJwfalco;  and  these  two  forms,  with  the  Indian  F.  chiquera,  and  its 
African  race,  ruficollis,  and  a  few  others,  are  not  unf requently  separated  from  Falco,  as 
a  sub-genus  ^EJsalon,  the  merlins. 


314 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


Very  close  to  these  are  several  beautiful  species  which  are  similarly  grouped  to- 
gether under  the  sub-generic  title  Hypotriorchis,  and  of  which  the  English  hobby, 
F,  subbuteo,  is  the  smallest  member.  This  is  an  elegantly  shaped  bird  of  inconspicuous 
colors,  not  distantly  resembling  a  boldly  marked,  immature  peregrine,  readily  recog- 
nized by  its  (for  a  falcon)  extremely  long  wings.  It  has  a  wide  distribution  in  the  old 
world,  being  found  almost  everywhere  in  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa.  While  it  fre- 


FIG.  149.  —  Falco  subbuteo,  hobby. 

quently  captures  birds  of  considerable  size,  and  has  even  a  superabundance  of  courage 
and  wing-power,  a  favorite  food  while  in  England  is  large  insects,  especially  beetles 
and  dragon-flies,  which  it  catches  on  the  wing,  often  hunting  the  beetles  in  the  even- 
ing until  it  is  quite  dark. 

It  is  unquestionably  one  of  the  swiftest  of  the  falcons,  delighting  to  chase  and 
capture  swallows,  and  frequently  striking  at  and  annoying  large  birds,  such  as  herons 
and  cranes,  which  it  evidently  has  no  thought  of  attempting  to  kill.  According  to 


FALCONS.  315 

Lord  Lilford  this  species  is  never  seen  hovering  in  the  manner  of  the  kestrel,  but  in 
summer  time  it  sometimes  soars  to  an  immense  height  and  '  lies  upon  its  wings '  in 
bright  sunny  weather  for  hours  together.  The  following  instance  of  its  sagacity  is 
given  in  Dresser's  "  Birds  of  Europe,"  on  the  authority  of  Mr.  C.  E.  Diezel :  "  In  the 
seegwald  stood  a  large  beech  tree,  on  which  was  a  very  large  old  nest,  which  although 
the  old  birds  were  regularly  shot  for  eight  years,  either  when  the  nest  contained  eggs 
or  when  feeding  their  young,  was  still  tenanted  again.  One  year,  when,  as  the  birds 
were  so  shy,  they  could  not  be  approached  within  gunshot,  the  forester  and  a  com- 
panion took  turns  about  to  watch  the  nest,  which  then  contained  young,  in  order  to 
shoot  the  parent  birds  as  they  came  with  food.  The  old  bii'ds  never  came  within 
shot,  and  still  the  young  were  not  starved.  After  a  time,  however,  the  watchers  dis- 
covered that  the  old  birds  took  food  and,  hovering  far  out  of  gunshot  above  the  nest, 
dropped  it  down  into  the  latter,  thus  feeding  the  young  without  danger  to  themselves. 
That  this  really  was  the  case  was  proved  by  keeping  a  careful  and  continuous  watch ; 
and,  moreover,  food  was  found  under  the  tree,  which  had,  in  falling,  missed  its  mark." 

While  we  would  much  rather  believe  than  disbelieve,  yet  there  are  some  elements 
of  improbability  about  the  preceding  narrative,  and  we  would  suggest  that  unless  the 
birds  were  actually  seen  to  feed  the  young  in  this  way,  it  would  seem  less  improbable 
that  a  bird  of  well-known  crepuscular  habits  should  have  chosen  the  night  as  a  safe 
time  for  conveying  food  to  the  nest. 

Another,  but  much  less  common  bird,  of  this  group  is  the  beautiful  Eleanora  falcon, 
Falco  (Erytliropus)  eleanorce,  of  the  Mediterranean  region.  The  adult  in  full 
plumage  is  very  deep  blackish  brown,  sometimes  sooty  black,  with  black  bill  and 
claws,  and  bright  yellow  orbits  and  feet.  Its  food,  like  that  of  the  hobby,  consists 
lai'gely  of  insects,  and  it  is  described  as  eminently  crepuscular  in  its  habits.  Certain 
small  islands  off  the  soutli  shore  of  Sardinia  are  favorite  resorts  of  this  rare  spe- 
cies, and  on  some  of  them  hundreds  of  pairs  breed  in 'caves  and  fissures  of  the  cliffs. 

Yet  another  and  the  largest  species  of  this  group  is  the  femoral  or  plumbeous 
falcon,  F.  femoralis,  of  South  America  and  Mexico,  of  whose  habits,  however,  little 
seems  to  have  been  recorded. 

The  common  sparrow-hawk,  Falco  (  Tinnunculus)  sparverius,  of  the  United  States, 
is  too  well  known  to  need  description.  Its  nesting  habits  are  singular,  as  it  generally 
lays  its  five  or  six  eggs  in  a  deserted  woodpecker's  hole,  or  even  in  a  martin-box  or 
dove-cote.  This  may  be  taken  as  the  type  of  a  group  of  beautiful  little  falcons  which 
have  often  —  perhaps  usually  —  been  separated  from  Falco  under  the  sub-generic 
name  Tinnunculus^  including  the  European  kestrel,  T.  alaudarius,  and  perhaps  a  half 
dozen  other  species.  In  their  relations  to  man  they  are  probably  the  most  harmless 
falcons  in  existence,  feeding  mainly  on  mice  and  insects,  though  occasionally  taking  a 
small  bird ;  and  they  are  so  graceful  in  their  motions,  so  tidy  and  pretty  in  their 
whole  appearance,  that  it  is  to  be  regretted  they  are  not  more  abundant  every- 
where. The  kestrel  is  indeed  the  most  abundant  of  all  British  birds  of  prey,  and  its 
hovering  form,  as  it  poises  in  mid-air  on  the  watch  for  its  prey,  is  familiar  to  every 
schoolboy  in  that  country. 

Fifteen  or  twenty  other  names  have  been  highly  recommended  for  specific  dis- 
tinction, but  it  is  impossible  at  present  to  say  just  how  the  honors  should  be  divided. 
It  seems  doubtful  whether  America  has  more  than  one  species,  sparverius,  with  its 
various  races.  Africa  claims  at  least  three,  of  which  one,  alopex,  is  remarkable  for  its 
uniform  yellowish-red  color,  with  longitudinal  dark  streaks  and  black  wings. 


316  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

Madagascar  furnishes  another  peculiar  form,  and  others  still  are  found  in  the  Malay 
Archipelago  and  Australia. 

Few  allusions  have  purposely  been  made  thus  far  to  the  uses  of  birds  of  prey  in 
the  chase,  it  being  our  intention  to  defer  this  until  most  of  the  species  thus  used 
should  have  been  mentioned  in  their  regular  places.  It  is  therefore  fitting,  here,  in 
connection  with  the  group  of  birds  which  has  given  its  name  to  the  sport,  to  devote  a 
few  pages  to  the  consideration  of  that  most  time-honored  of  all  field  sports,  hawking 
or  falconry.  This,  in  its  broadest  sense  may  be  defined  as  the  use  of  hawks  or  falcons 
in  the  capture  of  other  animals.  In  strictness,  we  ought,  perhaps,  to  limit  the  term  to 
the  actual  taking  of  game  with  hawks  or  falcons,  this  being  the  sense  in  which  it  is 
commonly  understood. 

Yet  trained  hawks  are  still  used  merely  to  hover  over  game  and  prevent  its  flying 
until  it  can  be  netted  or  killed ;  and  eagles  or  large  falcons  were  formerly  much  used 
in  parts  of  Asia  and  Africa  to  annoy  and  hinder  gazelles  and  deer,  by  flying  in  their 
faces,  and  striking  at  nose,  eyes,  or  back,  thus  retarding  their  flight,  and  giving  time 
for  the  hunters  and  dogs  to  come  up.  In  one  form  or  another  falconry  has  undoubt- 
edly an  antiquity  as  great  as  that  of  the  Egyptian  mummies,  as  it  is  known  to  have 
been  practiced  among  the  Egyptians  centuries  before  the  Christian  Era,  and  certainly 
flourished  in  China  earlier  than  600  B.  c.,  probably  existing  there  over  a  thousand 
years  earlier  still.  In  Europe,  also,  it  was  a  favorite  pastime  before  the  Christian  Era, 
but  it  was  not  introduced  into  England  until  about  the  middle  of  the  ninth  century, 
and  for  the  next  eight  hundred  years  was  by  far  the  most  popular  sport  practised  in 
both  England  and  France. 

Monarchs  kept  their  hawks  by  hundreds,  knights  and  ladies  paid  fabulous  sums 
for  the  best  trained  birds,  and  even  peasants  took  to  rearing  sparrow-hawks  and 
kestrels,  and  spent  their  holidays  in  hunting  sparrows  and  larks.  Men  gave  their 
lives  to  the  study  and  training  of  falcons,  and  in  many  families  generation  succeeded 
generation  in  the  practice  of  this  art,  father  handing  down  to  son  his  store  of  experi- 
ence, and  with  it  often  his  well-earned  place  of  honor  at  the  castle  or  the  court.  At 
one  time  we  are  told,  "  In  the  court  of  the  King  of  Wales  there  were  only  three 
officers  of  his  household  above  the  master  of  the  hawks.  This  person  occupied  the 
fourth  place  from  the  sovereign  at  the  royal  table,  but  he  was  prohibited  from  drink- 
ing more  than  three  times,  lest  he  should  become  intoxicated,  and,  in  consequence, 
neglect  his  birds.  Not  only  had  he  the  management  of  the  hawks  and  of  the  people 
employed  in  this  sport,  but,  when  he  had  been  very  successful  in  it,  the  king  was 
accustomed  to  rise  up  and  receive  him  on  his  entrance ;  and  even,  on  some  occasions, 
to  hold  his  stirrup.  Ethelston  made  North  Wales  provide  him  not  only  with  so  many 
dogs  as  he  chose,  '  whose  scent-pursuing  noses  might  explore  the  haunts  and  coverts 
of  the  deer,'  but  '  birds  who  knew  how  to  hunt  others  along  the  sky.'  In  France 
there  was  an  officer  called  the  *  Grand  Falconer,'  who  was  a  person  of  so  much  impor- 
tance that  his  salary  was  four  thousand  florins,  and  he  was  attended  by  fifty  gentle- 
men and  fifty  assistant  falconers.  He  was  allowed  to  keep  three  hundred  hawks ;  he 
licensed  every  vender  of  hawks  in  the  kingdom,  and  received  a  fee  on  every  one  of 
these  birds  that  was  sold.  The  king  never  rode  out  on  any  occasion  of  consequence 
without  being  attended  by  this  officer." 

Soon  laws  became  necessary  for  the  regulation  and  protection  of  the  sport.  In 
the  reign  of  Henry  VII.  the  taking  of  the  eggs  of  hawk  or  falcon  was  punishable  with 
imprisonment  for  '  a  year  and  a  day,'  and  a  fine  at  the  king's  pleasure ;  and  this,  too, 


FALCONRY.  317 

even  if  the  eggs  were  on  the  offender's  own  land.  The  use  of  the  gyrfalcon  was 
restricted  to  king  or  queen ;  an  earl  might  own  and  fly  the  peregrine ;  a  yeoman  the 
goshawk ;  a  priest  was  allowed  the  sparrow-hawk,  while  a  servant  might  get  what 
amusement  he  could  from  the  kestrel. 

During  the  sixteenth  or  seventeenth  century  falconry  reached  the  zenith  of  its 
popularity  in  Europe,  and  before  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  it  had  fallen 
into  pretty  general  disuse.  It  is  still  kept  up,  however,  on  many  a  large  estate  in 
England  and  on  the  Continent,  and  in  many  cities  of  India  and  China  at  the  present 
time,  one  frequently  meets  in  the  streets  men  carrying  hawks  on  their  wrists  as  their 
ancestors  did  a  thousand  years  ago.  In  fact  there  are  very  few  countries  of  the  Old 
"World  where  it  is  not  still  more  or  less  in  vogue,  as  well  as  in  some  parts  of  South 
America,  though  we  are  not  aware  that  it  has  been  practised  in  the  United  States. 

The  terminology  of  falconry  is  quite  voluminous,  hundreds  of  terms  being  used 
which  are  peculiar  to  the  art,  while  many  familiar  words  are  used  only  in  a  peculiar 
or  limited  sense,  so  that  a  work  on  the  subject  would  be  hardly  intelligible  to  the 
average  reader  without  a  glossary.  We  need  not  here  trouble  ourselves  about  many 
of  these  terms,  introducing  as  few  as  possible,  and  explaining  those  which  seem  to 
need  it. 

There  is  little  doubt,  considering  the  high  grade  of  intelligence  of  most  birds  of 
prey,  that  any  of  the  forms  which  commonly  catch  living  birds  or  quadrupeds  might, 
with  proper  care  and  training,  be  made  serviceable  for  hawking;  but  those  which  the 
experience  of  ages  seems  to  have  shown  conclusively  to  be  the  best  are  the  true 
Falconinae  (especially  the  members  of  the  genus  Falco)  and  the  Accipitrina?.  These 
are  very  different  in  their  structure  and  action,  as  already  pointed  out,  and  are  there- 
fore most  often  used  on  different  classes  of  game.  By  the  term  game  we  must  here 
be  understood  to  mean  the  quarry,  whatever  it  may  be,  whether  eatable  or  not ;  for, 
as  the  main  thing  sought  for  in  this  pastime  is  sport,  it  is  often  better  and  more  con- 
veniently obtained  from  large  and  high-flying  birds  like  herons,  than  from  such  birds 
as  quails  and  partridges,  which  are  more  easily  procured  for  the  table  in  other 
ways. 

In  all  ages  and  countries  falconers  have  recognized  these  two  classes  of  '  hawks ; ' 
the  long-winged,  dark-eyed  falcons,  which  rise  to  a  considerable  height  and  '  stoop '  on 
their  prey  at  a  single  rush,  being  usually  called  '  noble,'  while  the  short-winged,  often 
yellow-eyed  hawks,  which  fly  low  and  chase  after  their  prey,  were  styled  'ignoble.' 
The  first,  or  'noble'  falcons,  were  most  often  taught  to  rise  high  above  the  hunter,  and 
*  wait  on '  until  game  was  found,  while  the  second  were  oftener  thrown  from  the  hand 
on  sighting  game,  and,  unlike  the  falcons,  were  not  often  'hooded.'  The  really  good 
birds  most  readily  obtained  and  easily  managed  were,  in  Europe,  the  goshawk  and 
the  peregrine,  and  these  are  the  ones  most  often  used  now  in  England.  The  'great 
northern  '  falcons,  the  various  gyrfalcons,  were  more  powerful,  and  could  be  used  for 
some  birds  which  the  peregrine  was  no  match  for,  but  they  were  scarce  and  hard  to 
obtain  in  the  first  place,  did  not  thrive  except  in  a  cold  climate,  and  were  extremely 
difficult  to  tame  and  train.  The  different  species  of  falcon  vary  much  in  their  dispo- 
sitions, and  there  are  many  other  things  to  be  taken  into  account  in  selecting  a  bird 
for  service.  The  course  of  training  is  at  best  long  and  difficult,  and  while  a  week  or 
two  may  suffice  in  some  cases  for  young  birds  reared  from  the  nest,  others  will  require 
several  months. 

At  the  present  time  it  is  believed  that  as  good  results  in  the  field  may  be  obtained, 


318  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

eventually,  from  young  birds  reared  by  the  falconer  (and  then  termed  'eyases'),  as 
with  full-grown,  wild-caught  birds,  known  as  '  haggards ; '  but  old-time  falconers  held 
the  latter  in  much  the  higher  estimation.  The  wild-caught  birds  are  often  much 
stronger,  and  hence  better  for  large  game,  while  their  chief  value  lies  in  the  fact  that 
they  have  always  been  accustomed  to  hunt  for  themselves,  and  have  thus  acquired 
habits  of  watchfulness  and  daring  which  are  difficult  to  cultivate  in  '  eyases.'  They 
are,  however,  extremely  hard  to  train  at  first,  and  very  likely  to  forget  their  teaching 
and  regain  their  liberty  the  first  time  they  are  '  flown '  by  the  falconer. 

In  training  a  falcon,  as  in  training  a  horse  or  a  dog,  one  person  should  take  entire 
charge  of  the  bird,  at  least  until  well  broken.  The  method  ordinarily  adopted  is, 
briefly,  as  follows :  — 

At  first  the  efforts  should  be  principally  toward  rendering  the  bird  quiet  and  tame 
in  confinement.  To  this  end  she  should  be  handled  as  much  as  possible,  and  stroked 
with  a  feather,  using  the  voice  frequently,  and  especially  at  feeding  times.  With  a 
wild-caught  falcon  this  will  be  slow  work  at  first ;  the  bird  may  refuse  to  eat  for  a  day 
or  two,  and  for  some  time  her  training  will  have  to  be  conducted  in  almost  total  dark- 
ness. A  leather  '  hood '  is  placed  over  the  head,  and  the  bird  must  become  accus- 
tomed to  having  this  put  on  and  taken  off  at  all  times,  even  while  feeding,  as  well  as 
to  feeding  with  or  without  it,  at  first  in  the  dark,  and  finally  in  broad  daylight 
and  in  the  presence  of  other  persons.  Then,  step  by  step,  she  must  grow  accustomed 
to  all  sorts  of  noise  and  confusion,  as  well  as  learn  to  know  the  voice  of  her  master, 
and  come  at  his  call.  All  this  time  a  '  jess '  (strap)  will  be  kept  on  each  leg,  and  when 
carried  about  she  will  perch  on  the  glove  or  wristlet  of  her  keeper.  If  more  liberty 
be  desired,  a  line  may  be  fastened  to  the  '  jesses,'  and  its  length  increased  as  desired. 
Up  to  this  time  she  has  only  received  food  from  the  hand ;  now  she  must  be  made  to 
go  to  it,  and  this  is  easily  managed  by  letting  her  see  it  at  a  distance  of  a  few  feet, 
but  refusing  to  give  it  her  until  she  jumps  or  flies  toward  it.  After  she  will  thus  go 
twenty  or  thirty  yards  without  fail,  the  line  may  be  taken  off  and  the  bird  be  taught  to 
fly  to  her  food  from  a  much  greater  distance,  —  even  half  a  mile  at  last.  If  the  food 
so  far  used  can  be  flesh  of  the  game  she  is  to  be  trained  for,  so  much  the  better ;  and 
after  she  has  caught  a  few  pigeons,  or  other  birds  released  from  the  hand,  under  favor- 
able circumstances,  she  may  be  tried  on  wild  game.  It  is  important,  however,  that 
all  her  first  trials  shall  be  successful,  and  it  is  also  well  that,  when  first  allowed  to 
strike  a  bird  at  liberty,  that  bird  shall  be  too  lai-ge  for  her  to  carry  off  conveniently. 
After  a  little  practice  it  will  be  found  that  the  moment  a  falcon  is  unhooded  in  the 
open  air  and  set  free,  she  will  immediately  rise  to  a  considerable  height,  and  circle 
about,  on  the  lookout  for  her  accustomed  food.  This  is  called  '  waiting  on,'  and  if  she 
has  not  been  released  until  the  dog  has  pointed,  the  game  may  now  be  flushed,  and  the 
falcon  will  be  pretty  certain  to  make  a  successful  stoop  and  kill  her  bird,  in  which 
case  she  must  be  at  once  hooded,  and  either  allowed  to  eat  a  little  of  the  game  killed, 
or  else  some  other  food  must  be  substituted. 

Should  she  fail  to  kill  her  game  at  the  first  plunge,  and  the  bird  take  to  the  grass 
again,  it  must  be  flushed  as  quickly  as  possible,  and  a  good  falcon  will  '  wait  on '  again 
until  offered  another  chance  to  strike.  Young  hawks,  when  taken  from  the  nest  before 
they  can  fly,  must  be  suitably  housed  and  fed  until  full  grown,  and  no  training  except 
simple  taming  is  at  first  attempted. 

Usually  they  are  left  at  liberty  during  the  day,  being  accustomed  to  come  at  the 
call,  or  at  regular  feeding-times,  and  they  must  have  food  enough  to  prevent  their 


FALCONRY.  319 

wandering  off  in  search  of  it.  As  soon  as  they  begin  to  chase  other  birds  it  is  time 
their  taming  was  begun,  and  they  must  now  be  caught  and  hooded,  and  taught  in 
nearly  the  same  manner  as  older  birds ;  but  this  is  much  easier  and  more  quickly  accom- 
plished. In  order  to  make  good  hunters  they  must  always  be  kept  in  good  condition, 
fed  just  enough  to  keep  them  up  to  full  strength,  yet  always  with  good  appetites  when 
brought  to  the  field.  Their  food,  also,  when  not  hunting,  should  consist  as  largely  as 
possible  of  game,  and  they  must  be  allowed  to  eat  naturally,  swallowing  bones,  hair, 
and  feathers,  and  ejecting  from  the  mouth  the  '  castings  '  a  few  hours  afterwards,  in 
the  same  manner  as  wild  hawks.  In  general,  the  more  exercise  they  get  the  better. 

As  most  falcons  become  much  attached  to  particular  breeding-places,  it  is  easy  for 
those  who  are  conveniently  situated  to  obtain  the  young  in  successive  years  from  the 
same  eyries. 

Hawks  were  also  always  to  be  bought  at  reasonable  prices  before  the  beginning  of 
the  '  hawking  season,'  and  thus  in  many  cases  owners  were  accustomed  to  set  their 
birds  at  liberty  at  the  close  of  the  season,  replacing  them  the  next  year  with  new  ones, 
and  thus  avoiding  the  care  of  them  through  the  greater  part  of  the  year.  But  gyrfal- 
cons  were  too  expensive  to  be  thus  released,  and  as  they  also  retained  their  powers 
longer  than  others,  and  could  be  used  for  many  yeai-s  in  succession,  they  were  carefully 
kept  for  indefinite  periods,  occasionally  doing  good  service  for  even  fifteen  or  twenty 
years. 

The  taking  of  wild  hawks,  usually  known  as  passage-hawks,  from  their  abundance 
during  the  vernal  and  autumnal  migrations,  was  usually  effected  by  means  of  a  net 
baited  with  a  live  bird,  though  frequently  a  decoy-falcon  was  used,  being  made  to 
flutter  as  if  killing  game  whenever  a  passage-hawk  was  seen  in  the  distance.  An 
owl  was  often  the  surest  attraction  for  a  hawk,  the  antipathy  existing  between  the  two 
seeming  always  to  render  it  impossible  for  a  hawk  to  pass  over  by  daylight  without 
one  or  two  dashes  at  his  nocturnal  rival. 

In  training  hawks  the  falconer  had  always  to  bear  in  mind  not  only  the  kinds  of  game 
which  the  bird  was  best  fitted  to  take,  but  also  the  kinds  which  could  conveniently 
be  hunted  in  his  immediate  neighborhood.  For  the  same  individual  was  rarely  trained, 
especially  at  first,  for  more  than  a  single  class  of  game :  one  for  grouse,  partridges, 
and,  perhaps,  pheasants ;  another  for  hares  or  rabbits ;  and  others,  still,  for  herons  and 
waterfowl.  Thus,  to  insure  a  good  day's  sport  in  the  field,  it  was  often  necessary  to  be 
provided  with  a  dozen  or  more  of  hawks,  from  which  to  select  according  to  the  game 
which  presented  itself.  In  its  native  state  a  hungry  falcon  would  attack  almost  any 
bird  which  presented  itself,  and  such,  when  captured  and  trained,  would  necessarily 
have  to  be  flown  with  care  at  difficult  game,  and  it  was  not  uncommon,  though  of 
course  very  annoying,  to  have  a  falcon  forsake  the  pursuit  of  a  fine  heron  which  was 
mounting  skyward,  and  dart  off  after  some  luckless  magpie  or  crow  which  chanced  to 
cross  his  path.  And  this  was  the  more  vexatious  because  one  of  these  '  small  fry ' 
would  frequently  evade  the  falcon  by  diving  into  thick  shrubbery,  whence  the  '  noble ' 
hawk,  baffled  and  angry  himself,  was  not  easily  recalled  by  his  master. 

The  heron  was  always  a  favorite  with  falconers  on  account  of  the  good  exhibition 
which  the  flight  afforded.  The  best  place  for  this  kind  of  sport  was  on  open,  treeless 
ground,  over  which  the  herons  were  accustomed  to  fly  at  a  considerable  height  in 
passing  between  their  feeding-grounds  and  their  nests  or  roosting-places.  When 
attacked  by  a  falcon  under  such  circumstances,  the  heron  seeks  safety  by  rising  high 
in  the  air,  and  so  long  as  she  can  keep  above  her  pursuer  she  has  nothing  to  fear. 


320  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

Both  birds  ascend  in  spirals ;  but  the  heron,  with  her  light  body  and  broad,  concave 
wings,  can  rise  in  smaller  rings  than  the  falcon.  The  latter  therefore  describes  a  much 
wider  circle,  and,  traveling  with  tremendous  speed,  and  using  her  powerful  wings  at 
every  turn,  gains  rapidly  upon  her  quarry.  Thus  the  struggle  is  steadily  carrying  both 
birds  higher  and  higher,  while  the  spectators,  in  order  to  keep  the  race  in  sight  and  be 
'  in  at  the  death,'  must  gallop  '  down-wind '  across  country,  until  they  see  that  the  fal- 
con has  at  last '  got  the  sky '  of  her  victim,  and  is  about  to  '  stoop.'  All  eyes  watch 
eagerly  now,  and  the  height  is  often  so  great  that  the  two  birds  seem  hardly  larger 
than  a  couple  of  unequal-sized  bees.  For  an  instant  the  upper  one  seems  to  hang  sus- 
pended and  motionless,  then  shoots  with  incredible  swiftness  and  unerring  aim  on  the 
doomed  heron.  The  blow  may  be  evaded  at  first,  but  this  is  rarely  possible  more  than 
a  few  times,  for  the  long  struggle  for  position  has  left  little  strength  for  any  new 
effort,  and  so  the  falcon  strikes  fair  on  her  back,  either  killing  instantly  by  the  mere 
shock  of  collision,  as  is  usually  the  case  with  a  smaller  bird,  or  more  slowly,  but  with 
equal  certainty,  b"  the  driving  home  of  the  long  curved  talons,  while  both  birds  come 
whirling  toward  the  earth,  the  falcon  above,  and  striving  with  outspread  wings  to 
break  the  force  of  the  fall.  The  falconer  now  runs  forward  and  slips  the  hood 
over  the  falcon's  head,  after  which  she  is  fed,  usually  with  game  freshly  killed 
for  the  purpose,  which  she  is  often  allowed  to  eat  while  perched  on  the  body  of  the 
heron. 

Such  a  chase,  while  occupying  but  a  few  moments,  is  full  of  the  most  intense 
interest,  and  we  can  hardly  wonder  at  the  zeal  with  which  such  sport  has  been  fol- 
lowed in  days  past.  There  is  much  difference  in  falcons,  even  of  the  same  species,  as 
to  their  power  of  killing,  some  being  very  strong  '  footers,'  while  others,  with  equal 
power  of  wing,  are  unable  to  strike  surely  with  the  feet,  and  hence  there  may  be  a 
rough-and-tumble  fight  on  the  ground,  in  which  the  long  bill  of  the  heron  is  an  ugly 
and  effective  weapon.  The  goshawk  especially  is  slow  in  killing  a  large  bird,  and 
hence  should  never  be  flown  at  herons. 

The  full  speed  of  the  peregrine  has  been  estimated  at  not  less  than  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  an  hour,  and  the  gyrfalcon  is  believed  to  much  exceed  this.  Even  the  gos- 
hawk, a  much  slower  bird,  easily  overtakes  the  passenger  pigeon  in  full  flight,  so  that 
it  is  doubtless  no  uncommon  thing  for  a  falcon  to  take  a  dash  of  ten  or  a  dozen  miles 
in  as  many  minutes,  in  the  pursuit  of  a  single  victim. 

The  European  woodcock  is  another  bird  which  rises  to  a  great  height  to  escape  the 
falcon,  and,  unequal  as  the  race  would  seem  to  be,  the  woodcock  is  by  no  means 
always  the  loser,  and  not  unfrequently  both  birds  rise  completely  out  of  sight  before 
the  finish.  Game  which  will  thus  'take  the  air'  in  order  to  escape  affords  much 
better  sport  than  any  other  kind,  for  the  hawking  of  rabbits,  or  even  hares,  is  tame 
sport,  only  visible  to  few,  and  often  with  much  exertion  in  riding  over  rough  ground 
and  through  thick  woods  ;  and  while  ducks  and  other  waterfowl  are  often  hunted  with 
fair  success  by  the  peregrine,  or  even  the  goshawk,  yet  it  can  only  be  done  under 
favorable  conditions,  as  these  birds  usually  escape  by  diving,  if  there  be  water  enough 
at  hand. 

Probably  the  most  difficult  game  ever  successfully  attempted  was  the  kite,  to  the  cap- 
ture of  which  very  few  even  of  the  strongest  and  best-trained  falcons  were  equal ;  so 
that  practically  this  sport  was  limited  to  the  favored  few  who  could  afford  to  possess 
the  swiftest  birds.  Thus,  hunted  mainly  by  royalty,  the  kite  became  known  as  royal 
game,  and  doubtless  Milvus  regalis  gets  its  specific  designation  from  this  source. 


OWLS.  321 

Newton  quotes  an  incident  of  this  sport  which  occurred  in  the  reign  of  the  "  British- 
Solomon,"  King  James,  according  to  which  it  seems  that  the  French  king's  falconer, 
when  sent  to  England  to  show  his  skill,  "  could  not  kill  one  kite,  ours  being  more 
magnanimous  than  the  French  kite."  Whereupon  James's  master-falconer,  Sir  Thomas 
Monson,  at  an  expense  of  a  thousand  pounds,  obtained  a  cast  (couple)  of  hawks  that 
took  nine  kites  in  succession.  But  the  historian  goes  on  to  say  that  when  King 
James  himself  was  persuaded  by  this  success  to  witness  a  flight  in  person,  "  the  Kite 
went  to  such  a  mountee  as  all  the  field  lost  sight  of  Kite  and  Hawke  and  all,  and 
neither  Kite  nor  Hawke  were  either  seen  or  heard  of  to  this  present." 

Owls,  generally  speaking  (the  family  STRIGID^E),  are  the  nocturnal  Accipitres. 
With  all  the  raptorial  nature  of  the  diurnal  birds  of  prey,  they  are  yet  very  different 
in  many  details  of  structure,  a  few  of  which  have  already  been  mentioned.  The  head 
is  relatively  large  and  broad,  and  the  eyes  especially  are  very  large,  —  larger  than  in 
any  other  family  of  birds  except  possibly  the  goatsuckers,  or  nightjars  (Caprimulgi- 
dae).  The  feathers  surrounding  each  eye  are  generally  of  peculiar  shape  and  texture, 
often  more  or  less  bristly,  and  tend  to  form  a  more  or  less  shallow  funnel,  or  hollow 
cone,  at  the  bottom  or  apex  of  which  the  eye  is  situated.  The  eyes  look  almost 
directly  forward,  and  thus,  with  their  setting  of  radiating  feathers  —  the  facial  discs  — 
have  a  goggle-like  appearance,  which,  though  often  unintentionally  and  grossly  carica- 
tured, is  yet  striking  and  often  ludicrous.  These  circles  of  feathers  about  the  eyes 
are  evidently  adaptations  to  the  nocturnal  habits  of  the  birds,  and  are  best  developed 
in  those  species  which  are  most  strictly  nocturnal,  while  in  the  few  species  which  hunt 
much  by  daylight  they  are  quite  incomplete. 

The  eyes  themselves  are  not  less  remarkable.  In  addition  to  their  great  size,  they 
are  of  peculiar  shape,  being  less  nearly  spherical  than  in  other  birds,  and  with  the 
anterior  portion  much  produced  and  cylindrical.  They  are  also  but  very  slightly 
movable,  the  bony  plates  which  are  found  in  the  sclerotic  coat  of  the  eye  in  all  birds 
being  here  most  remarkably  developed,  and  so  closely  fitted  to  each  other  and  to  the 
orbits  that  there  is  no  perceptible  rolling  of  the  eye-ball,  as  in  other  birds,  the  whole 
head  having  to  be  turned  instead.  The  iris  is  unusually  broad,  and  capable  of  a  sur- 
prising degree  of  expansion  and  contraction,  while  the  pupil,  instead  of  being  circu- 
lar, as  in  most  birds,  is,  when  moderately  contracted,  a  perpendicular  oval. 

In  many  species,  also,  we  find  eyelashes,  a  rare  thing  among  birds,  though  seen  in 
ostriches  and  some  others.  In  closing  the  eyes,  moreover,  the  upper  lid  is  principally 
effective,  the  reverse  of  what  is  true  in  most  birds.  The  nictitating  membrane,  or 
third  eyelid,  is  not,  perhaps,  better  developed  than  in  other  Raptores;  but  the  large 
size  of  the  eye,  and  the  fact  that  owls  ordinarily  sit  during  the  daytime  with  this 
screen  drawn  over  it  (in  the  manner  of  a  sickly  chicken),  make  it  unusually  noticeable. 
There  is  usually  a  well-developed  superciliary  shield. 

The  ear  also  is  remarkably  developed,  the  orifice  being  often  of  peculiar  shape, 
frequently  closable  by  a  movable  flap  or  operculum,  and  ordinarily  surrounded  by  one 
or  more  circles  of  feathers,  which  probably  perform  to  a  great  extent  the  function  of 
the  external  fleshy  ear  among  mammals.  The  openings  of  these  ears  are  often  unlike 
on  the  two  sides  of  the  head,  in  at  least  one  genus  (Asia),  the  orifice  on  one  side 
opening  downward,  and  on  the  other  upward.  The  bill  is  not  remarkable  in  any 
respect,  being  usually  short  and  frequently  almost  hidden  by  the  bristly  feathers  about 
it,  being,  as  it  were,  squeezed  in  between  the  discs  which  surround  the  eyes.  It  is 
always  sharp  and  strongly  hooked,  but  never  notched. 
VOL.  iv. —21 


322  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

The  nostrils  are  of  moderate  or  large  size,  and  open  in  or  near  the  anterior  margin 
of  the  cere,  being  usually  hidden  by  the  bristles. 

The  legs  are  much  longer  than  they  appear  to  be,  yet  never  very  long.  They  are 
always  feathered  to  or  below  the  tibio-tarsal  joint,  and  a  really  naked  tarsus,  i.  e.  Avith- 
out  feathers  or  bristles,  is  rarely  seen,  while  even  the  toes  are  often  well  feathered.  The 
fact  that  the  outer  toe  is  reversible  has  already  been  noted,  and  although  the  presence 
of  a  similar  structure  in  the  osprey  (Pandioii)  is  probably  to  be  regarded  more  as  a 
coincidence  than  as  evidence  of  true  affinity,  yet  it  is  interesting  to  notice  that  the 
claws  are  very  similar  in  the  two  cases.  It  will  be  remembered  that  in  the  osprey  the 
talons  are  rounded,  not  grooved,  beneath,  and  that  they  are  of  equal  length  on  all  the 
toes ;  while  in  most  if  not  all  other  FalconidaB  the  hind  claw  is  usually  largest,  nearly 
equalled  by  the  inner,  and  the  middle  and  outer  are  respectively  smaller  and  smallest. 
The  owls  most  nearly  resemble  the  osprey  in  these  respects,  for,  although  the  claws 
are  not  smooth  and  rounded  beneath,  neither  are  they  furrowed,  but  ridged ;  and  very 
often  all  are  of  precisely  the  same  size.  Even  when  unequal,  the  middle  claw  is  usu- 
ally largest,  being  nearly  equalled  by  the  inner,  while  either  the  hind  claw  or  the  outer 
may  be  the  smallest,  though  usually  they  are  about  equal. 

The  wings  and  tail  are  generally  ample  and  rounded,  the  former  always  more  or 
less  concave,  the  latter  often,  but  not  always,  short.  The  plumage  is  very  soft,  loose, 
and  fluffy,  giving  a  very  false  impression  of  size.  Almost  all  the  feathers  are  soft- 
fringed,  and  this  is  noticeable  in  the  large  flight  feathers,  especially  on  the  outer  webs 
of  the  primaries,  where  the  fringe  is  stiff er  than  elsewhere,  and  the  filaments  more  or 
less  recurved,  all  combining  to  make  the  flight  noiseless  as  possible.  All  the  feathers 
are  destitute  of  aftershafts,  and  the  oil-gland  lacks  the  usual  circlet  of  plumes.  A 
great  many  species  show  tufts  of  lengthened  feathers  on  the  head,  one  over  each  eye, 
usually  called  '  horns '  or  '  ears '  though  a  better  word  is  that  suggested  by  Dr.  Coues, 
who  calls  them  plumicorns  or  feather-horns.  It  is  almost  needless  to  say  that  they 
have  nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  ears,  and,  as  they  are  not  peculiar  to  either  sex, 
they  probably  serve  no  purpose  as  ornaments.  They  may  be  depressed  or  erected  at 
the  pleasure  of  the  bird,  but  in  many  species  are  so  large  as  always  to  be  quite  con- 
spicuous. They  increase  the  somewhat  striking  resemblance  which  the  face  of  an  owl 
bears  to  that  of  a  cat,  but  what  useful  purpose  they  serve,  if  any,  is  apparently  un- 
known. They  occur  in  widely  different  genera,  and  differ  much  in  size  and  form,  but 
seem  to  be  of  little  value,  except  in  artificial  classifications,  representing  perhaps  the  occi- 
pital crests  so  frequently  met  with  among  Falconidse,  but  entirely  wanting  among  owls. 

We  have  spoken  of  owls  as  the  nocturnal  birds  of  prey,  and  so  most  of  them  are ; 
yet  there  is  much  difference  among  them  as  to  the  power  of  sight  in  the  night-time, 
and  the  corresponding  partial  blindness  by  daylight.  Not  a  few  of  them  are  entirely 
helpless  in  open  sun-light,  and  if  discovered  under  such  circumstances  may  be  easily 
caught  in  the  hand.  Others  see  perfectly  well  in  the  light,  and  even  prefer  to  hunt  by 
day  in  cloudy  or  foggy  weather. 

This  is  especially  true  of  such  species  as  the  snowy-owl  and  hawk-owl,  which  inhabit 
the  far  north,  where  the  summer  is  one  long  day,  or  at  best  there  are  but  one  or  two 
hours  of  twilight  in  the  course  of  the  twenty-four.  Probably  the  great  majority  of 
species  prefer  the  twilight  of  morning  and  evening,  or  the  semi-darkness  of  more  or 
less  moonlight  nights.  The  structure  of  their  eyes  renders  them  very  near  sighted,  and 
it  seems  very  probable  that  many  of  them  are  able  to  hear  a  mouse  much  farther  than 
they  could  see  him,  though  there  is  a  wide  difference  in  this  respect  in  different  species. 


OWLS.  323 

Most  owls  are  arboreal  in  their  habits,  but  with  quite  a  fondness  for  rocks  and 
bushy  cliffs,  while  very  few  are  really  terrestrial.  In  those  which  are  most  so,  how- 
ever, the  claws  are  liable  to  be  less  curved. 

The  food  is  quite  variable,  but  owls  destroy  immense  numbers  of  rats,  mice,  and 
other  '  vermin,'  and  are  thus  of  incalculable  service  to  man.  Their  habit  (in  common 
with  other  Accipitres)  of  ejecting  by  the  mouth  the  indigestible  parts  of  their  food, 
renders  the  absolute  determination  of  the  character  of  their  food  comparatively  easy. 
This  subject  has  been  very  thoroughly  investigated  of  late  years  in  Europe,  and  the 
results  show  conclusively  that  while  owls  may  occasionally  do  more  or  less  damage  in 
the  destruction  of  useful  birds,  this  is  more  than  compensated  for  by  the  wholesale 
destruction  of  injurious  rodents  (especially  Muridas  and  Arvicolidae)  of  which  the 
bulk  of  their  food  consists. 

Some  forms  feed  largely  on  fish,  which  they  catch  for  themselves,  and  it  has  been 
frequently  noticed  that  in  such  species  the  legs  and  feet  are  usually  bare ;  but,  as  Pro- 
fessor Newton  remarks,  we  must  not  be  too  hasty  in  drawing  conclusions  from  these 
facts,  for  the  tarsi  are  also  bare  in  some  species  which  are  not  known  to  catch  fish  at 
all,  and,  we  may  add,  many  species  which  sometimes  fish  for  themselves  have  both 
tarsus  and  toes  well  feathered.  Indeed,  the  snowy-owl,  with  its  feet  so  muffled  in 
feathers  as  even  to  hide  the  claws,  was  seen  by  Audubon  catching  fish  very  skilfully 
from  the  *  pot-holes,'  at  the  falls  of  the  Ohio  at  Louisville. 

Most  owls  follow  the  rule  which  obtains  among  other  Accipitres  as  to  relative  size 
of  the  sexes,  the  female  being  usually  the  larger,  but  there  are  some  exceptions.  The 
sexes,  however,  are  invariably  alike  in  coloring,  and  the  young  do  not  seem  to  pass 
through  any  well-marked  '  stages '  of  plumage  after  they  once  put  off  the  down. 

Melanism  and  albinism  are  both  rare  in  this  family,  but  in  a  large  number  of  species 
belonging  to  several  widely  different  genera,  two  phases  of  plumage  occur  indepen- 
dently of  age  or  sex ;  one  the  '  gray '  plumage  and  the  other  the  '  red,'  the  prevailing 
color  in  the  former  being  brownish  gray,  and  in  the  latter  rusty  red.  These  phases 
were  for  a  long  time  a  puzzle  to  naturalists,  it  being  at  first  supposed  that  the  two 
colors  marked  different  species ;  later,  that  they  indicated  either  different  sexes  or  ages ; 
while  it  is  now  pretty  generally  conceded  that  both  colors  may  be  found  in  young 
from  the  same  nest,  offspring  of  the  same  parents,  whether  these  be  both  red  or  both 
gray,  or  one  of  each.  Moreover,  it  would  seem  probable  that  either  phase  once 
assumed  is  worn  through  life.  Species  in  which  both  phases  occur  are  often  called 
dimorphic  or  dichromatic.  Further  reference  to  this  subject  may  be  found  in  the 
introduction  to  this  volume  (page  8). 

The  nesting  habits  vary  much,  but  the  eggs  are  normally  always  white,  either  pure, 
or  yellow-  or  blue-tinted,  and  almost  spherical.  They  are  commonly  more  numerous 
than  in  other  Accipitres,  being  usually  four  to  six ;  but  in  several  cases  as  many  as 
eight  or  ten  are  laid ;  while  in  at  least  one  species,  and  probably  in  more,  the  normal 
number  appears  to  be  two. 

From  the  nocturnal  preferences  of  most  owls  their  habits  are  very  slightly  known, 
and  many  interesting  facts  are  doubtless  to  be  discovered  in  this  direction.  More 
often  heard  than  seen,  even  their  notes  are  only  imperfectly  known  as  yet,  but  are 
ordinarily  monotonous  and  mournful,  occasionally  pleasing  and  almost  musical,  while 
the  voices  of  some  species  appear  never  to  have  been  heard.  As  to  the  manner  of 
flight  and  method  of  hunting  in  nocturnal  forms  we  know  very  little,  and  our  infer- 
ences from  structure  must  be  of  the  most  general  kind. 


324  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

The  question  of  the  division  of  the  owls  into  sub-families  is  one  which  has  long 
perplexed  ornithologists.  The  group  has  seemed  so  homogeneous  that  good  charac- 
ters on  which  to  found  subdivisions  were  hard  to  find,  and  even  now  it  would  be  pre- 
mature to  say  that  any  unquestionable  arrangement  has  been  effected.  Over  forty 
years  ago  Nitsch  showed  that  the  feathering  (pterylography)  of  the  barn-owl  or 
screech-owl,  Aluco  flammeus,  was  very  different  from  that  of  all  other  members  of 
the  family,  and  some  peculiar  osteological  characters  were  also  found  to  exist  in  the 
same  bird.  On  these  discoveries  as  a  basis,  two  sub-families  were  formed,  and  a  few 
years  ago  there  was  a  general  feeling  among  systematists  that  at  last  the  question  was 
nearly  settled,  and  they  might  safely  place  the  barn-owls  and  their  allies  —  less  than 
half  a  dozen  species  in  all  —  in  one  group ;  and  all  the  remaining  hundred  species  or 
more  in  a  second.  One  species,  however,  Phodilus  badius,  which  had  been  placed  in 
the  smaller  group,  has  now  been  found  by  Alphonse  Milne-Edwards  to  combine  the 
peculiarities  of  both  groups,  and  thus  to  be  a  true  connecting-link  between  them. 

It  seems  impossible  to  include  Phodilus  in  either  group,  yet  systematists  are  re- 
luctant to  allow  it  to  stand  by  itself  as  the  type  of  a  new  sub-family,  and  equally 
reluctant  to  unite  all  owls  into  a  single  group,  only  subdividing  them  into  genera  and 
species.  Under  these  circumstances,  and  especially  while  new  species  are  still  being 
discovered,  most  ornithologists  are  inclined  to  wait  for  a  time,  and  not  commit  them- 
selves. The  two  main  groups  alluded  to  may  be  thus  characterized :  — 

Sub-family  Aluconina?.  Barn-owls  and  their  allies.  Sternum  without  manubrium 
and  entire  (i.  e.,  un-notched)  behind ;  clavicles  united  together,  forming  a  f urcula,  and 
solidly  joined  to  the  keel  of  the  sternum;  tarsus  without  a  bony  ring  or  arch  over  the 
extensor  tendon  of  the  toes ;  claw  of  the  middle  toe  with  its  inner  margin  serrate. 

Sub-family  Striginae.  Other  owls  (except  Phodilus).  Sternum  with  a  distinct 
manubrium,  and  with  two  or  more  clefts  or  notches  in  the  hinder  margin ;  clavicles 
never  united  to  the  keel  of  the  sternum,  often  not  even  united  to  each  other ;  tarsus 
with  a  bony  ring  or  arch  over  the  groove,  in  which  lies  the  common  extensor  tendon 
of  the  toes;  inner  margin  of  middle  claw  not  serrate. 

Phodilus^  or  Photodilus  as  it  is  also  written,  agrees  with  the  Aluconinae  in  want- 
ing the  manubrial  process  of  the  sternum  as  well  as  the  bony  arch  on  the  tarsus,  but 
differs  from  them  and  agrees  with  the  Strigina?  in  having  the  hinder 
margin  of  the  sternum  distinctly  notched,  while  the  clavicles  are  neither 
united  to  each  other,  nor  to  the  keel  of  the  sternum. 

The  borrowing-owl,  Speotyto  cunicularia,  is  one  of  the  most  pecu- 
liar foi-ms  which  we  meet  with  among  the  owls,  and,  although  too 
Speotyto,  show-  well  known  to  warrant  extended  description,  we  can  hardly  pass  it 
without  calling  attention  to  its  long  slender  legs,  imperfect  facial 
disk,  and  terrestrial  habits.  It  is  about  nine  and  a  half  inches  long,  the  tail  however, 
being  rather  short,  —  only  three  to  three  and  a  half  inches.  The  colors  are  brown 
and  yellowish-white  in  about  equal  proportion,  the  upper  parts  being  brown  with  very 
numerous  roundish  white  spots,  while  the  under  parts,  wings,  and  tail  are  barred  with 
brown  and  white.  The  sexes  are  alike  in  size  and  color.  It  is  peculiar  to  America, 
where  it  occurs  abundantly  in  some  places,  especially  on  the  pampas  and  adjacent  lands 
of  South  America,  and  the  plains  of  the  western  United  States.  On  the  west  coast 
of  North  America  it  extends  northward  to  the  Columbia  River,  while  on  the  east  coast 
a  few  isolated  colonies  are  found  in  Florida,  and  it  occurs  abundantly  in  Texas.  On 
the  island  of  Guadeloupe,  in  the  West  Indies,  a  form  is  found  which  has  sometimes 


OWLS.  325 

been  ranked  as  a  distinct  species,  &.  guadeloupensis,  but  this  seems  to  be  only  a  variety 
of  the  South  American  bird. 

Burrowing-owls  are  notorious  from  their  association  with  the  prairie-dog  and  other 
mammals  in  whose  deserted  burrows  they  commonly  live,  though  their  relations  with 
the  earlier  occupants  and  the  intruding  rattle-snakes,  contrary  to  popular  belief,  are 
usually  anything  but  peaceful.  The  mistake  has  doubtless  originated  from  the 
observed  fact  that  in  the  so-called  '  villages '  of  the  prairie-dog,  owls  and  snakes  as 
well  as  '  dogs '  are  often  abundant,  and  all  living  in  burrows  originally  made  by  the 
rodents.  Yet  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  they  ever  all  live  in  the  same  under- 
ground chamber,  or  that  either  bird  or  reptile  lays  aside  its  usual  instincts  and  abstains 
from  an  occasional  meal  off  each  other  or  the  young  prairie-dogs.  On  this  subject, 
Dr.  Coues,  in  his  "  Birds  of  the  Northwest,"  remarks :  — 

"The  case  is  further  complicated  by  the  introduction  of  the  rattle-snakes ;  and  no 
little  pure  bosh  is  in  type  respecting  the  harmonious  and  confidential  relations  imag- 
ined to  subsist  between  the  trio,  which,  like  the  '  happy  family '  of  Barnum,  lead 
Utopian  existences.  According  to  the  dense  bathos  of  such  nursery  tales,  in  this 
underground  elysium  the  snakes  give  their  rattles  to  the  puppies  to  play  with,  the 
old  dogs  cuddle  the  owlets,  and  farm  out  their  own  litters  to  the  grave  and  careful 
birds ;  when  an  owl  and  a  dog  come  home,  paw-in-wing,  they  are  often  mistaken  by 
their  respective  progeny,  the  little  dogs  nosing  the  owls  in  search  of  the  maternal 
font,  and  the  old  dogs  left  to  wonder  why  the  baby  owls  will  not  nurse.  It  is  a  pity 
to  spoil  a  good  story  for  the  sake  of  a  few  facts,  but,  as  the  case  stands,  it  would  be 
well  for  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals  to  take  it  up. 

"  First,  as  to  the  reptiles,  it  may  be  observed  that  they  are  like  other  rattle-snakes,  — 
dangerous,  venomous  creatures ;  they  have  no  business  in  the  burrows,  and  are  after 
no  good  when  they  do  enter.  They  wriggle  into  the  holes,  partly  because  there  is  no 
other  place  for  them  to  crawl  into  on  the  bare,  flat  plain,  and  partly  in  search  of  owls' 
eggs,  owlets,  and  puppies  to  eat.  Next,  the  owls  themselves  are  simply  attracted  to 
the  villages  of  prairie-dogs  as  the  most  convenient  places  for  shelter  and  nidification, 
where  they  find  eligible  ready-made  burrows,  and  are  spared  the  trouble  of  digging 
for  themselves.  Community  of  interest  makes  them  gregarious  to  an  extent  unusual 
among  rapacious  birds ;  while  the  exigencies  of  life  on  the  plains  cast  their  lot  with 
the  rodents." 

Wherever  these  owls  are  found,  they  make  use  of  holes  in  the  earth  for  breeding 
purposes.  Not  only  do  they  use  the  holes  above  alluded  to,  but  they  frequently  take 
possession  of  those  of  foxes,  badgers,  and  ground  squirrels ;  and  in  South  America 
they  live  in  the  burrows  of  the  viscacha,  Lagostomus  trichodactylus,  the  Patagonian 
'  hare '  or  cavy,  Dolichotis  patagonicus,  or  even  of  armadillos  and  large  lizards.  It  is 
pretty  generally  believed  that  when  they  do  not  find  suitable  accommodations  of  this 
kind  they  dig  holes  for  themselves,  and  this  may  indeed  be  the  case,  but  we  are  not 
aware  that  anyone  has  ever  seen  them  so  employed.  The  burrowing-owls  of  North  and 
South  America,  though  unquestionably  belonging  to  the  same  species,  are  sufficiently 
different  to  constitute  two  fairly  well-marked  geographical  races,  the  South  American 
bird  being  larger  and  lighter  colored  than  the  other.  In  habits  they  must  differ  still 
more  widely,  for  the  bird  of  the  western  United  States  is  described  as  almost  entirely 
diurnal,  while  the  South  American  bird  is  as  completely  crepuscular  or  nocturnal ; 
sitting,  it  may  be,  at  the  mouth  of  its  burrow  during  the  daytime,  or  on  the  top  of  a 
bush  near  at  hand,  but  seldom  feeding  at  all  until  towards  sunset,  when  it  becomes 


326 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


very  active.  On  the  pampas  it  is  usually  very  tame,  permitting  one  to  walk  up  quite 
close  before  taking  flight  for  another  bush  or  hillock ;  but  after  sunset  it  becomes 
very  vigilant,  flying  up  and  hovering  at  a  height  of  thirty  or  forty  feet,  and  uttering 
its  screams  of  protest  whenever  an  intruder  appears  in  sight,  thus  giving  ample  warn- 
ing to  its  neighbors,  the  viscachas. 

On  the  plains  of  the  United  States  they  seem  to  be  more  timid  and  wary,  and  are 
said  to  feed  mostly  in  the  daytime.  Their  food  is  usually  stated  to  consist  mostly  of 
reptiles  and  insects,  but  they  certainly  consume  large  numbers  of  mice  and  some  small 
birds.  They  neither  migrate  nor  hibernate,  but  are  abroad  and  active  all  winter. 
According  to  Mr.  Agersborg,  in  soil  th-e  as  tern  Dakota,  in  winter,  as  many  as  twenty  of 


FIG.  151.  —  Athene  noctua,  little  owl,  civetta. 

these  birds  may  be  found  living  together  in  the  same  burrow,  and  in  one  such  case  he 
found  forty-three  mice  and  several  shore-larks  "  scattered  along  the  run  to  their  com- 
mon apartment." 

The  nest  is  simply  a  collection  of  grass,  feathers,  and  rubbish  placed  at  the  end  of 
the  burrow,  and  contains  from  five  to  ten  short  elliptical,  or  nearly  spherical,  white, 
unspotted  eggs.  The  nest,  and  often  the  entire  burrow,  is  filthy  beyond  description, 
from  the  accumulation  of  remnants  of  food,  the  ejected  pellets  of  the  birds  them- 
selves, etc. 

The  nearest  relatives  of  Speotyto  would  seem  to  be  the  members  of  the  Old  World 
genus,  Athene  (  Carine),  and  one  or  more  species  from  the  West  Indies,  belonging  to 
the  genus  Gymnasia.  G.  lawrenci,  found  in  Cuba,  is  rather  smaller  than  the  burrow- 
ing-owl,  and  with  proportionally  shorter  legs,  the  tarsi  and  feet,  moreover,  being  per- 


OWLS.  327 

fectly  bare  of  feathers  or  bristles,  and  covered  with  small  irregular-shaped  plates,  as  in 
the  tarsal  covering  of  falcons. 

The  genus  Athene,  in  which  the  burrowing-owl  was  formerly  placed,  as  now 
framed  includes  but  two  species,  one  of  which,  the  little  owl  of  Europe,  Athene  noctua, 
is  the  bird  which  among  the  Greeks  was  sacred  to  Pallas  Athene,  and  is  so  often 
represented  with  the  Goddess  of  Wisdom  on  their  coins  and  sculptures ;  "  but,"  says 
Nt-wton,  "those  who  know  the  grotesque  actions  and  ludicrous  expression  of  this 
veritable  buffoon  of  birds  can  never  cease  to  wonder  at  its  having  been  seriously 
selected  as  the  symbol  of  learning,  and  can  hardly  divest  themselves  of  the  suspicion 
that  the  choice  must  have  been  made  in  the  spirit  of  sarcasm."  For  many  of  the 
following  notes  on  this  species  we  are  indebted  to  the  excellent  account  of  it  given  in 
Dresser's  "  Birds  of  Europe." 

It  is  from  eight  to  nine  inches  in  length,  or  a  trifle  smaller  than  the  common 
mottled-owl  of  the  United  States.  Its  color  above  is  brown  with  white  markings,  — 
stripes  on  the  head,  spots  on  the  back,  wing-coverts,  etc.,  and  bars  on  the  wings  and 
tail. 

Below,  it  is  buffy  white,  with  dark-brown  stripes  or  longitudinal  dashes.  Through 
central  and  southern  Europe  it  is  a  common  and  well-known  owl,  but  rarely  reaches 
England  or  Sweden,  though  found  regularly  in  Denmark. 

Its  favorite  haunts  are  in  the  neighborhood  of  towns,  though  it  is  frequently  met 
with  in  the  country,  and  in  Holland  is  usually  found  in  the  orchards  close  to  farm- 
houses. In  such  places  it  usually  nests  in  the  hollow  of  a  tree,  laying  from  three  to 
five  eggs  without  any  sign  of  a  nest,  but  ordinarily  it  prefers  deserted  buildings, 
church-towers,  ruins,  chinks  of  rocky  walls,  or  the  crevices  of  bushy  cliffs.  According 
to  Mr.  Keulemans,  these  little  owls  have  a  strong  aversion  to  water.  He  has  kept 
them  in  a  cage  for  more  than  a  year  without  giving  them  any,  while  "  it  is  a  curious 
fact  than  when  they  get  wet,  either  by  heavy  rain  or  by  being  placed  in  a  damp  spot, 
they  have  fits  and  remain  insensible  for  hours,  and  sometimes  it  causes  their  death." 
In  Italy  it  is  known  as  the  '  civetta,'  and  Mr.  Charles  Waterton  says  of  it :  "  This 
diminutive  rover  of  the  night  is  much  prized  by  the  gardeners  of  Italy  for  its  uncom- 
mon ability  in  destroying  insects,  snails,  slugs,  reptiles,  and  mice.  There  is  scarcely 
an  out-house  in  the  gardens  and  vineyards  of  that  country  which  is  not  tenanted  by 
the  civetta. 

"  It  is  often  brought  up  tame  from  the  nest,  and  in  the  month  of  September  is  sold 
for  a  dollar  to  sportsmen,  who  take  it  with  them  in  their  excursions  through  the 
country  to  look  for  larks  and  other  small  birds.  Perched  on  the  top  of  a  pole  it 
attracts  their  notice,  and  draws  them  within  the  fatal  range  of  gunshot  by  its  most 
singular  gestures ;  for,  standing  bolt  upright,  it  curtsies  incessantly,  with  its  head 
somewhat  inclined  forwards,  while  it  keeps  its  eyes  fixed  on  the  approaching  object. 
TliH  odd  movement  is  peculiar  to  the  civetta  alone;  by  it  the  birds  of  the  neighbor- 
hood are  decoyed  to  their  destruction  ;  hence  its  value  to  the  ranging  sportsman. 

"Often  and  anon,  as  the  inhabitants  of  Rome  pass  through  the  bird-market  at  the 
Pantheon,  they  stop  and  look  and  laugh  at  this  pretty  little  captive  owl  whilst  it  is 
performing  its  ridiculous  gesticulations."  Like  many  other  owls  which  prefer  the  dusk 
for  hunting,  it  is,  nevertheless,  often  abroad  in  the  daytime,  especially  when  it  has 
young  to  feed.  It  would  seem  to  suffer  less  from  the  glare  of  the  sun  than  from  the 
persecutions  of  small  birds  which  often  follow  it  about  in  large  numbers,  harassing  it 
continually  from  every  side.  In  Germany,  according  to  Xaumann,  it  has  a  variety  of 


328  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

notes,  some  smothered,  and  dull  others  loud  and  clear.  "  These  notes  are  often  vari- 
ously modulated  by  the  bird  itself  or  the  action  of  the  air,  and  are  supposed  by  the 
superstitious  peasants  to  form  connected  sentences,  as,  for  instance,  '  Komm-mit,  komm- 
init  auf  den  Kirschoff-hof-hof  (Come  with  me,  come  with  me  to  the  churchyard- 
yard-yard)  ; '  and  the  bird  is  looked  on  by  them  as  a  prophet  foretelling  death."  Al- 
though this  species  destroys  some  small  birds,  it  is  in  the  main  decidedly  beneficial, 
feeding  mainly  on  mice  and  other  small  rodents,  and  insects. 

The  single  other  species  of  this  peculiar  genus  is  the  spotted-owl,  Athene  brama, 
which  is  a  well-known  and  abundant  bird  in  India,  wThere  it  replaces  the  little  owl. 

In  the  extreme  southwest  of  the  United  States,  a  tiny  owl  is  found,  which  seems  to 
be  somewhat  nearly  related  to  the  several  species  already  mentioned,  although  per- 
haps equally  near  the  pigmy-owls  which  follow.  It  is  known  as  Whitney's  owl,  Mi- 
crathene  whitneyi,  and  the  first  specimen  was  taken  by  Dr.  J.  G.  Cooper  at  Fort 
Mojave  in  the  valley  of  the  Colorado  in  1861.  During  the  next  dozen  years  only  two 
or  three  more  specimens  came  to  light,  and  it  is  only  within  the  last  three  or  four 
years  that  it  has  been  met  with  more  abundantly,  while  it  is  still  very  rare  in  collec- 
tions. It  is  undoubtedly  the  smallest  known  species  of  owl,  and  one  of  the  very 
smallest  of  all  birds  of  prey ;  the  only  ones  which  approach  it  at  all  being  one  or 
two  species  of  the  pigmy-owls  (Glaucidium)  and  the  finch-falcons  (Hierax).  The 
total  length  of  large  specimens  seldom  exceeds  six  inches,  the  average  being  probably 
about  five  and  three-quarters  inches.  The  tail  measures  between  two  and  two  and 
one-quarter  inches,  while  the  wings,  which  are  proportionally  longer  than  in  most 
owls,  average  about  four  and  one-quai-ter  inches. 

Like  all  the  owls  thus  far  mentioned,  it  has  no  'plumicorns'  (ear-tufts),  the  legs 
are  bristly,  being  feathered  but  slightly  below  the  heel  joint,  and  the  facial  disk  is  im- 
perfect. This  last  condition  is  in  most  owls  found  to  accompany  more  or  less  diurnal 
habits,  but  the  present  species  seems  to  be  pretty  strictly  nocturnal.  One  of  its  most 
peculiar  characteristics  is  seen  in  the  claws,  which,  as  Dr.  Cones  says,  are  "remarkably 
small,  weak,  and  little  curved  ;  hardly  more  than  insessorial  instead  of  raptorial  in 
character."  Its  coloration  is  not  easily  described,  but  in  genei'al  it  is  light  brown 
above,  each  feather  with  an  angular  dot  of  lighter  color.  There  is  an  indistinct 
whitish  collar  about  the  neck,  and  a  white  stripe  along  each  shoulder.  The  under 
parts  are  whitish,  blotched  and  imperfectly  barred  with  reddish-brown,  and  the  wings 
and  tail  are  brown,  barred  with  whitish.  The  face  is  mostly  white,  and  the  iris  bright 
yellow.  The  sexes  seem  to  be  exactly  alike  in  size  and  color. 

This  interesting  little  owl,  so  far  as  now  known,  seems  to  be  most  abundant  in 
Arizona,  where  several  collectors  have  met  with  it,  and  two  specimens  have  also  been 
taken  on  Socorro  Island,  off  the  west  coast  of  Mexico.  Mr.  F.  Stephens  recently 
found  it  fairly  common  in  the  region  about  Tucson,  Arizona,  where  he  found  the 
females  frequenting  the  giant  cactuses,  and  breeding  in  holes  of  their  stems,  while  the 
males  were  more  often  met  with  in  elder  and  willow  thickets.  The  first  specimen  was 
discovered  by  accident,  in  cutting  down  a  cactus  to  examine  a  woodpecker's  hole. 

Mr.  William  Brewster  has  given  an  account  of  Mr.  Stephens'  collection,  and  pub- 
lishes many  field-notes  on  the  birds  observed.  Among  Mr.  Stephens'  notes  is  the 
following  account  of  the  present  species.  "  I  was  walking  past  an  elder-bush  in  a 
thicket,  when  a  small  bird  started  out.  Thinking  it  had  flown  from  its  riest  I  stopped, 
and  began  examining  the  bush,  when  I  discovered  a  Whitney's  owl  sitting  on  a  branch 
with  its  side  towards  me,  and  one  wing  held  up,  shield-fashion,  before  its  face.  I 


OWLS. 


329 


could  just  see  its  eyes  over  the  wing,  and  had  it  kept  them  shut  I  might  have  over- 
looked it,  as  they  first  attracted  my  attention.  It  had  drawn  itself  into  the  smallest 
possible  compass,  so  that  its  head  formed  the  widest  part  of  its  outline.  I  moved 
around  a  little,  to  get  a  better  chance  to  shoot,  as  the  brush  was  very  thick,  but,  which- 
ever way  I  went,  the  wing  was  always  interposed,  and  when  I  retreated  far  enough  for 
a  fair  shot  I  could  not  tell  the  bird  from  the  surrounding  bunches  of  leaves.  At  length, 
losing  patience,  I  fired  at  random  and  it  fell.  Upon  going  to  pick  it  up  I  was  sur- 
prised to  find  another,  which  I  had  not  seen  before,  but  which  must  have  been  struck 
by  a  stray  shot."  Mr.  Brewster  adds:  "Rather  curiously  both  of  these  specimens 
proved  to  be  adult  males.  It  is  by  no  means  certain,  however,  that  the  males 


FIG.  152.  —  Nyctala  tengma/mi,  tengmalra's  owl,  and  Glaucidium  passerinum 


are  not  to  a  certain  extent  gregarious  during  the  breeding  season,  for  on  another 
occasion  two  more  were  killed  from  a  flock  of  five  which  were  sitting  together  in  a 
thick  bush." 

The  eggs  were  always  laid  in  deserted  woodpeckers'  holes  in  the  cactuses,  but  were 
rarely  accessible  without  felling  the  trunks,  which  always  resulted  in  breaking  the 
eggs.  A  single  whole  one,  however,  was  obtained  from  one  nest  which  was  within 
reach.  It  was  pure  white  and  measured  1.07  by  .91  inches.  "Fresh  eggs  were  found 
from  May  10  to  June  27,  dates  which  indicate  that  the  species  breeds  rather  late  in 
season." 

Not  very  much  larger  than  Whitney's  owl  is  the  California!!  pigmy-owl,  Glaucid- 
ium passerinum,  which  we  may  take  as  a  fair  representative  of  the  genus  Glaucidium. 


330  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

The  members  of  this  group  resemble,  in  their  small  size,  imperfect  facial  disk,  and 
lack  of  plumicorns,  the  species  just  described,  but  are  readily  distinguishable  by  their 
very  strong  beak  and  strong,  much  curved  claws,  together  with  proportionally  longer 
tail,  much  shorter  wings,  and  densely  feathered  tarsus.  Their  whole  structure  is  ex- 
tremely compact  and  strong,  indicating  their  ability  to  cope  successfully  with  animals 
of  their  own  size  or  larger ;  hence  the  statements  that  they  feed  mainly  on  insects,  and 
are  satisfied  with  a  very  few  of  these,  need  strong  confirmation  in  order  to  appear  even 
plausible,  while  the  undeniable  fact  that  they  habitually  hunt  more  or  less  during  the 
day  gives  little  ground  for  the  surmise  that  they  are  inactive  at  night ;  much  less,  as 
some  writers  assert,  that  they  go  to  roost  at  nightfall  like  the  majority  of  birds.  We 
suspect  the  truth  to  be  that  most  of  their  serious  hunting  is  done  under  cover  of  dark- 
ness, and  that  the  observed  insect-catching  is  only  an  amusement  indulged  in  to  while 
away  the  tedious  hours  of  daylight. 

The  pigmy,  or  gnome-owls,  as  they  are  frequently  called,  commonly  inhabit  the 
deep  woods,  and  their  manner  of  life  is  very  slightly  known,  notwithstanding  their 
comparative  abundance  in  many  places.  Twenty-five  or  thirty  species  have  been 
described,  and  only  ten  years  ago  Mr.  R.  B.  Sharpe  admitted  twenty-three  or  twenty- 
four  species,  twelve  of  which  were  American.  There  is  now,  however,  little  question 
that  we  have  in  America  not  more  than  five  or  six  distinct  species,  one  of  which  (pas- 
sermum),  is  the  same  as  the  European,  while  it  is  probable  that  the  Old  World  species 
must  suffer  a  like  reduction.  Thus  each  of  the  islands,  Formosa,  Java,  Sumatra,  and 
Ceylon,  has  been  credited  with  its  single  peculiar  species,  while  China  and  Japan  have 
another,  and  India  and  Africa  each  two  or  three  more.  Just  how  many  of  these  are 
local,  climatic,  or  geographical  races  of  the  others,  we  are  not  prepared  to  say,  but  it 
is  our  conviction  that  there  are  cei'tainly  not  more  than  a  dozen  valid  species  of  Glaic- 
cidium  known  to  science  at  the  present  time,  and  even  that  number  may  have  to  be 
considerably  lessened  as  our  knowledge  of  the  group  increases.  They  are  mainly 
dwellers  in  the  tropics,  where  they  are  found  all  round  the  world,  but  they  appear  to 
be  entirely  absent  from  Australia. 

One  species,  the  sparrow-owl,  G.  passerinum,  is  pretty  generally  distributed 
through  Europe,  and  is  represented  in  the  western  United  States  by  a  rather  darker 
race  formerly  separated  as  a  species,  Gf.  californicum,  but  not  really  distinct  from  the 
European  bird.  It  ranges  from  Vancouver's  Island  southward  to  Mexico  and  Gua- 
temala, where,  however,  it  seems  to  be  partially  replaced  by  another  species,  (?. 
ferrugineum.  This  latter,  like  several  others  among  the  pigmy-owls,  shows  the 
dichromatism  already  alluded  to,  some  specimens  being  in  gray  plumage  and  others  in 
red,  independently  of  age,  sex,  or  season.  The  European  bird,  however,  and  its 
American  representative  rarely  show  this  red  phase  well,  it  being  much  more  charac- 
teristic of  the  tropical  members  of  the  genus.  Even  among  these  it  is  not  known  to 
occur  in  every  species,  and  often  where  a  species  shows  red  and  gray  forms  of  the 
most  pronounced  type,  individuals  are  also  found  representing  every  conceivable  in- 
termediate stage,  some  examples  combining  the  red  and  gray  in  such  equal  proportion 
that  it  is  impossible  to  say  which  they  most  resemble.  Independently  of  these  phases 
there  is  considerable  variation  of  color  and  markings  among  individuals  of  the  same 
species,  so  that  on  the  whole  the  pigmy-owls  form  a  very  perplexing  group. 

Most  of  the  species,  when  young,  have  the  upper  surface  of  the  head  of  uniform 
color,  unmarked  with  either  spots  or  streaks.  Few  adult  birds  preserve  this  character, 
and  frequently  the  whole  upper  surface  is  spotted,  streaked,  or  barred.  The  wings 


OWLS.  331 

and  tail  arc  almost  always  so,  and  variations  in  the  number,  color,  and  form  of  the 
tail-bars  seem  often  to  be  of  specific  importance.  The  under  parts,  especially  the  sides 
of  the  breast  and  belly,  are  often  heavily  streaked  with  a  darker  color  than  that  which 
is  found  elsewhere  below,  while  between  the  chin  and  breast,  which  are  light  colored, 
there  is  almost  invariably  a  darker  zone  or  band,  which  may  be  simply  an  aggregation 
of  spots  or  streaks,  or  a  belt  of  uniform  color.  Equally  constant  is  a  narrow  half- 
collar  or  arc,  of  various  tints  in  different  species,  which  marks  the  division  between  the 
plumage  of  the  hind-neck  and  the  back.  It  may  consist  simply  of  a  few  white  or  red- 
dish feathers,  or  it  may  form  a  very  distinct,  single,  double,  or  even  triple-striped 
band,  but  in  any  case  contrasts  strongly  with  the  colors  of  neck  and  back  which  it 
separates. 

In  size  the  species  vary  considerably,  the  smaller,  such  as  passerinum  of  Europe, 
orpumilum  of  South  America,  being  probably  not  far  from  six  inches  in  length,  while 
the  Himalayan  cuculoides  and  the  South  African  capense,  which  are  among  the 
largest,  have  a  length  of  about  eleven  inches.  The  sexes  vary  somewhat  in  size,  the 
female,  of  course,  being  the  larger,  and  in  some  species  there  seem  to  be  slight  differ- 
ences in  color  between  the  sexes.  There  is  also  not  a  little  difference  among  species 
in  the  degree  of  nakedness  of  the  feet,  for  while  most  of  them  have  the  feet  merely 
bristly  and  the  tarsi  well  feathered,  one  or  two  have  the  toes  fairly  feathered ;  in  others 
they  are  but  scantily  provided  with  bristles,  and  in  some  the  feathers  of  the  lower 
part  of  the  tarsus  are  reduced  almost  to  bristles. 

The  Cuban  pigmy-owl,  G.  siju,  is  said  to  differ  from  all  others  in  that  the  nostril 
opens  at  the  edge  of  the  cere  instead  of  in  its  middle.  Fair  examples  of  the  remaining 
species  are  the  two  found  in  North  America  —  the  Californian  pigmy,  G.  passerinum, 
and  the  red-tailed  pigmy,  G.  ferrugineum.  The  normal  plumage  of  the  former  is 
chocolate  or  umber  brown  above,  with  numerous  small,  rounded  spots  of  reddish  white ; 
below,  pure  white,  with  spots  of  brown  and  streaks  of  black,  the  wings  with  three,  and 
the  tail  with  seven  or  eight  incomplete  white  bars.  The  red  plumage  is  very  similar, 
except  that  the  umber  brown  is  replaced  everywhere,  except  on  the  tail,  by  a  rusty 
brown  of  varying  intensity.  The  red-tailed  pigmy,  in  normal  plumage,  is  very  differ- 
ent. "With  much  the  same  general  color  above,  the  markings  on  the  head  are  narrow 
streaks  of  dirty  white.  There  are  no  spots  below,  but  the  sides  have  long  dashes  of 
brown.  The  wings  have  five  rufous  bars  and  some  whitish  spots,  while  the  tail  varies 
from  brownish-red  to  clear  rufous,  and  is  crossed  with  six  or  eight  bars  of  dark  brown. 
The  red  plumage,  which  is  of  frequent  occurrence,  is  very  marked,  often  almost  hiding 
both  the  light  markings  of  the  upper  parts  and  all  the  markings  of  wings  and  tail,  the 
black  cervical  collar  alone  remaining  conspicuous.  This  species  was  taken  by  Mr. 
Sennett  in  Texas,  and  by  Captain  Bendire  in  Arizona;  but  it  is  properly  a  more 
southern  bird,  ranging  from  Mexico  to  Peru  and  Bolivia.  Of  its  habits  little  seems  to 
be  on  record,  but  they  probably  do  not  differ  much  from  those  of  allied  species. 

The  Californian  pigmy  is  perhaps  better  known;  but  the  records  of  this  bird's 
habits  leave  much  to  be  desired.  On  Vancouver's  Island  Mr.  J.  K.  Lord  watched  a 
pair  which  had  a  nest  in  the  hollow  of  an  oak.  He  considered  them  strictly  insectivo- 
rous, but  never  saw  them  take  insects  on  the  wing.  During  the  day  they  were  more 
or  less  on  the  alert  for  insects,  but  were  especially  active  in  the  twilight  of  morning 
and  evening;  yet  Mr.  Lord  believed  they  did  not  hunt  at  all  during  the  night.  Two 
eggs  only  were  laid  by  these  birds  early  in  May,  but  more  recently  (June,  1883), 
Captain  Bendire  found  a  nest  at  Fort  Klamath,  Oregon,  which  contained  four  young. 


332  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

It  was  in  the  cavity  of  a  live  aspen,  and  the  young  birds  were  feeding  on  a  freshly- 
killed  chipmunk  (Tamias), 

A  pigmy-owl,  G.  namim,  the  Cabure  of  Azara,  which  inhabits  southern  South 
America,  is  believed  by  the  natives  of  that  country  to  attract  small  birds  about  it  by 
its  bewitching  song,  after  which  it  picks  out  and  pounces  upon  one  of  the  fattest  of 
its  admirers,  which  it  proceeds  to  devour.  This  story,  which  we  have  ourselves 
repeatedly  heard  in  the  Province  of  Entre  Rios,  is  easily  accounted  for,  with  the 
exception  of  the  song,  for  nearly  all  owls  are  objects  of  curiosity  to  other  birds,  many 
a  one  of  which  pays  dearly  for  his  inquisitiveness.  It  does  not  become  us,  moreover, 
in  the  light  of  certain  facts  with  regard  to  the  musical  ability  of  some  hawks,  and  the 
imitative  powers  of  at  least  one  species  of  owl,  to  smile  too  incredulously  at  these 
tales ;  for,  while  we  may  have  little  or  no  faith  in  their  trustworthiness,  it  is  certainly 
not  impossible  that  birds  so  slightly  known  as  these  owls  may  possess  vocal  powers 
not  yet  officially  recognized. 

From  the  larger  pigrny-owls,  especially  those  with  bare  feet  and  somewhat  bristly 
legs,  it  is  but  a  short  step  to  the  owls  of  the  genus  JVinox,  which  differ  mainly  in 
larger  size,  much  longer  and  pointed  wings,  and  in  having  the  lower  part  of  the  tarsus 
mostly  hairy  instead  of  covered  with  feathers.  The  bristles  of  the  feet  are  so  notice- 
able in  most  of  the  species  that  they  are  often  called  the  hairy-footed  owls.  Were  it 
not  for  the  long  and  sharp-pointed  wings  it  would  be  difficult  to  separate  this  genus 
from  the  preceding,  to  which  it  is  certainlv  very  nearly  related.  The  wings,  however, 
in  JVinox,  when  folded  naturally,  reach  considerably  beyond  the  middle  of  the  tail; 
while  in  Glaucidium  they  rarely  reach  even  to  the  middle,  usually  falling  far  short  of 
it.  In  size  the  species  vary  from  that  of  a  rather  large  pigmy-owl,  say  eight  or  nine 
inches  long,  up  to  more  than  two  feet  in  length,  a  size  only  attained,  however,  by  the 
powerful-owl,  Nlnox  strenua,  of  New  Zealand. 

The  genus  seems  to  be  nearly  confined  to  the  Indo-Malayan  and  Australian  regions, 
ranging  from  Japan  to  New  Zealand,  and  reaching  Ceylon  and  the  Himmalehs 
on  the  west.  A  single  species  also,  JV~.  superciliaris,  is  credited  to  Madagascar.  It 
is  almost  impossible  at  present  to  do  more  than  guess  at  the  actual  number  of  species 
included  in  the  genus.  As  many  (twenty-five  or  thirty)  have  been  described  as  in 
the  preceding  genus,  perhaps  with  no  better  grounds,  and  species-makers  are  still 
publishing  new  ones  on  the  strength  of  single,  and  oftentimes  young  or  imperfect, 
specimens.  Much  of  the  territory  lying  within  the  range  of  the  genus  is  also  as  yet 
unexplored,  and  may  reasonably  be  expected  to  yield  one  or  two  new  forms,  as  well  as 
some  new  light  on  the  relationship  of  the  various  doubtful  members  of  the  group. 

One  widely-ranging  species,  N'.  scutulata^  is  found  throughout  the  whole  extent  of 
the  Intfo-Malayan  region,  but  is  absent  from  Australia,  while  a  second  and  closely 
allied  species  inhabits  the  Himmalehs;  Australia  has  several  large  species;  New 
Guinea  is  credited  with  as  many  more,  while  nearly  every  good-sized  island  among 
the  East  Indies  claims  at  least  one  peculiar  species.  Some  of  these  seem  to  be  well 
marked,  while  others  are  unquestionably  only  local  forms  of  well-known  species,  or 
even  mere  individual  varieties. 

Many  beautiful  birds  are  found  among  the  species  of  Ninox,  the  colors  being 
usually  soft  grays  and  browns,  with  black  or  white  touches  here  and  there,  and  the 
wings  and  tail  often  barred  with  light  and  dark.  Russet-browns,  and  even  brighter 
rusty  tints,  are  so  common  that  one  cannot  help  suspecting  that  dichromatism  is 
common  here  as  well  as  among  the  pigmy-owls,  though  it  has  not  yet  been  recognized 


OWLS.  333 

so  far  as  we  are  aware.  The  hairy-footed  owls  are  more  graceful  in  shape  than  most 
of  those  we  have  thus  far  considered ;  the  long  tail  and  wings,  together  with  the  smooth, 
tuftless  head,  and  less-staring  eyes  than  usual,  combining  to  give  a  neat  and  attractive 
appearance.  Though  not  so  notoriously  diurnal  as  some  others,  the  most  of  them  see 
well  by  daylight,  and  seem  perfectly  able  to  take  care  of  themselves  if  disturbed  in 
the  middle  of  the  day.  A  specimen  of  JV.  scutulata  (hirsuta),  taken  in  southern  Cey- 
lon by  Lieutenant  Legge,  had  its  stomach  crammed  with  undigested  beetles,  although 
it  was  shot  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  showing  that  it  must  have  been  feeding 
late  in  the  morning ;  and,  indeed,  the  same  collector  observed  that  this  species  regu- 
larly 'hooted'  before  sunset  and  long  after  sunrise,  as  well  as  through  the  night. 
Mr.  Swinhoe  found  the  northern  race  (japonicd)  of  this  same  species  to  be  migratory 
at  Chef oo,  north  China,  passing  northward  in  May  and  returning  in  October. 

The  powerful-owl,  Ninox  strenua,  of  Australia,  is  said  to  be  chiefly  nocturnal  in 
its  habits.  According  to  Gray,  it  is  an  inhabitant  only  of  the  '  brushes,'  particularly 
those  along  the  coast  from  Port  Philip  to  Moreton  Bay,  and  has  a  note  "hoarse,  loud, 
and  mournful,  resembling  the  bleating  of  an  ox."  As  already  stated,  it  is  the  largest 
member  of  the  genus,  and  also  the  largest  owl  of  Australia,  and  only  equalled  in  size 
among  the  diurnal  birds  of  prey  in  that  country  by  the  wedge-tailed  eagle,  Aquila 
andax,  and  the  white-bellied  fishing-eagle,  Ichthyaetus  leucogaster.  Only  slightly  infe- 
rior in  size  is  the  winking-owl,  JV.  c&nnivens,  also  of  Australia,  a  well-known  inhabi- 
tant of  the  wooded  districts,  where  it  hunts  by  day,  and  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  most 
merciless  enemies  of  the  koala,  or  Australian  bear,  Phascolarctos  cinereus,  the  young 
of  which  it  often  carries  off  bodily. 

A  much  smaller  bird  is  the  New  Zealand  owl,  JV.  novce-zealandice,  in  which,  accord- 
ing to  W.  L.  Buller,  the  female  is  smaller  than  the  male,  a  statement  which,  if  sub- 
stantiated, will  record  a  fact  unique,  so  far  as  we  know,  among  birds  of  prey. 

Apparently  belonging  to  the  same  section  as  the  foregoing  five  genera,  is  the  rare 
and  little-known  laughing-owl,  or  white-faced  owl,  Scdoglaux  albifacies,  of  New 
Zealand.  Although  formerly  somewhat  more  abundant  than  at  present,  it  is  not 
known  ever  to  have  been  plentiful,  and  is  now  believed  to  be  rapidly  becoming  extinct. 
Dr.  Buller,  long  resident  in  New  Zealand,  writing  in  1874,  says  of  it :  "  As  to  the 
present  scarcity  of  the  bird,  it  may  be  sufficient  to  state  that  I  have  never  heard  of 
more  than  a  dozen  specimens,  and  have  never  seen  but  one  living  example."  It 
agrees  in  several  points,  such  as  the  tumid  cere  and  long  legs,  with  the  genera  already 
treated ;  but  its  skeleton  is  remarkable  for  the  great  size  and  strength  of  the  clavicles, 
as  well  as  for  other  peculiarities.  Owing  largely  to  its  rarity,  as  well  as  partly  to 
ignorance  of  the  interest  attaching  to  its  structure  and  life  histoiy,  it  seems  never  to 
have  been  made  the  subject  of  special  investigation,  and  so  is  in  a  fair  way  to  become 
extinct  before  its  true  relations  to  other  species  or  groups  have  been  fully  settled.  It 
is  a  rather  large  owl  (about  a  foot  and  a  half  long),  with  about  the  same  proportions 
as  the  barn-owl  (Aluco),  except  that  the  wings  are  shorter.  Its  specific  name,  albi- 
facies,  refers  to  the  whitish  color  of  the  face  and  sides  of  head ;  but  these  parts  are 
all  more  or  less  streaked  with  brown  and  black,  so  that  this  name  is  not  particularly 
appropriate.  The  name,  laughing-owl,  is  intended  to  be  suggestive  of  the  odd  vocal 
gymnastics  of  the  bird. 

Thus  far  we  have  been  dealing  with  owls  which  show  a  swollen  cere,  and  nostrils 
opening  fairly  within  it,  while  the  long  legs  commonly  have  a  tendency  to  be  bare  or 
bristly.  The  remaining  owls  of  this  sub-family,  though  varying  much  in  other  respects, 


334  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

agree  in  having  the  uninflated  cere  more  neai-ly  as  in  the  diurnal  birds  of  prey,  but 
with  the  nostrils  usually  situated  on  the  line  between  the  cere  and  the  bill,  rarely  en- 
tirely in  the  cere,  never  entirely  outside  it.  The  legs,  too,  in  a  majority  of  the  species, 
are  pretty  well  feathered,  though  the  feet  may  be  either  perfectly  bare,  bristly,  or 
densely  feathered.  This  last  condition  is  exhibited  in  the  highest  perfection  by  the 
hawk-owl  and  the  snowy  owl,  species  which  are  common  to  the  Old  and  New  Worlds, 
and  inhabit  the  extreme  north  of  both  continents. 

Surnia  funerea^  the  hawk-owl,  so  called  in  reference  to  its  hawk-like  appearance 
and  diurnal  habits,  is  a  circumpolar  species,  only  found  in  the  temperate  zone  in  win- 
ter. Fitted  to  withstand  the  severest  cold,  its  southward  movement  even  then  most 
probably  depends  on  variation  in  its  food  supply  rather  than  on  temperature.  Its 
home  is  in  the  northernmost  regions  of  America  and  Asia,  and  it  is  rarely  seen  in  the 
United  States  except  in  winter,  though  it  is  said  to  breed  in  some  parts  of  Maine.  It 
has  been  taken  as  far  south  as  New  Jersey  and  Ohio,  but  ordinarily  does  not  pass 
south  of  Massachusetts.  An  abundant  bird  of  Alaska,  yet  south  of  British  America 
it  has  not  been  met  with  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains ;  and  at  any  season  of  the  year 
must  be  considered  an  extremely  rare  bird  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States. 

Yet  on  rare  occasions  it  appears  along  our  northern  border  in  considerable  num- 
bers, as  was  the  case  in  October  and  November,  1884,  when  a  "wave"  of  them  inun- 
dated northern  New  England  to  an  extent  without  a  parallel  in  the  history  of  the 
species.  Hundreds  of  them  were  killed  in  the  course  of  a  few  weeks,  and  they  sud- 
denly became  as  common  as  '  chicken-hawks '  in  places  where  they  had  never  before 
been  seen.  Unlike  most  other  owls,  this  species  flies  so  much  in  the  daytime  that  it  is 
not  readily  overlooked,  and  the  fact  that  in  summer  it  has  not  been  noted  in  New 
Brunswick,  or  even  in  most  parts  of  Canada,  shows  that  it  is  a  decidedly  northern 
bird.  In  summer  it  is  said  to  feed  almost  entirely  on  field-mice  (Arvicolce)  and 
insects,  and  in  winter  on  such  birds  and  small  mammals  as  can  be  found.  It  is  usually 
seen  perched  on  the  top  of  some  small  tree,  whence  it  makes  forays  for  any  game 
which  shows  itself.  It  seems  to  be  entirely  unmindful  of  sunlight,  and  probably  does 
most  of  its  hunting  during  the  day,  though  known  to  be  active  at  twilight.  Swift  and 
strong  on  the  wing,  it  is  unusually  courageous,  often  even  attacking  a  man  in  defence 
of  its  nest.  It  is  known  to  nest  in  hollow  trees,  and  Mr.  Dall  found  the  eggs  in 
Alaska  placed  in  the  hollowed  top  of  a  birch  stub  some  fifteen  feet  from  the  ground ; 
yet  it  is  said  by  Richardson,  McFarlane,  and  others,  to  build  a  somewhat  bulky  nest 
of  sticks,  grass,  and  moss  in  large  trees.  The  eggs  vary  in  number  from  four  to 
seven.  The  heavily  feathered  toes  have  already  been  mentioned,  and  so  completely 
muffled  are  they  that  they  are  frequently  spoken  of  as  '  paws.'  The  general  plumage 
of  the  hawk-owl  is  quite  different  from  that  of  most  owls,  being  much  more  com- 
pact and  firm,  the  feathers  lacking  in  large  measure  the  softness  and  fringed  edgings 
so  characteristic  of  owls'  plumage  in  general.  The  form,  too,  is  slender  and  trim,  the 
wings  and  tail  quite  long,  the  facial  disc  quite  imperfect,  and  the  general  appearance, 
at  rest  or  in  action,  decidedly  hawk-like.  The  colors  are  umber-brown,  black,  and 
white,  the  face  and  throat  being  entirely  whitish,  often  bordered  below  and  at  sides 
by  a  varying  amount  of  black.  The  upper  parts  are  variously  spotted  with  white  on 
a  brown  ground,  and  the  under  parts  closely  barred  from  upper  breast  to  tail  with 
reddish  brown  bars  on  a  white  ground. 

The  hawk-owl  of  northern  Asia  and  continental  Europe  is  lighter  colored  than  the 
American  bird,  and  is  usually  separated  as  a  geographical  race  (idula).  Dr.  Brewer, 


OWLS. 


335 


however,  has  recorded  the  capture  of  both  forms  at  Houlton,  Maine,  while  according 
to  Dresser  the  Asiatic  form  does  not  occur  in  Great  Britain  at  all,  but  whenever  a 
hawk-owl  has  (rarely)  been  taken  there,  it  has  proved  to  be  in  the  plumage  of  the 
American  bird. 

The  snowy-owl,  Nyctea  scandiaca,  is  a  much  better  known  bird  than  the  preceding, 
owing,  doubtless,  in  part  to  its  large  size  and  snowy  plumage,  but  also  to  the  fact  that 


FIG.  153.  —  Nyctea  scanrtiaca,  snowy-owl,  and  Syrnium  lapponicum,  great  gray-owl. 

it  has  a  much  wider  range,  being  not  uncommon  in  all  the  northern  United  States  in 
winter,  and  having  occurred  even  in  Kansas  and  Texas.  Occasionally  it  becomes 
abundant  in  the  United  States  in  winter,  several  invasions  similar  to  the  '  wave '  of 
hawk-owls  mentioned  above  being  on  record.  Apparently  the  latest  of  these  took 
place  during  the  winters  of  1861-62  and  1876-77.  Of  this  last  inroad,  Mr.  Ruthven 
Deane  has  given  an  account  from  which  we  extract  the  following :  — 

"About  the  first  of  November,  1876,  large  numbers  suddenly  appeared  along  our 
coast.     This  being  the  season  when  sportsmen  and  the  market  gunners  were  in  pursuit 


336  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

of  water-fowl  on  the  sea-shore,  dozens  of  snowy-owls  were  shot  by  them,  and  sent  to 
the  markets  and  to  the  taxidermists,  so  that  during  the  three  following  weeks  it  was  a 
common  thing  to  see  them  hanging  with  other  game  in  the  markets,  or  confined  alive. 
I  first  heard  of  them  on  our  Massachusetts  coast  as  frequenting  the  islands  off  Rock- 
port,  where  numbers  were  taken. 

"  One  gunner  spoke  of  seeing  fifteen  at  once  on  a  small  island  one  foggy  morning, 
nearly  half  of  which  he  procured.  Several  were  shot  in  the  very  heart  of  the  city  of 
Boston,  where  they  were  occasionally  seen  perched  upon  the  house-tops  or  church 
spires.  The  migration  seems  also  to  have  extended  far  to  the  southward  of  New 
England,  as  I  learn  fi'om  Mr.  Boardman  that  specimens  have  been  taken  as  far  south 
as  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  Washington.  In  Philadelphia  Mr.  John  Krider,  the 
well-known  taxidermist,  had  forty  sent  to  him  for  preparation  during  October  and 
November.  One  was  taken  near  Baltimore  during  the  last  of  September.  I  have 
heard  of  some  five  hundred  specimens  that  have  been  seen,  the  majority  of  which  have 
been  shot." 

They  are  found  all  over  northern  Europe  and  Asia,  and  are  occasionally  taken  in 
Great  Britain,  and  there  seem  to  be  no  constant  differences  of  any  kind  between  Old 
and  New  World  specimens,  unless  Mr.  Sharpe's  observation,  that  in  European  birds 
the  toes  are  much  more  heavily  feathered,  should  prove  always  to  hold  true.  The 
general  color  of  the  snowy-owl  is  pure  white,  usually  more  or  less  distinctly  barred 
with  brown,  and  it  is  doubtful  if  these  brown  markings  are  ever  entirely  lacking  on 
the  hind  neck,  while  birds  which  with  this  exception  are  entirely  white  are  extremely 
rare,  and  are  usually  very  old  males.  Young  birds,  even  when  fully  feathered,  often 
show  as  much  brown  as  white,  and  it  has  been  noticed  that  the  specimens  which  range 
southward  in  winter  are  almost  always  these  much-spotted  individuals,  fairly  white 
birds  being  always  comparatively  rare. 

This  owl  and  the  gyrfalcon  are  probably  the  only  birds  of  prey  which  remain  in 
the  Arctic  regions  through  the  winter,  but  it  seems  to  be  unaffected  by  the  cold,  and 
has  been  met  with  as  far  toward  the  pole  as  man  has  yet  reached.  It  is  interesting  to 
notice  that  no  seasonal  change  in  plumage,  like  that  which  the  ptarmigan  undergoes, 
has  been  observed  in  this  species,  which,  when  adult,  needs  no  protective  coloration, 
and  so  retains  its  white  dress  through  the  summer.  The  nestlings,  however,  are  at 
first  of  a  uniform  sooty-brown,  which  must  be  a  considerable  protection  to  them 
during  their  long  stay  in  the  nest,  in  its  exposed  position  on  the  ground.  This  bird  is 
known  to  breed  in  Labrador,  said  to  do  so  in  Newfoundland,  and  suspected  of  it  even 
as  far  south  as  Maine,  but  its  true  breeding  range  probably  does  not  extend  south  of 
the  parallel  of  50°,  while  it  breeds  most  abundantly  very  much  farther  north.  The 
nest  is  seldom  more  than  a  hollow  in  the  moss,  or  a  slight  depression  in  a  ledge,  with 
perhaps  a  few  feathers  added.  In  this  simple  affair  from  six  to  ten  eggs  are  laid,  usu- 
ally at  intervals  of  at  least  several  days,  so  that  the  first  have  hatched  before  the  last 
are  laid,  and  the  young  birds  thus  contribute  their  warmth  to  the  other  eggs,  leaving 
the  parents  more  at  liberty  to  seek  food  for  themselves  and  their  young. 

The  same  habit  has  been  noticed  among  other  owls,  especially  among  those  which 
breed  early  in  the  spring,  when  the  weather  is  still  very  cold.  The  snowy-owl  is 
almost  as  diurnal  in  its  habits  as  the  hawk-owl,  hunting,  however,  both  by  night  and 
day  whenever  circumstances  favor  or  require  it.  Though  usually  quite  shy  and  diffi- 
cult of  approach,  it  is  said  to  be  easily  decoyed  within  range,  when  there  is  snow  on 
the  ground,  by  tying  a  mouse,  a  bit  of  hare's  skin,  or  even  a  bunch  of  dark  rags,  to  a 


OWLS. 


337 


long  cord,  and  letting  this  drag  behind  as  the  hunter  walks.  Its  fondness  for  fish  has 
been  frequently  noticed,  and  this  partly  explains  why,  during  its  winter  visits  to  the 
United  States,  it  is  more  abundant  on  the  seaboard  than  in  the  interior. 

Many  other  owls  are  fond  of  fish  and  are  skilful  in  catching  them,  but  only  two 
genera  seem  to  have  the  feet  specially  modified  for  this  purpose,  viz.,  the  African 
genus  Scotopelia,  and  the  Asiatic  JKetupa.  In  both  these  forms  the  under  surface  of 
the  toes  is  thickly  beset  with  papillae  or  spicules,  as  in  the  osprey,  and  the  large, 
strongly  curved  talons  are  of  nearly  equal  length  on  all  the  toes.  In  Scotopelia  the 
head  is  smooth,  and  the  tarsus  is  entirely  bare  behind,  and  only  feathered  in  front  for 
a  little  distance  below  the  tibio-tarsal  joint ;  while  in  Ketupa  rather  less  than  the 
•.  lower  third  of  the  tarsus  is  bare,  and  the  head  has  prominent  plumicorns  two  or  three 
inches  in  length.  Three  species  of  each  genus  have  been  described,  but  the  characters 
on  which  they  are  founded  would  seem,  from  the  descriptions,  to  be  very  slight.  AL 
are  very  large  owls,  and 
are  supposed  to  feed  large- 
ly, if  not  entirely,  on  fish 
and  crabs,  but,  as  they  are 
inhabitants  of  the  deep 
forests  and  appear  to  be 
nocturnal  in  habits,  they 
have  seldom  been  seen 
fishing.  Mr.  Swinhoe, 
while  at  Ningpo,  China, 
dissected  a  specimen  of 
Ketupa  flavipes  which  had 
the  stomach  "  crammed 
with  bones  and  other  re- 
mains of  fishes,  the  largest 
about  four  inches  long."  Scotopelia  peli  is  found  in  western  and  southeastern  Africa, 
and  Ketupa  ceylonensis  is  from  India  and  China,  while  K.  javanensis,  the  smallest 
form,  inhabits  the  East  Indies  and  Malay  Peninsula. 

The  horned-owls  of  the  genus  Bubo,  inhabiting  nearly  all  parts  of  the  world  except 
Australia,  are  remarkable  for  their  large  size  and  great  strength,  as  well  as  for  the 
great  development  of  the  plumicorns  or  ear-tufts.  The  number  of  species  is  variously 
estimated  at  from  half  a  dozen  to  two  or  three  dozen. 

Good  representatives  of  these  magnificent  owls  are  the  great  horned-owl,  Bubo 
mrginianus,  of  America,  and  the  eagle-owl,  B.  ignavus  (or  maximus),  of  the  northern 
parts  of  the  Old  World.  The  latter  is  probably  as  large  as  any  in  the  genus,  and  one 
of  the  very  largest  of  all  owls,  slightly  exceeded  in  linear  dimensions,  perhaps,  by  one 
or  two  others,  but  in  strength  and  prowess  surpassed  by  none.  An  adult  female 
measures  about  twenty-six  inches  from  bill  to  tip  of  tail ;  the  wing  is  from  eighteen 
to  nineteen  inches  in  length,  and  the  plumicorns  from  three  to  three  and  a  half. 
The  weight  of  such  a  bird  in  fair  condition  is  nearly  eight  pounds.  As  in  all  the 
members  of  the  genus,  the  tarsi  are  well  feathered,  the  facial  disk  is  imperfect, 
the  part  below  the  eye  much  exceeding  in  area  that  above  it,  and  the  plumage  is 
of  a  mottled  character,  —  black,  white,  and  various  shades  of  brown  being  the  prevail- 
ing colors. 

The  eagle-owl  is  now  extremely  rare  in  Great  Britain,  but  in  mountainous  and 

VOL.   IV. —22 


FIG.  154.  —  Leg  of  Scotopelia  ussheri,  showing  spicules. 


338  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

wooded  regions  of  the  rest  of  Europe  it  is  rather  common,  breeding  abundantly  in 
Scandinavia,  in  Spain,  on  the  wooded  slopes  of  the  Urals,  and  thence  eastward  across 
Siberia  to  China.  In  many  parts  of  Germany  it  is  still  common,  but  probably  decreas- 
ing steadily  in  numbers.  According  to  Dresser,  "  An  official  list  states  that  two 
hundred  and  two  specimens  were  killed  in  Bohemia  in  1857,  which  appears  almost 
doubtful,  though  the  total  number  of  owls  of  all  sorts  killed  there  is  in  the  same  list 
stated  to  be  eight  thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy."  According  to  the  same 


FIG.  155.  —  Bubo  ignavus,  eagle-owl. 

author,  this  bird  is  one  of  the  boldest  and  most  rapacious  of  European  birds  of  prey, 
being  a  match  even  for  the  eagle.  Yet,  though  it  sees  well  in  the  daytime,  it  is 
frequently  chased  about  and  stooped  at  by  peregrines  and  smaller  falcons,  until  com- 
pelled to  seek  safety  in  a  dense  thicket  or  beneath  a  projecting  rock. 

"  Usually  it  remains  quiet  during  the  day,  hidden  in  some  dark  ravine  or  dense 
forest,  but  often  appears  about  in  search  of  prey  quite  early  in  the  evening,  before  the 
twilight  has  set  in.  Its  flight,  like  that  of  all  the  owls,  is  noiseless  and  powerful ;  and 


OWLS.  339 

its  note,  a  deep  and  loud  hoot,  consisting  of  the  syllables  Aw,  Aw,  modulated  in  various 
ways,  can  be  heard  at  considerable  distances.  Uttered  at  night,  from  some  dark, 
gloomy-looking  gorge,  the  gruff  call-note  of  the  eagle-owl  sounds  peculiarly  weird  and 
wild.  It  occasionally  varies  its  usual  note,  so  that  it  may  be  sometimes  likened  to  a 
hoarse  laugh,  and  at  others  it  is  not  much  unlike  the  neighing  of  a  horse.  The  super- 
stitious peasants  in  the  north  believe,  when  they  hear  the  hoot  of  this  owl,  that  evil 
spirits  are  about ;  and  the  various  legends  of  the  wild  huntsman,  the  so-called  '  wilde 
Jagd,'  so  firmly  believed  in  by  many  of  the  German  peasants,  doubtless  have  their 
origin  from  this  bird.  Few  birds  of  prey  are  so  destructive  to  game  as  the  present 
species ;  for  there  is  no  game-bird,  not  even  the  capercaillie,  which  is  too  large  for 
him,  and  he  does  not  disdain  to  hunt  after  the  smaller  species  also ;  mice  and  rats, 
hares,  rabbits,  young  fawns,  black-game,  pheasants,  partridges,  and  hazel-grouse,  all 
are  equally  good  in  his  sight,  and  form  a  portion  of  his  daily  diet  when  obtainable ; 
but  jays,  and  especially  crows,  appear  to  be  favorite  articles  of  food  with  him,  and 
remains  of  the  latter  are  very  frequently  met  with  in  his  larder." 

It  seems  ordinarily  to  prefer  for  nesting  purposes  a  ledge  of  rock,  or  some  cranny 
in  the  face  of  a  cliff,  yet  in  forest  regions  it  is  known  to  nest  in  trees  or  even  on  the 
ground;  and,  in  the  treeless  downs  of  Turkey,  according  to  Messrs.  Elwes  and 
Buckley,  "  it  chooses  a  bank  of  earth  on  the  side  of  a  ravine  for  its  eyry,  and  scratches 
out  a  hole  for  the  eggs  in  the  bare  ground,  sometimes  within  sight  of  every  passer-by. 
We  found  a  nest  of  four  hard-set  eggs  on  April  8th,  and  others  containing  young 
birds  a  fortnight  later."  It  also  breeds  freely  in  confinement,  and  in  some  places  in 
England  has  been  almost  domesticated.  According  to  Mr.  Gurney,  forty-nine  young 
have  been  reared  from  a  single  pair  between  1849  and  1873,  this  pair  having  laid,  in 
all,  seventy-one  good  eggs  and  several  bad  ones. 

The  American  great  horned-owl,  JBubo  virginianus,  is  quite  similar  in  general 
appearance  to  the  bird  just  described,  but  is  decidedly  smaller,  the  total  length  being 
from  four  to  six  inches  less,  the  wings  shorter  by  three  inches  or  more,  and  other 
parts  in  proportion.  While  the  colors  themselves  are  much  as  in  ignavus,  the  pattern 
is  quite  different,  the  lower  parts,  instead  of  being  streaked  and  spotted,  are  barred 
with  black,  there  is  a  black  ring  nearly  encircling  the  facial  disk,  and  a  large,  pure 
white  patch  on  the  upper  breast  and  throat. 

This  fine  owl  is  far  more  abundant  in  the  eastern  United  States  than  is  generally 
supposed,  and  it  is  probable  that  there  are  very  few  townships  in  which  there  are  any 
considerable  stretches  of  woodland  where  it  is  not  resident.  In  its  habits  it  is  much  like 
the  eagle-owl,  preying  not  only  on  large  game,  such  as  hares,  grouse,  and,  according  to 
Audubon,  turkeys ;  but  also  on  rats,  field-mice,  reptiles,  and  fish.  Although  its  dispo- 
sition can  hardly  be  called  gentle  or  affectionate,  and  it  is  less  easily  managed  than 
the  snowy-owl,  it  is  far  from  being  always  the  "  fierce  and  untamable  "  bird  which  it 
has  so  often  been  described.  Dr.  Coues  took  a  pair  of  young  at  Pembina,  Dakota, 
which  were  still  in  the  white  down.  He  kept  them  through  the  entire  summer,  and 
they  became  quite  tame.  We  extract  the  following  from  his  account :  — 

"They  became  so  thoroughly  tame,  that,  as  their  wings  grew,  enabling  them  to 
take  short  flights,  I  used  to  release  them  in  the  evening  from  the  tether  by  which  they 
were  usually  confined.  They  enjoyed  the  liberty,  and  eventually  used  to  stay  away 
all  night,  doubtless  foraging  for  themselves  for  their  natural  prey,  and  returning  to 
their  shelter  behind  my  tent  in  the  morning. 

"  These  owls  were  most  active  during  the  night ;  yet  it  would  be  a  great  mistake 


340  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

to  suppose  their  vision  is  much  restricted  in  the  daytime,  notwithstanding  they  belong 
to  a  group  of  owls  commonly  regarded  as  nocturnal.  They  passed  most  of  the  day, 
indeed,  crouching  in  the  shadow  of  the  tent,  and  it  was  only  toward  sundown  that 
they  became  active,  flying  the  length  of  their  tether  in  the  attempt  to  reach  the 
ridge  of  the  tent ;  yet  their  vision  was  acute  at  all  hours.  I  often  saw  them  look  up 
and  follow  with  their  eyes  the  motions  of  a  grasshopper  or  butterfly  flickering  several 
yards  up  in  the  air.  On  one  occasion  in  particular,  I  saw  them  both  gazing  stead- 
fastly, and  on  looking  up  to  see  what  had  attracted  their  attention,  I  was  myself 
blinded  by  the  glare,  for  the  direction  was  exactly  in  the  sun's  eye.  But  a  few 
moments  afterwards  I  discovered  a  pair  of  white  cranes  floating  in  circles  half  a  mile 
high.  The  owl's  eyes  endured  a  glare  that  my  own  could  not,  and  the  birds  certainly 
saw  the  objects,  for  they  slowly  moved  the  head  as  the  cranes  passed  over.  The  best 
of  the  supposed  performances  of  an  eagle  soaring  in  the  sun's  eye  could  not  excel 
this.  Nor  was  the  inner  eyelid  drawn  over  the  ball  to  shade  it.  I  had  abundant 
evidence,  on  this  and  numerous  other  occasions,  that  the  movements  of  the  birds'  iris 
are  entirely  under  the  control  of  the  will,  instead,  as  commonly  supposed,  of  being 
automatic,  depending  upon  the  stimulus  of  light.  I  frequently  saw  them  instantane- 
ously relax  or  contract  the  quivering  iris  in  accommodating  their  vision  to  different 
objects  or  different  distances ;  and,  moreover,  they  could  move  the  hides  indepen- 
dently of  each  other;  for  they  often  looked  at  objects  with  one  eye  only,  the  other 
being  sleepily  half  closed ;  and  on  such  occasions  the  pupils  were  generally  of  different 
sizes.  They  varied  in  diameter  from  that  of  a  small  split-pea,  to  that  of  a  finger- 
ring  ;  in  the  latter  condition  the  iris  was  a  mere  margin  about  a  tenth  of  an  inch  in 
diameter.  In  the  night-time  I  always  found  the  pupil  largely,  if  not  fully,  dilated ;  at 
every  stage  of  contraction  it  remained  perfectly  circular." 

Others  have  been  less  successful  in  taming  these  birds,  some  failing  entirely, 
others  making  but  a  partial  success.  In  the  "  Auk,"  Mr.  J.  W.  Banks  has  given  some 
of  his  experience  in  this  respect,  together  with  many  interesting  notes,  from  which  we 
select  the  following :  "  Nothing  in  the  shape  of  fresh  fish  or  flesh  is  neglected  by  the 
owl  when  hungry,  though  her  choice  is  for  wild  birds,  and  she  will  take  small  animals 
in  preference  to  beef  or  mutton.  A  rat  or  squirrel  is  always  swallowed  whole,  and 
about  every  second  or  third  day  the  fur  and  bones  are  ejected,  rolled  into  a  hard 
pellet  as  large  as  a  grouse's  egg.  Just  before  ejecting  these  pellets  the  bird's  appear- 
ance is  very  distressing.  The  first  time  I  observed  it  I  thought  she  must  be  ill,  but  as 
soon  as  the  pellet  is  out  she  immediately  recovers.  The  '  hoot '  is  made  with  the  bill 
firmly  closed ;  the  air  is  forced  into  the  mouth  and  upper  part  of  the  throat,  the  latter 
being  puffed  out  to  the  size  of  a  large  orange." 

The  breeding  habits  of  the  great  horned-owl  vary  widely  in  different  parts  of  the 
country.  Audubon's  experience  led  him  to  believe  that  it  nested  usually  in  hollow 
trees,  but  in  two  cases  he  knew  it  to  nest  in  the  clefts  of  rocks.  In  many  parts  of 
the  United  States  it  builds  a  large,  open  nest,  toward  the  top  of  a  tall  tree;  this 
seems  to  be  usually  the  case  in  New  England,  where  the  eggs  are  ordinai-ily  but  two 
(rarely  three  and  never  more)  and  are  laid  between  the  middle  of  February  and  the 
middle  of  March. 

At  that  early  date  there  is  often  scarcely  a  sign  of  spring  and  the  eggs  must  need 
constant  care  to  prevent  freezing.  The  late  Mr.  W.  W.  Coe,  of  Portland,  Conn.,  who 
took  one  or  more  sets  of  this  bird's  eggs  every  season  for  many  years,  informed  us  that 
one  morning,  after  a  heavy  fall  of  snow,  he  saw  in  the  top  of  a  tree,  while  trying  to 


OWLS.  341 

locate  a  nest,  what  he  supposed  to  be  an  old  nest,  as  it  was  heaped  high  with  snow. 
While  looking  at  it  doubtfully,  however,  his  companion  struck  the  butt  of  the  tree  a 
heavy  blow  with  a  club,  and  to  his  surprise  the  snowy  covering  of  the  nest  was  lifted 
on  the  wings  of  the  sitting  bird,  and  scattered  in  a  cloud  as  she  hastily  sped  away." 

The  American  horned-owl  has  a  very  extensive  range,  as  it  is  found  from  the  shores 
of  the  Arctic  sea  to  Cape  Horn,  and  although  it  presents. considerable  variations  in 
size  and  color,  very  few  forms  seem  to  be  constant  enough  for  recognition  as  races. 
Specimens  have  been  taken  in  which  the  color  is  so  dark  as  to  strongly  suggest  melan- 
ism, while  the  other  extreme  is  seen  in  specimens  from  the  far  north  or  the  Alpine 
levels  of  the  mountains,  which  occasionally  resemble  quite  closely,  except  for  the 
plumicorns,  the  snowy-owl. 

The  dusky  horned-owl  of  India,  Bubo  coromandus,  is  interesting  from  the  fact  that 
several  instances  are  on  record  of  its  laying  distinctly  spotted  eggs,  though  ordinarily 
its  eggs,  like  those  of  all  other  owls,  are  pure,  unspotted  white. 

Miniatures  of  the  great  horned-owls  are  the  little  horned-owls,  or  Scops  owls  as  they 
are  frequently  called,  from  the  genus  Scops  to  which  they  all  belong.  They  agree 
with  the  members  of  the  genus  JBitbo  in  most  of  the  characters  of  that  genus  except 
size ;  the  facial  disk  being  imperfect  in  the  same  way  and  to  about  the  same  extent, 
the  plumicorns  prominent,  and  the  colors  similar.  The  wings  are  said  to  be  propor- 
tionally longer,  but  this  is  not  very  obvious  in  the  best  figures  we  have  seen,  and  even 
the  measurements  do  not  always  bear  out  the  statement.  The  toes,  however,  are 
more  often  bare  in  /Scops  than  in  Bubo,  and  this  nakedness  frequently  extends  some 
distance  up  the  tarsus,  in  one  or  two  species  even  half  its  length.  Moreover,  the 
Scops  owls  frequently  show  marked  dichromatism,  which  the  species  of  Bubo  never 
do,  and  all  the  former  are  of  small  size,  the  largest  not  exceeding  a  foot  in  length,  and 
the  average  being  only  from  six  to  seven  inches. 

Mr.  R.  B.  Sharpe,  in  his  catalogue  of  the  birds  of  prey  in  the  British  Museum,  thus 
speaks  of  this  group.  "  Difficult  to  understand  as  all  owls  are,  the  species  of  the 
genus  Scops  are  in  every  way  the  most  difficult  to  identify.  The  impossibility  of 
procuring  series  of  some  of  the  species  to  study  at  the  same  time,  the  absence  of  infor- 
mation as  to  the  sequence  of  plumages  from  the  young  stage  to  that  of  the  adult,  and 
the  puzzling  way  in  which  some  species  seem  to  possess  rufous  phases,  while  others  do 
not, — these  are  all  problems  which  time  alone  can  solve.  I  can  hardly  expect  that 
all  ornithologists  will  acquiesce  in  my  views  as  to  the  sub-species  or  races  which  I  have 
believed  it  to  be  my  duty  to  recognize.  These  races  do  exist  in  nature,  and  they  may 
be  called  by  whatever  name  naturalists  please,  '  varieties,'  '  races,'  '  sub-species,'  '  cli- 
matic forms,'  etc. ;  but  it  has  seemed  to  me  better  to  keep  these  forms,  many  of  which 
are  very  well  characterized,  distinct  from  one  another,  than  to  merge  them  all  as  one 
species,  and  thus  to  obliterate  all  records  of  natural  facts,  which  are  plain  enough  to 
the  practiced  eye  of  the  ornithologist,  though  difficult  to  describe  in  words." 

Mr.  Sharpe  then  proceeds  to  characterize  upwards  of  twenty-five  species,  and  more 
than  the  same  number  of  sub-species  or  races ;  about  one  quarter  of  the  whole  being 
found  in  America,  and  the  rest  in  the  Old  "World,  excluding  Australia  and  Oceanica, 
where  none  are  known  to  occur.  It  is,  of  course,  impossible  for  us  to  name  these  here, 
or  to  go  into  questions  of  the  validity  of  species,  the  relationships  of  races,  etc.  Mr. 
Sharpe,  however,  includes  in  the  genus  two  owls  which  are  perhaps  better  separated 
under  the  generic  title  Lophostrix,  and  which  in  size  stand  between  Bubo  and  Scops, 
but  rather  nearer  the  former,  having  a  length  of  from  sixteen  to  twenty  inches,  and 


342  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

the  other  dimensions  in  proportion.     The  plumicorns  are  about  two  inches  long,  and 
the  genus  is  peculiar  to  tropical  America. 

A  fair  representative  of  the  remaining  species  is  the  common  mottled-owl  or  screech- 
owl,  Scops  asio,  so  generally  distributed  through  the  United  States,  where  it  is  one  of 
the  commonest  of  the  smaller  species,  and,  except  along  our  southern  border,  the  only 
small  owl  which  has  plumicorns.  It  shows  in  its  perfection  the  dimorphism  which  is 
so  common  in  this  genus  as  well  as  in  Glaucidium  and  several  others,  but  its  habits 
appear  to  be  about  the  same  everywhere. 

It  is  strictly  nocturnal,  or  crepuscular,  feeds  mostly  on  mice  and  similar  vermin, 
and  almost  invariably  nests  in  the  hollows  of  trees,  where  it  lays  five  or  six  eggs  in 
April  or  May  in  the  Middle  and  New  England  states.  While  its  food  is  doubtless 
mainly  as  mentioned  above,  yet  it  eats  many  insects,  probably  catches  small  birds  oc- 
casionally, and  would  seem  to  be  fond  of  fish  from  the  following  account  by  Mr.  A. 
M.  Frazar,  of  Watertown,  Mass.  Mr.  Frazar  says :  "  On  November  29,  1876,  I  took 
from  a  mottled  owl's  hole  the  hinder  half  of  a  woodcock,  Philohela  minor.  Within 
two  weeks  after  I  took  two  owls  from  the  same  hole,  and  on  the  19th  of  January  last 
I  had  the  good  fortune  to  take  another.  After  extracting  the  owl  I  put  in  my  hand 
to  see  what  else  there  was  of  interest,  and  found  sixteen  horned-pouts,  Amiurus  atra- 
riiis,  four  of  which  were  alive.  When  it  occurred  to  me  that  all  the  ponds  in  the 
vicinity  were  under  at  least  two  feet  of  snow  and  ice,  I  could  scarcely  conjecture 
where  the  horned-pouts  could  have  been  captured.  After  visiting  all  the  ponds,  I 
found  they  had  most  probably  been  captured  in  one  fully  a  mile  away,  where  some 
boys  had  been  cutting  holes  through  the  ice  to  catch  pickerel  bait.  The  owl  probably 
stationed  himself  by  the  edge  of  the  hole  and  seized  the  fish  as  they  came  to  the  sur- 
face. What  a  busy  time  he  must  have  had  flying  thirty-two  miles  after  sixteen 
horned-pouts ! " 

The  ordinary  cry  of  the  mottled-owl  is  a  tremulous  and  not  unmusical  series  of 
notes,  and  we  have  neA^er  heard  a  note  from  this  species  which  would  at  all  justify  the 
common  name  of  screech-ow'. 

A  beautiful  Mexican  and  Central  American  species  is  the  flammulated-owl,  Scops 
flammeolus,  which  has  been  taken  half  a  dozen  times  or  more  in  California,  Arizona, 
and  Colorado,  and  in  the  last-named  state  has  been  found  breeding.  This  is  one  of 
the  smallest  species  of  the  genus,  and  readily  distinguished  from  S.  asio  by  its  per- 
fectly bare  toes  and  very  short  plumicorns. 

The  common  species  of  Europe   is  the  scops  owl,  Scops  giu,  which  is  slightly 

smaller  than  our  common  mottled-owl,  and  differs 
further  in  its  naked  toes.  In  general  appearance 
and  plumage,  however,  they  are  quite  similar, 
though  specific  characters  for  their  separation  are 
easily  found,  and  it  has  even  been  proposed  to 
place  the  American  birds  of  this  genus  in  a  sep- 
arate sub-genus,  from  that  which  should  include 

FIG.  156.  -  Foot  of  scops  gto.  &  ffiu.    In  habits  all  the  species  seem  to  be  quite 

similar;  essentially  nocturnal,  and  rarely  nest- 
ing anywhere  except  in  hollow  trees  or  deserted  woodpeckers'  holes,  though  S.  giu 
has  been  known  to  lay  its  eggs  in  the  deserted  open  nest  of  another  bird,  in  a  thick 
evergreen  tree. 

We  now  come  to  a  group  of  three  genera,  in  which  the  facial  disk  is  very  highly 


OWLS.  343 

developed,  and  extends  equally  above  and  below  the  eye,  so  that  this  organ  is  really 
situated  in  its  centre.  The  external  conch  of  the  ear  is  very  large,  and  provided  with 
an  ample  operculum  or  flap,  by  which  it  can  be  completely  closed  at  pleasure. 
Most  of  the  species  are  strictly  nocturnal. 

The  first  genus,  Asio  or  Otus,  contains  but  very  few  species,  among  which  we  may 
mention  first  the  long-eared  owl,  Asio  otits  (Otus  vulgaris),  common  to  nearly  all  the 
countries  of  the  northern  hemisphere,  but  only  found  in  woods,  where  it  usually 
remains  quiet  by  day,  hunting  entirely  at  night.  The  plumicorns  are  very  long  in 
this  species,  and  are  habitually  carried  erect.  It  is  a  plentiful  bird  in  the  United 
States,  and,  though  most  abundant  during  the  migrations,  is  probably  sparingly  resi- 
dent in  most  wooded  regions,  and  breeds.  It  usually  selects  for  this  purpose  the  old 
nest  of  a  crow  or  hawk,  but  probably  sometimes  builds  for  itself.  Dr.  Brewer,  in 
describing  its  breeding  habits  as  observed  by  Dr.  Cooper  near  San  Diego,  California, 
says :  "  On  the  27th  of  March  he  found  a  nest  —  probably  that  of  a  crow  —  built  in  a 
low  evergreen  oak,  in  which  a  female  owl  was  sitting  on  five  eggs  then  partly  hatched. 
The  bird  was  quite  bold,  flew  round  him,  snapping  her  bill  at  him,  and  tried  to  draw 
him  away  from  the  nest,  the  female  imitating  the  cries  of  wounded  birds  with  remark- 
able accuracy,  showing  a  power  of  voice  not  supposed  to  exist  in  owls,  but  more  in  the 
manner  of  a  parrot."  The  European  and  American  birds  differ  slightly,  the  latter 
being,  as*  usual,  rather  darker.  Another  peculiar  species,  Asio  stygius,  is  found  in 
South  America. 

The  short-eared  owl,  Asio  accipitrinus  (  Otus  brachyotns),  is  closely  related  to  the 
preceding,  but  differs  widely  in  appearance,  the  plumicorns  being  very  short,  and 
often  hardly  appreciable.  This  species  probably  has  the  widest  range  of  any  known 
owl,  being  found  all  over  Europe,  Asia,  and  a  large  part  of  Africa,  and  in  both  North 
and  South  America  as  well  as  in  the  Falkland  and  Hawaiian  islands ;  and,  contrary  to 
the  usual  rule  among  owls,  it  differs  but  very  slightly  in  size  or  coloration  in  different 
parts  of  its  range. 

It  is  one  of  the  few  species  exclusively  inhabiting  open  country,  preferring  mead- 
ows or  uplands  covered  with  rank  grass,  and  in  such  situations  its  nest  is  usually  built. 
This  is  commonly  but  a  shallow  cavity  scratched  in  the  ground,  and  lined  or  sur- 
rounded with  a  few  leaves  or  grass  stems,  and  contains  from  four  to  seven  eggs. 
"While  this  is  probably  its  ordinary  mode  of  nesting,  Mr.  Dall  found  it  breeding  in 
burrows  in  the  sides  of  steep  banks  on  the  island  of  Unalashka,  the  nest  placed  at  the 
end  of  the  burrow,  and  from  one  to  two  feet  from  the  entrance.  This  bird  ranges  far 
into  the  Arctic  regions,  and  its  migrations  are  performed  with  considerable  regularity. 

In  winter,  wherever  it  is  found,  it  seems  somewhat  gregarious,  and  usiially  several 
individuals  will  be  found  resting  near  each  other  in  the  grass  during  the  day.  Some- 
times they  appear  in  unusual  numbers,  an  instance  of  this  kind  having  been  observed 
by  Mr.  W.  E.  D.  Scott,  near  Princeton,  N.  J.,  in  the  autumn  of  1878.  .He  says:  "I 
am  informed  by  most  credible  witnesses  that  late  in  October,  or  about  November  1, 
there  appeared  in  a  field  of  about  forty  acres,  which  was  covered  with  a  heavy  growth 
of  long,  dead  grass,  vast  numbers  of  owls.  A  visit  to  the  field  in  question,  which  is 
directly  adjacent  to  the  railroad  depot  at  Harlingen,  and  a  talk  with  farmers  living 
close  by,  gave  me  the  following  additional  data :  The  birds  were  exclusively  the  short- 
eared  owl  (Brachyotus  palustris),  as  I  learned  from  an  examination  of  specimens  in 
the  possession  of  several  farmers.  Their  number  was  variously  estimated  at  from  a 
hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred.  Many  were  shot,  and,  as  some  are  still  to  be  found 


344  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

in  the  field  in  question,  I  should  think  this  locality  had  been  fixed  on  as  a  wintering 
point.  There  are  no  trees  in  the  field,  and  in  the  daytime  the  birds  rest  on  the 
ground.  They  hunt  for  food  morning  and  evening,  and  sometimes  on  dark  days. 
Throughout  this  and  adjoining  townships  these  owls  have  been  more  or  less  common, 
and  many  have  been  brought  in  by  gunners.  In  previous  years  I  have  looked  on  this 
species  as  rather  rare,  and  some  seasons  have  passed  without  my  meeting  with  them. 
Since  writing  the  above,  two  other  points,  at  which  vast  numbers  of  these  birds  have 
congregated,  have  come  to  my  knowledge,  and  in  each  case  the  conditions  of  locality 
are  identical  with  those  above  described." 

The  genus  Nyctale  includes,  probably,  but  two  species,  viz.,  Tengmalm's  owl,  N~. 
tengmalmi,  of  Europe  (Fig.  152),  with  its  American  race,  called  Richardson's  owl,  and 
the  Acadian  or  saw-whet  owl,  JV.  acadica,  which  is  peculiar  to  North  America.  The 
genus  is  marked  by  its  untufted  head,  heavily  feathered  feet  and  toes,  and  small  size. 
The  skull  also  is  extremely  asymmetrical,  and  especially  the  ears. 

Richardson's  owl  is  one  of  the  rarest  species  occurring  within  the  limits  of  the 
United  States,  being  only  seen  there  in  winter,  and  very  few  specimens  being  taken 
then.  Further  north  it  is  more  common,  but  its  habits,  especially  in  the  breeding 
season,  are  little  known.  Dr.  C.  H.  Merriam  gives  the  following  note  on  it,  as  observed 
by  Mr.  Comeau,  at  Godbout,  on  the  north  shore  of  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  at  its 
junction  with  the  Gulf.  "A  common  winter  resident  and  very  tame.  This  owl  has 
a  low,  liquid  note  that  resembles  the  sound  produced  by  water  slowly  dropping  from 
a  height ;  hence  the  Montagne  Indians  call  it  pillip-pile-tshish,  which  means  '  water- 
dripping  bird.'  These  Indians  have  a  legend  that  this  was  at  one  time  the  largest  owl 
in  the  world,  and  that  it  had  a  very  loud  voice.  It  one  day  perched  itself  near  a  large 
waterfall  and  tried  not  only  to  imitate  the  sound  of  the  fall,  but  also  to  drown  the 
roaring  of  the  torrent  in  its  own  voice.  At  this  the  Great  Spirit  was  offended,  and 
transformed  it  into  a  pigmy,  causing  its  voice  to  resemble  slowly  dripping  water  instead 
of  the  mighty  roar  of  a  cataract." 

It  is  a  little  larger  than  the  mottled  owl,  and,  besides  lacking  the  plumicorns,  it  is 
at  once  distinguished  by  its  chocolate-brown  color  above,  spotted  with  white,  and  the 
white  under  parts  striped  lengthwise  with  brown. 

The  Acadian  owl,  Nyctale  acadica,  is  little  more  than  half  the  size  of  Richardson's 
owl,  which  it  resembles  considerably  in  color.  It  seems  to  be  less  northerly  in  its 
distribution,  and,  although  nowhere  very  abundant,  it  is  pretty  generally  distributed 
over  the  United  States,  and  extends  southward  into  Mexico.  The  young,  in  its  first 
plumage  after  the  down,  is  a  very  different  looking  bird  from  the  adult,  being  pretty 
uniform  olive-brown  all  over,  but  paler  on  the  lower  breast  and  belly,  the  wings  and 
tail  with  indications  of  white  bars,  and  the  eyebrows  pure  white,  in  strong  contrast  to 
the  surrounding  dark  color.  Fi'om  this  last-named  mark  it  took  its  name  of  white- 
fronted  owl,  and  was  for  years  believed  to  be  a  genuine  species,  distinct  from  acadica, 
and  passing  under  the  name  of  albifrons.  Specimens  of  this  kind,  however,  when 
kept  in  confinement,  speedily  moulted  into  the  full  plumage  of  acadica,  and  thus 
settled  the  question  which  had  already  been  raised  as  to  their  specific  identity.  The 
name  '  saw- whet '  is  derived  from  the  supposed  resemblance  of  some  notes  of  the  bird  to 
the  sounds  produced  in  filing  a  saw,  but  it  seems  probable  that,  in  order  to  appreciate 
the  strong  resemblance,  the  listener's  imagination  needs  to  be  whetted  at  the  same  time. 

This  species  is  supposed  to  nest  invariably  in  holes  of  trees,  but  it  is  not  impossible 
that  it  may  sometimes  use  the  deserted  nest  of  some  other  bird,  or  even  itself  build  a 


OWLS.  345 

nest  in  the  crotch  of  a  tree,  as  Richardson's  owl  is  said  to  do.  Mr.  W.  Perham,  at 
Tyngsboro,  Mass.,  has  been  quite  successful  in  taking  eggs  of  this  bird  by  hanging  up 
in  the  woods  breeding-places  made  of  sections  of  hollow  trunks,  with  tlie  ends  boarded 
up,  and  entrance-holes  cut  in  the  sides.  In  this  way  he  has  taken  many  nests  of  mottled 
owls,  and  occasionally  one  of  the  present  species  breeds  in  the  artificial  nest. 

Mr.  William  Brewster,  who  has  published  the  above  facts,  has  also  given  his  own 
experience  with  some  of  the  young  birds,  furnished  him  by  Mr.  Perham  which  he 
kept  alive  for  some  months.  He  says  they  ate  all  kinds  of  meat  with  avidity,  but 
seemed  especially  fond  of  mice.  "  The  latter  were  invariably  skinned,  and  the  flesh 
torn  in  shreds  and  devoured,  the  skins  being  swallowed  afterwards  as  dessert.  I  often 
saw  them  eject  those  peculiar  pellets  of  bones,  fur,  and  other  indigestible  fragments 
which  all  owls  and  many  hawks  are  in  the  habit  of  depositing  about  their  haunts. 
The  operation  was  a  peculiar  one.  The  owl  would  gape  several  times,  then  the  head 
would  be  violently  shaken  sideways,  and,  finally,  the  pellet,  coated  with  mucus,  would 
shoot  forth,  frequently  falling  several  inches  in  front  of  the  spot  where  the  bird  was 
sitting."  These  young  birds  were  taken  from  the  nest  about  the  15th  of  May,  and 
three  of  them  were  '  prepared '  while  in  the  '  albifrons '  stage,  and  the  remaining  one 
had  assumed  the  perfect  plumage  of  the  adult  acadica  by  September  1. 

The  last  group  of  the  sub-family  StriginaB  which  we  shall  mention  is  the  genus 
Syrnium^  in  which  the  facial  disk  reaches  its  highest  development,  and  the  species,  as 
a  whole,  are  quite  nocturnal.  The  skull  is  quite  symmetrical,  and  the  species  —  of 
which  there  are  from  fifteen  to  thirty,  inhabiting  all  parts  of  the  world  except  Aus- 
tralia, Malaysia,  and  Oceanica  —  are  of  large  size. 

The  type  of  the  genus,  and  also  of  the  sub-family,  is  Syrnium  aluco,  the  well- 
known  brown  or  tawny  owl  of  Europe,  formerly  one  of  the  commonest  birds  of  prey 
in  Great  Britain,  but  now  far  less  abundant.  It  is  a  large  bird,  measuring  eighteen 
or  twenty  inches  in  length,  and  is  noted  for  its  almost  insatiable  appetite  and  the  con- 
sequent havoc  it  makes  among  small  mammals  and  birds.  It  usually  nests  in  hollow 
trees,  but  several  authentic  instances  are  on  record  of  its  breeding  in  rabbit-burrows. 
One  of  the  more  recent  of  these  cases  (1879)  occurred  in  Kilmory,  Lochgilphead, 
Scotland,  and  Professor  Newton  remarks  that  it  may  have  been  due  to  the  paucity  in 
that  neighborhood  of  hard-wood  trees  of  sufficient  age  and  size  to  furnish  holes  or 
hollow  trunks,  and  that  the  habit  may  be  in  process  of  becoming  hereditary. 

The  barred  owl,  /S.  nebulosum,  of  North  America  is  of  about  the  same  size  as  the 
brown  owl,  and  is  an  abundant  bird  in  wooded  regions  of  the  eastern  United  States, 
being  very  abundant  in  the  Gulf  States,  and  especially  in  Florida  and  Louisiana.  It 
usually  nests  in  hollow  trees,  but  not  unfrequently,  especially  in  the  northern  States, 
in  the  old  nest  of  a  hawk  or  other  large  bird. 

One  of  the  largest  and  finest  birds  of  prey,  and  a  fitting  one  with  which  to  close 
our  account  of  the  Striginae,  is  the  great  gray-owl,  Syrnium  cinereum,  an  extremely 
rare  winter  visitor  to  the  northern  United  States,  probably  only  resident  within  our 
borders  in  Washington  Territory.  It  is  one  of  the  species  common  to  the  northern 
parts  of  both  hemispheres,  and  the  American  race  differs  only  in  darker  colors  from 
S.  lapponicum  of  North  Europe  and  Asia,  figured  on  page  335. 

This  magnificent  bird  measures  from  twenty-eight  to  thirty  inches  in  length,  and 
its  color  is  dark  brown  above,  with  whitish  mottling  on  every  feather;  and  below, 
grayish  white,  the  breast  streaked,  and  the  abdomen  finely  barred  with  deep  brown. 
In  the  northern  parts  of  the  continent  it  is  rather  abundant,  and,  although  fitted  for 


346  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

a  nocturnal  life,  it  of  necessity  hunts  by  daylight  during  the  summer.  But  as  it  is 
essentially  a  forest  bird  it  keeps  in  the  shadow  of  the  trees  as  much  as  possible,  and 
has  been  observed  to  be  most  active  when  the  sun  is  at  its  lowest  point.  Its  food  is 
stated  to  consist  largely  of  hares  and  smaller  mammals,  but  in  Alaska  Mr.  Dall  found 
it  feeding  almost  entirely  on  birds. 

The  structure  and  affinities  of  the  singular  East  Indian  Phodilus  (or  Photodilus) 
have  already  been  briefly  alluded  to,  and,  as  we  are  unable  to  present  any  account  of 
its  habits,  we  need  only  add  here  that  the  single  species,  P.  badius,  is  a  native  of  the 
eastern  parts  of  India,  and  has  been  found  in  Ceylon,  Java,  and  Borneo. 

The  barn-owls  (sub-family  Aluconinae)  form  a  small  group,  the  members  of  which 
resemble  each  other  very  closely,  while  they  differ  strikingly  from  all  other  owls.  We 
have  already  shown  how  different  is  their  bony  structure,  and  their  superficial  appear- 
ance is  equally  remarkable.  The  facial  disk  here  reaches  its  highest  development,  but 
instead  of  being  more  or  less  circular,  as  in  all  other  owls  where  it  is  well  developed, 
it  is  elongated  and  almost  triangular,  giving  the  face  a  most  remarkable  expression, 
not  distantly  resembling  that  of  some  monkeys.  Moreover,  the  head  is  much  pro- 
duced in  front,  the  bill  being  much  longer  proportionally  than  in  other  owls,  while  the 
legs  are  also  long  and  scantily  feathered,  and  the  grotesque  movements  and  strange 
postures  which  the  bird  assumes  still  further  increase  its  singularity  of  appearance. 
The  type  of  the  sub-family  is  the  European  barn-  or  screech-owl,  Aluco  flammeus, 
represented  in  North  America  by  a  slightly  different  form,  the  race  or  sub-species 
pratincola  of  most  authors. 

The  barn-owl  has  a  remarkably  wide  distribution,  its  range  being  greater  than  that 
of  any  other  owl.  It  is  not  found  in  New  Zealand ;  in  America  it  does  not  ordinarily 
pass  north  of  latitude  45°,  and  is  unknown  in  Scandinavia,  but  with  these  exceptions 
it  probably  occurs  all  over  the  world. 

Correlated  with  this  extensive  range,  we  find  great  variability,  and  many  of  the 
more  or  less  permanent  'varieties'  or  races  have  long  been  considered  true  species. 
Tims  North  American  birds  are  almost  invariably  darker  than  average  European  ones ; 
but  a  dark  phase  very  like  that  of  the  American  bird  sometimes  occurs  in  Germany 
or  England,  while  specimens  from  the  West  Indies  are  fully  as  light  colored  as  the 
lightest  Eui'opean  ones,  and  about  equalled  in  this  respect  by  Australian  birds.  Not 
only  do  the  colors  vary  in  kind  and  intensity,  but  the  pattern  of  coloration  is  some- 
what variable ;  some  birds  being  irregularly  barred  below,  others  spotted,  and  still 
others  immaculate  white.  In  most  of  the  races  the  tail  has  from  four  to  six  dark  bars, 
but  Jamaican  birds  have  the  tail  pure  white,  and  English  ones  almost  so.  There  is, 
furthermore,  considerable  difference  in  size,  and  some  slight  difference  in  the  propor- 
tions of  parts.  The  smallest  birds  are  pi-obably  those  of  Europe,  scarcely  exceeded, 
however,  by  the  South  American  form,  while  the  North  American  birds  are  much  larger 
than  the  European,  and  these  again  are  far  excelled  by  those  of  Java  and  Australia. 

All  these  forms  and  many  others  were  formerly  ranked  as  so  many  separate  species, 
but  out  of  fifteen  or  twenty  names  in  general  use  a  score  of  years  ago  for  forms  then 
considei'ed  specifically  distinct,  all  but  four  or  five  are  now  pretty  generally  admitted 
to  indicate  only  geographical  races,  or  light  and  dark  phases  of  the  single  species, 
Aluco  flammeus.  These  four  or  five  seem  to  differ  more  strongly  from  the  common 
type  than  any  of  the  others,  but  it  is  noticeable  that  even  here  the  differences  are 
entirely  of  degree,  and  not  of  kind ;  the  principal  points  being  depth  of  color,  degree 
of  spotting,  and  size  or  shape  of  spots. 


OWLS. 


347 


To  these  must  be  added  the  wide  differences  in  si/e,  but  these  lose  much  of  their 
significance  in  view  of  the  veiy  great  variation  in  this  respect  among  the  different 
races  oiflammeus.  A  small  specimen  of  the  European  barn-owl  (typical  flammeus)  is 
perhaps  not  more  than  thirteen  inches  long,  with  a  wing  measuring  eleven  inches  and 
tail  five.  Its  general  color  may  be  very  nearly  white,  especially  below ;  the  tail  per- 
fectly white,  or  with  only  the  faintest  suggestion  of  orange,  without  dark  bars.  The 
back  and  upper  surface  of  wings  is  pale  orange  or  buff,  delicately  mottled  with  silver 


FIG.  157.  —  Aluco  flammeus,  barn-owl. 

gray,  and  with  many  distinct  white  spots,  each  accompanied  by  a  black  one.  Com- 
pare such  a  bird  with  a  large  female  of  the  barn-owl  of  Van  Dieman's  Land,  A.  cas- 
tanops.  The  latter  is  twenty  or  twenty-one  inches  long;  the  wing  measures  from 
fourteen  to  fifteen  inches,  and  the  tail  about  eight.  The  lower  parts  are  "  deep  golden 
buff,"  with  spots  and  bars  of  blackish ;  the  upper  parts,  including  the  wings,  choco- 
late brown;  the  tail  even  darker,  but  crossed  with  five  or  six  bars  of  "golden  buff," 
while  the  face,  instead  of  being  pure  white  as  in  flammeus,  is  light  chestnut,  with  a 
black  patch  in  front  of  the  eye. 


348  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

i 

They  certainly  appear  very  different,  but  when  we  find  that  they  are,  perhaps,  the 
two  most  different  individuals  which  we  could  have  selected,  and  that  between  them 
we  can  place  forms  which  shall  connect  them  by  almost  every  possible  gradation  of 
color  and  size,  we  ought  to  feel  less  certain  of  their  specific  distinctness  than  we  did 
at  first.  It  is  to  be  borne  in  mind  that  among  owls  the  sexes  usually  differ  very  much 
in  size,  though  they  are  not  known  to  differ  materially  in  plumage ;  and  it  is  also  sig- 
nificant that  the  species  of  Aluco  still  considered  distinct  f rom  flammeus  are  mostly 
but  slightly  known,  and  are  comparatively  rare  in  collections.  Hence,  in  considering 
the  habits  of  the  birds  of  this  genus,  we  shall  ignore  the  rarer  members,  and  speak 
simply  of  the  barn-owl,  meaning  thereby  A.  flammeus,  or  any  of  its  races.  And  first 
we  might  remark  that  the  more  appropriate  name  for  this  bird  is  the  screech-owl,  for 
certainly,  of  all  the  owls  we  have  ever  listened  to,  this  one  has  the  most  typical  and 
unearthly  screech.  It  may  roost  in  a  barn  or  a  ruined  castle  in  England,  or  lay  its 
eggs  in  the  cathedral  belfries  of  France  and  Italy,  or  the  unused  loft  of  a  tobacco  or 
sugar  warehouse  in  our  own  southern  states ;  the  hollow  stub  beside  a  marsh  may 
cradle  its  young  in  Pennsylvania  or  Australia ;  it  may  burrow  in  a  sand  or  clay  bank 
in  Texas,  or  breed  in  the  chinks  and  fissures  of  cliffs  in  California,  or  in  the  open  fork 
of  a  banyan  tree  in  the  Philippine  Islands  ;  but,  disturb  it  by  night  near  any  of  these 
its  chosen  haunts,  and  its  startling  cry  of  dismay,  derision,  or  defiance  as  it  vanishes, 
will  always  be  a  harsh  and  rasping  screech. 

From  the  above  remarks  it  will  be  seen  that  the  nesting  habits  of  this  bird  are 
extremely  various.  Perhaps  it  may  be  said  most  often  to  nest  in  or  about  buildings, 
and  this  seems  to  be  its  habit  in  most  parts  of  the  United  States,  though  in  many 
sections  it  is  known  to  nest  in  hollow  trees,  and  in  parts  of  Texas  it  breeds  abundantly 
in  holes  in  the  banks  of  rivers.  Three  seems  to  be  the  common  number  of  eggs 
hatched  at  once,  but  there  is  considerable  evidence  to  show  that  other  eggs  are  often 
laid  after  the  first  are  hatched,  and  there  are  many  unsettled  questions  with  regard  to 
the  economy  of  the  species.  Its  eggs  have  been  found  in  the  United  States  in  almost 
every  month  of  the  year,  and  it  is  not  impossible  that,  as  Audubon  was  assured  in 
Florida,  these  owls,  like  the  house-pigeons,  breed  at  all  seasons  of  the  year.  In 
Charleston,  S.  C.,  in  October,  Audubon  found  young  several  weeks  old  and  kept 
watch  of  them  for  several  months,  during  which  time  they  were  fed  by  their  parents 
exclusively  on  small  quadrupeds,  mostly  cotton  rats.  When  he  first  saw  the  young 
they  were  clothed  with  a  rich,  cream-colored  down,  and  even  when  three  months  old 
this  had  not  all  given  place  to  true  feathers.  Although  hatched  early  in  October, 
they  were  unable  to  fly  by  the  middle  of  January,  though  apparently  well  fledged. 

In  the  eastern  United  States  this  bird  is  abundant  only  toward  the  south.  In 
New  England  it  is  very  rare,  and,  though  there  is  an  unchallenged  record  of  its 
capture  in  Hamilton,  Ontario,  in  May,  1882,  it  is  not  known  ever  to  have  occurred  in 
Maine,  though  on  the  Pacific  coast  it  is  abundant  in  California,  and  extends  as  far 
north  as  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia.  It  is  an  interesting  and  valuable  bird,  unques- 
tionably beneficial  from  the  numbers  of  small  rodents  it  destroys,  and,  like  many  other 
of  our  owls,  deserving  of  every  protection  and  encouragement  which  will  increase  its 
frequency  in  and  about  our  homes. 

The  only  other  member  of  this  sub-family  at  present  known  is  a  newly  discovered 
Madagascan  genus,  the  type  of  which  has  been  recently  described  by  Alphonse 
Milne-Edwards  under  the  name  Heliodilus  soumagnii. 

WALTER  B.  BARROWS. 


PARROTS.  349 


OKDER  XVI.  —  PSITTACI. 

The  parrots,  though  a  group  so  well  defined  that  the  merest  tyro  at  once  recog- 
nizes their  limits,  have  made  no  little  trouble  for  the  systematic  ornithologist.  Char- 
acters which  in  other  birds  are  deemed  even  of  ordinal  importance  here  vary  in  the 
most  curious  manner  within  the  limits  of  one  genus,  thus  giving  rise  to  the  greatest 
differences  in  the  systematic  arrangement  of  the  group.  These  superficial  characters 
which  at  once,  and  so  forcibly,  strike  the  observer  are,  however,  accompanied  by  cer- 
tain constant  internal  features  of  far  more  importance,  so  that  the  group  is  a  wholly 
natural  one.  Only  a  few  of  these  need  concern  us  here. 

The  parrots  have  the  bill  short  and  stout,  the  upper  half  extending  beyond  and 
turning  down  over  the  lower.  At  the  base  of  the  bill  is  frequently  seen  a  peculiar 
wax-like  patch  (the  cere),  through  which  the  nostrils  open ;  this  cere  is  always  present, 
though  frequently  it  is  concealed  by  the  feathers.  In  the  feet  also,  we  notice  a 
peculiarity  which  we  have  not  before  met  in  the  course  of  our  survey  of  the  birds,  but 
which  will  reappear  again  in  some  of  the  following  groups.  This  is  the  fact  that  two 
of  the  toes  (first  and  fourth)  are  directed  backwards,  while  the  other  two  extend  for- 
ward in  a  normal  manner.  The  tongue  is  usually  large  and  fleshy,  and  serves  to  some 
extent  as  an  organ  of  prehension.  The  upper  mandible  is  loosely  articulated  with  the 
skull ;  the  furculum  or  wish-bone  is  weak  or  wanting.  The  primaries  and  tail  feathers 
are  each  ten  in  number. 

The  grouping  of  the  parrots  is  in  a  state  of  dire  confusion.  The  late  Mr.  A.  H. 
Garrod,  the  former  protector  of  the  Zoological  Society  of  London,  proposed  a  scheme 
in  1874,  based  upon  the  dissections  of  the  muscular  system  and  the  carotid  arteries  of 
some  eighty-two  species,  representing  thirty-eight  genera  and  sub-genera.  In  this  the 
carotid  arteries  were  given  primary  importance,  and  the  ambiens  muscle  was  nearly 
equal  in  systematic  value.  The  results,  however,  were  far  from  satisfactory.  Besides 
not  being  consistent  with  itself,  it  widely  divorced  species  belonging  to  the  same 
genus,  and  when  tested  by  geographical  distribution  gave  the  most  astonishing  results. 
Though  far  from  perfect,  the  arrangement  of  Dr.  Reichenow  is  better  than  any  of 
its  predecessors,  and  for  that  reason  we  adopt  it  here,  though  without  accepting  all  of 
its  details. 

The  number  of  species  of  parrots  is  about  four  hundred  and  thirty,  and  these  are 
arranged  in  nine  families  and  forty-five  genera.  The  parrots  are  mostly  inhabitants  of 
tropical  climates,  though  many  extend  beyond  the  torrid  zone.  Our  Carolina  parrakeet 
reaches  the  furthest  north,  while  in  the  Australasian  region  forms  extend  to  Auckland 
and  Macquarie  Islands  (55°  S.).  It  is  usually  stated  that  the  American  continent  is 
richest  in  species.  This  statement,  however,  is  erroneous.  According  to  Reichenow's 
lists  (1881),  the  American  continent  contains  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  species  and 
sub-species,  while  the  Australasian  region  (south  and  east  of  Wallace's  line)  affords  a 
home  for  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  forms. 

Most  of  the  parrots  have  a  brilliant  plumage,  in  some  the  display  of  colors  being 
such  as  to  afford  very  unpleasant  contrasts ;  others  are  clothed  in  feathers  so  quiet  in 
hue  as  to  give  no  offence  to  any  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends.  In  size  consider- 
able variation  is  to  be  seen.  The  love-birds  are  hardly  larger  than  sparrows,  while  the 
great  macaws  (Sittace)  measure  three  feet  from  the  tip  of  the  bill  to  the  end  of  the 


350  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

tail.  Parrots  usually  associate  together  in  large  flocks,  some  living  in  forests,  others 
on  grassy  plains.  Their  food  is  mostly  of  a  vegetable  nature,  buds,  leaves,  seeds, 
fruit,  and  the  like. 

Their  natural  voice  is  usually  harsh  and  discordant,  but  many  of  the  species,  as  is 
well  known,  possess  great  imitative  powers,  learning  not  only  to  repeat  long  sentences 
but  also  to  reproduce  the  most  complex  sounds  which  they  may  hear.  Capacity  in  this 
direction  varies  not  only  with  the  species  but  with  the  individual. 

Concerning  the  conversational  powers  of  parrots,  page  after  page  could  be  written; 
many  of  their  sayings  seem  so  apt  that  one  can  hardly  escape  the  belief  that  they 
reason  as  well  as  talk.  Instance  after  instance  is  on  record  where  it  would  almost 
seem  as  if  these  birds  took  circumstances  into  consideration  and  knew  the  full  force  of 
what  they  were  saying.  Notwithstanding  the  limitations  of  space,  one  of  these  must 
be  quoted  here.  Mr.  Sharpe  of  the  British  Museum  is  the  authority  for  the  follow- 
ing :  "  A  friend  in  Manchester  told  the  writer  of  a  parrot-show  in  the  north  of  Eng- 
land, where  the  talking  powers  of  each  bird  were  made  the  subject  of  a  prize 
competition.  Several  of  the  birds  had  exhibited  their  powers,  and  at  last  the  cover 
was  removed  from  the  cage  of  a  gray  parrot,  who  at  once  exclaimed,  on  seeing  the 
company  to  which  he  was  suddenly  introduced,  '  By  Jove !  what  a  lot  of  parrots,'  an 
observation  which  gained  him  the  prize  at  once." 

The  owl-parrots  of  New  Zealand  and  Australia  are  admitted  by  all  to  stand  at  the 
bottom  of  the  Psittacine  series,  where  they  form  the  family  STKINGOPIDJE,  of  which 
but  four  species  are  known.  They  have  a  short,  thick,  untoothed  beak ;  short  wings 
which  reach  to  the  base  of  the  rounded  tail ;  the  nostrils  free,  and  surrounded  by  a 
swollen  margin.  The  feathers  are  banded  and  spotted  with  yellow,  green,  and  black. 

Of  the  genus  Stringops  two  species,  both  from  New  Zealand,  are  known,  but  one 
of  these  (S.  greyi)  is  possibly  extinct.  The  genus  may  be  recognized  by  its  moder- 
ately sized  head,  the  long  and  stiff  feathers  on  the  face,  the  grooves  on  the  sides  of 
the  bill,  and  by  having  the  fourth  and  fifth,  or  fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  wing  feathers 
the  longest,  and  the  tail  feathers  pointed.  The  species  rarely  fly,  and,  from  the  effects 
of  disuse,  the  keel  of  the  sternum,  so  greatly  developed  in  most  birds,  has  disappeared, 
and  the  furculum  is  wanting. 

The  owl-parrot,  or  kakapo  (Stringops  habroptilus),  is  interesting  from  its  habits  and 
appearance,  combining  as  it  does  to  a  considerable  extent  those  of  the  owls  as  well  as 
of  the  parrots.  It  was  first  known  from  feathers  in  the  possession  of  the  Maori,  and  it 
was  not  until  1845  that  specimens  came  to  the  hands  of  naturalists.  It  is  largely 
though  not  exclusively  nocturnal,  and  is  a  vegetarian,  feeding  on  roots  as  well  as  on 
leaves  and  tender  twigs.  In  color  it  is  green  with  longitudinal  dashes  of  yellow,  and 
with  interrupted  cross-bars  of  black.  Around  the  eyes  are  discs  like  those  of  the 
owls,  and  here  the  feathers  are  a  light  yellowish  brown.  The  irides  are  dark  brown  or 
black. 

Sir  George  Gray  and  Mr.  A.  G.  Sale  have  written  interesting  accounts  of  this  spe- 
cies, and  from  that  of  the  latter  gentleman  we  make  the  following  extract:  "During 
the  whole  time  that  this  bird  has  been  in  my  possession,  it  has  never  shown  the 
slightest  sign  of  ill-temper,  but  has  invariably  been  good-humored  and  eager  to 
receive  any  attention.  Its  playfulness  is  remarkable.  It  will  run  from  a  corner  of 
the  room,  seize  my  hand  with  claws  and  beak,  and  tumble  over  and  over  with  it, 
exactly  like  a  kitten,  and  then  rush  back  to  be  invited  to  a  fresh  attack.  ...  It  has 
also,  apparently,  a  strong  sense  of  humor.  I  have  sometimes  amused  myself  by  plac- 


PARROTS. 


351 


ing  a  dog  or  cat  close  to  its  cage,  and  it  has  danced  backwards  and  forwards  with 
out-stretched  wings,  evidently  with  the  intention  of  shamming  anger,  and  has  testified 
its  glee  at  the  success  of  the  manoeuvre  by  the  most  absurd  and  grotesque  attitudes. 
One  trick  especially  it  has,  which  it  almost  invariably  uses  when  pleased,  and  that  is 
to  march  about  with  its  head  twisted  round,  and  its  beak  in  the  air,  —  wishing,  I  sup- 
pose, to  see  how  things  look  wrong  way  up,  or  perhaps  it  wishes  to  fancy  itself  in 
New  Zealand  again." 


FIG.  158.  —  Stringops  habroptUus,  owl-parrot. 

The  kakapo  is  described  as  very  intelligent,  and  would  make  a  nice  pet  were  it 
more  cleanly  in  its  habits.  Its  nest  is  placed  under  trees  and  rocks,  and  in  it,  it  lays 
two  or  three  white  eggs.  It  lives  in  holes  in  the  ground,  and  its  flight  is  described  to 
be  much  like  that  of  the  flying  squirrel.  Since  the  advent  of  the  whites,  and  the 
escape  into  the  country  of  cats,  dogs,  and  rats,  these  parrots  have  decreased  in  num- 
ber, and  their  extinction  is  but  a  matter  of  time. 

The  single  species  of  Geopsittacus  (G.  occidentalis)  is  the  ground-parrot  of  south- 
ern and  western  Australia.  Little  is  known  of  its  habits,  which  are  said  to  resemble 


352  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

those  of  the  kakapo.  It  has  an  extraordinarily  large  head.  Pezoporus  formosus 
occupies  the  same  regions  as  Geopsittacus,  and  extends  across  to  Tasmania.  It  has 
longer  wings,  the  second  and  third  quills  being  the  longest. 

The  cockatoos,  forming  the  family  PLICTOLOPHID^E,  are  mostly  confined  to  the 
East  Indian  Archipelago,  Papua,  and  Australia.  One  of  the  most  striking  features  is 
the  crown  of  erectile  feathers  on  the  heads  of  most  of  the  species.  When  quiet  these 
are  usually  but  little  conspicuous ;  but  when  something  excites  the  bird,  up  they  are 
raised,  completely  changing  the  whole  aspect  of  their  possessor.  The  beak  is  strong, 
about  as  high  as  long,  its  upper  half  usually  flattened  or  keeled,  or,  rarely,  rounded 
above.  Its  cutting  edge  is  excavated  behind  the  point.  The  cere  may  be  naked  or 
feathered.  The  wings  are  long  and  pointed,  and,  when  at  rest,  they  cover  half  or 
more  than  half  of  the  tail.  The  tail  may  be  either  short  or  long,  and  its  extremity 
straight  or  rounded ;  never  graduated  or  wedge-shaped. 

The  prevailing  color  of  the  plumage  is  white,  black,  or  brown.  The  latter  color 
occurs  in  Nestor.  White  is  found  as  a  predominant  color  in  no  other  family,  while 
black  exists  only  in  Chalcopsittacus  (one  of  the  lories),  and  in  Coracopsis  (one  of  the 
gray  parrots).  The  females  are  colored  like  the  males,  but  are  recognizable  from  their 
smaller  size  and  shorter  crown  feathers.  All  are  large  forms,  none  being  smaller  than 
doves.  The  common  name,  cockatoo,  is  a  good  phonetic  reproduction  of  the  common 
note  of  many  of  the  species. 

In  their  habits  they  are  very  social.  Not  only  at  the  breeding  season,  but  at  all 
times  of  the  year,  they  form  great  flocks,  usually  living  in  the  tops  of  the  highest  trees 
6f  their  tropical  homes.  Their  nests  are  built  in  hollow  trees,  or  in  clefts  of  the  high, 
rocky  cliffs.  They  are  vegetarians,  and  are  especially  fond  of  grain  and  fruits.  Still, 
exceptions  in  this  respect  are  to  be  noticed.  Licmetis  lives  on  roots  and  bulbs  which 
it  digs  from  the  earth,  while  Calyptorhynchus,  with  its  strong  beak,  tears  the  bark 
and  excavates  the  rotten  wood  of  decayed  trees  in  its  search  for  insects  and  larvas. 
Nestor,  again,  forms  an  exception  which  will  be  noticed  below. 

The  family  of  cockatoos  embraces  thirty-two  species,  arranged  in  five  genera. 
Apparently  the  extinct  Lophopsittacus  mauritanicus  also  belongs  to  the  same  family, 
although  in  some  respects  it  is  allied  to  the  American  genus  Sittace. 

All  of  the  species  of  Nestor,  except  one  from  Papua,  belong  to  the  New  Zealand 
fauna.  They  are  the  most  aberrant  members  of  the  family,  and  in  several  respects 
differ  from  the  diagnosis  given  above.  They  lack  the  long  crown  feathers  of  the 
others,  have  a  tail  only  half  as  long  as  the  wings,  its  extremity  straight,  an  elongate 
bill,  the  upper  half  of  which  frequently  extends  quite  a  distance  beyond  the  lower. 
Indeed,  the  whole  facies  of  these  birds  is  such  that  they  are  frequently  arranged  in  the 
family  Trichoglossidae. 

Half-way  between  New  Zealand  and  New  Caledonia  are  two  small  islands,  Norfolk 
and  Philip.  On  the  latter  is  (or,  rather,  was)  found  the  Philip  Island  parrot,  Nestor 
productus.  This  small  island  has  an  area  of  only  about  five  square  miles,  and  only  here 
occurred  this  species.  Though  Norfolk  Island  is  distant  but  four  miles,  this  parrot 
has  never  been  found  there.  With  this  extremely  restricted  distribution  it  is  no 
wonder  that  it  has  now  become  extinct.  It  was  fond  of  soft,  succulent  vegetables, 
and  was  said,  by  the  aid  of  its  long  hooked  beak,  to  dig  roots  from  the  eai'th.  Still, 
like  all  the  genus,  it  was  fond  of  honey  and  the  nectar  of  flowers.  In  color  it  was  brown 
above,  red  below,  breast,  throat,  and  cheeks  yellow.  The  Norfolk  Island  parrot,  N. 
norfolcensis,  a  similar  species,  with  the  top  of  the  head  green,  is  also  said  to  be  extinct. 


PARROTS. 


353 


In  New  Zealand  the  kaka  parrot  (JV.  meridionalis)  has  made  itself  something  of  a 
nuisance.  Since  these  islands  were  settled,  and  sheep-raising  has  become  a  prominent 
industry,  the  kaka  has  largely  forsaken  its  diet  of  fruit,  vegetables,  and  honey,  and 
developed  into  a  bird  of  prey.  Whenever  a  sheep  dies  in  the  fields,  the  kakas  gather 
and  devour  its  flesh.  But  they  are  not  content  with  this.  They  are  said  to  perch  on 
the  backs  of  the  animals  when  alive,  and,  with  their  strong  beaks,  to  tear  out  pieces  of 


h/. 


FIG.  159.  —  Plictolophus  moluccensis,  rose-crested  cockatoo. 

flesh  for  food.  The  ordinary  note  of  this  species  is  said  to  resemble  the  bark  of  a 
small  dog,  but  it  is  also  capable  of  imitating  other  sounds,  and,  if  properly  taught,  of 
talking. 

Licmetis  contains  two  long-billed,  white  species  from  Australia,  popularly  known 
as  the  slender-billed  and  the  digging  cockatoo  (L.  nasicus  and  L.  pastinator).  As 
the  name  indicates,  one  species  digs  in  the  earth  for  its  food. 

The  true  cockatoos  belong  to  the  genus  Cacatua  or  Plictolophus.  With  two 
exceptions,  the  fifteen  species  are  white.  They  have  a  short,  high  bill  rounded  or 
VOL.  iv.  —  23 


354  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

grooved  above,  and  hollowed  below ;  the  cere  is  naked  or  feathered,  the  tail  is  short 
and  truncate,  and  a  well  developed  crown  is  present.  The  genus  embraces  some  fif- 
teen species,  and  several  well  marked  varieties,  or,  as  they  are  called,  sub-species ;  all 
come  from  the  eastern  islands  extending  from  Malaysia  to  Australia. 

Almost  every  menagerie  and  zoological  garden  boasts  several  species  of  this  genus, 
those  mentioned  below  being  possibly  the  most  common  in  confinement.  They  make 
very  interesting  pets,  crying  now  "  cockatoo,"  now  "  pretty  cocky,"  or  screaming  with 
a  voice  far  from  musical. 

The  white-crested  cockatoo  (P.  albus)  comes  from  the  Mollucca  Islands.  It  is 
everywhere  white  except  on  the  insides  of  some  of  the  wing  feathers.  It  reaches  a 
length  of  about  eighteen  inches.  Usually  its  conversational  powers  are  rather  limited, 
but  occasionally  specimens  are  seen  which  can  talk  considerably,  but  their  voice  is 
always  loud. 

Even  more  common  is  the  yellow-crested  cockatoo  (P.  galerita).  It  comes  from 
Australia  and  Tasmania,  and  is  the  most  docile  of  the  genus.  It  is  readily  distinguished 
from  the  species  just  mentioned  by  the  fact  that  the  feathers  of  its  crest  are  sulphur- 
yellow,  and  its  size  somewhat  larger  (about  twenty-two  inches).  A  third  species,  the 
pink  cockatoo,  receives  its  name  (P.  leadbeateri)  from  Mr.  Leadbeater,  an  English 
naturalist,  who  owned  the  first  specimen  brought  to  Europe.  The  color  is  white 
above,  slightly  suffused  with  pink,  while  the  crest  is  barred  with  crimson,  yellow,  and 
white.  Below,  the  feathers  are  also  crimson.  In  size  it  is  intermediate  between  the 
two  forms  previously  mentioned.  The  last  species  which  our  space  will  permit  us  to 
notice  is  the  rose-crested  or  Mollucca  cockatoo,  Plissolophns  moluccensis,  a  bird  about 
the  size  of  the  great  yellow-crested  form,  with  a  roseate  or  vermilion  crest.  As  its 
name  indicates,  it,  comes  from  the  Spice  Islands. 

In  their  native  woods  these  cockatoos  form  large  flocks,  which  raise  an  almost 
intolerable  din.  This  is  not  their  only  fault,  for  in  those  regions  where  civilized  man 
has  settled,  they  commit  no  inconsiderable  depredations  on  his  fields.  In  the  aviaries 
of  a  zoological  garden,  one  can  watch  them  for  hours  without  tiring.  At  one  moment 
they  are  climbing  about  quietly,  using  both  beak  and  feet  in  the  operation ;  the  next 
instant  they  are  all  excitement,  every  feather  is  raised,  and  the  crest  is  expanded  and 
shut  with  considerable  rapidity.  Instead  of  the  soft  "  cockatoo "  which  they  were 
saying  a  moment  before,  they  are  yelling  and  screeching  in  a  manner  indicative  of 
great  passion.  The  cause  of  the  anger,  if  anger  it  be,  is  usually  some  inconsiderable 
trifle,  or  possibly  some  person  whose  appearance  or  adornment  does  not  suit  them. 

Passing  by  the  seven  species  of  helmeted  cockatoos  (Calyptorhynchus),  all  of 
which  come  from  Australia  or  the  adjacent  islands,  we  close  the  family  with  the 
arara  cockatoo,  the  only  member  of  the  genus  Microglossus.  Like  most  others  of  the 
genus,  it  has  an  erectile  crest,  but  may  be  distinguished  by  its  feathered  cere,  its 
bare  cheeks,  its  sharp,  toothed  beak,  and  its  long,  rounded  tail.  This  species  (M. 
aterrimus),  when  adult,  is  black,  but  in  its  younger  stages  is  banded  with  yellow.  In 
absolute  size  it  is  the  largest  of  parrots,  measuring  from  twenty-eight  to  thirty-two 
inches  in  length,  though  some  of  the  macaws,  with  their  longer  tails,  exceed  these 
dimensions,  though  with  far  smaller  body.  The  great  black  cockatoo,  or  palm- 
cockatoo,  as  this  species  is  also  called,  ranges  from  the  Malayan  Islands  south  to  the 
north  coast  of  Australia.  The  generic  name,  Microglossus,  means  little  tongue,  and  is 
suggested  by  the  peculiarities  of  that  organ. 

The  PLATYCERCID^E  have  the  short  thick  beak  higher  than  long,  its  lower  half 


PARROTS. 


355 


often  completely  hidden  by  feathers,  the  upper  toothed  or  entire.  The  cere  is  small, 
frequently  feathered  to  the  nostrils,  and  more  or  less  wrinkled ;  the  tail  is  long, 
usually  exceeding  the  pointed  wings  in  length.  All  of  the  sixty-six  species  inhabit  the 
eastern  hemisphere,  Australia  forming  the  centre  of  their  distribution.  They  are 
strong  fliers,  and  live  largely  on  the  seeds  of  various  grasses  and  other  plants.  They 
are  not  stationary,  but  move  from  place  to  place  according  to  the  abundance  or 
scarcity  of  their  favorite  food.  They  place  their  nests  in  hollow  gum-trees  and 


FIG.  160.  —  Aficroglossus  aterrimus,  black,  or  arara  cockatoo. 

Euphorbias.  They  are  usually  brilliantly  colored,  the  two  sexes  differing  in  their 
ornamentation,  and  the  female  being  smaller  than  the  male.  The  young  are  usually 
colored  like  the  female. 

The  three  genera,  Melopsittacus^  Callipsittacus,  and  Nanodes,  are  Australian,  and 
each  contains  but  a  single  species.  The  zebra  grass-parakeet,  M.  undulatus,  is  about 
seven  inches  long,  yellowish  green,  with  fine  dark  undulating  lines  on  the  head  and 
neck,  a  patch  of  blue  on  the  cheek,  the  upper  parts  brownish  green,  beneath  grass- 


356 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


green ;  the  two  middle  tail  feathers  are  blue,  the  rest  green.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
abundant  species  in  Australia,  and  has  been  exported  in  large  numbers  to  England 
and  America.  Its  natural  voice  instead  of  being  a  harsh  screech  is  soft  and  musical, 
and  the  bird  makes  a  pretty  pet,  frequently  breeding  in  confinement. 

The  crested  ground-parakeet  (Callipsittacus  novce-hottandice)  is  mottled  with 
brown,  gray,  and  white,  with  a  little  yellow  and  red  upon  the  head.  Like  the  preced- 
ing it  is  a  gregarious  species,  migrating  to  the  north  in  February  and  March  and 


FIG.  161.  —  Melopsittacus  undulatus,  zebra  grass-parakeet. 

returning  to  the  southern  shore  of  the  island  continent  in  September.  It  runs  well 
upon  the  ground,  is  far  from  shy,  and  is  said  to  be  very  good  for  food. 

The  genus  Cyanorhamphus  contains  fourteen  species  from  South  Seas,  all  bril- 
liantly colored,  and  some  of  them  noticeable  for  their  extreme  southern  range,  being 
found  on  Auckland  and  Macquarie  Island,  away  to  the  south  of  New  Zealand.  The 
grass-parakeets  of  the  genus  Euphema,  seven  in  number,  are  bright-colored  and  occur 
in  Australia  and  Tasmania.  Most  of  them  bear  confinement  well. 

The  genus  Platycercus  is  the  largest  of  the  family,  embracing,  according  to  Reiche- 


PARROTS. 


357 


now,  forty-one  species,  distributed  from  the  Malay  Islands  over  the  South  Sea  Islands 
to  Australia  and  Tasmania.  From  the  other  genera  of  the  family  they  differ  in 
having  the  tail  feathers  of  the  same  size  throughout  their  length,  and  longer  than  the 
wings,  the  four  middle  ones  unequal  and  longer  than  the  rest.  The  feathers  of  the 
back  are  lancet-shaped,  and  one  feature,  which  is  almost  characteristic  of  the  genus,  is 
that  all  the  feathers  have  a  dark  centre  and  a  lighter  margin.  The  species  are  grega- 
rious, and,  while  grass  seeds  form  the  bulk  of  their  food,  they  feed  also  on  flowers  and 
various  insects.  All  are  brilliantly  colored,  and  are  killed  extensively  for  food  by  the 
inhabitants  of  the  regions  where  they  occur.  Some  are  frequently  kept  as  cage-birds, 
the  rosella  parrot  (P.  eximius)  being  an  especial  favorite.  It  is  active  and  lively, 


FIG.  162.  —  I'latycerux  e.rimiux,  rosella  parakeet. 

and  its  colors  are  so  bright  that  we  must  take  space  to  describe  them.  The  head  and 
back  of  the  neck  are  scarlet ;  below,  the  chin  and  neck  are  white.  The  feathers  of  the 
back  are  dark  green,  edged  with  a  beautiful  lighter  green,  and  this  latter  color  is  also 
seen  in  the  tail-coverts.  The  breast  is  yellow,  shading  on  the  belly  into  green. 

A  few  small  parrots  with  strong  bills,  which  are  higher  than  long,  tails  shorter 
than  the  wings,  a  cere  like  that  of  the  last  family,  or  in  the  shape  of  a  band  surmount- 
ing the  base  of  the  bill,  form  the  family  MICKOPSITTACID^E.  Their  distribution  is 
much  like  that  of  the  last  family,  except  that  Papua  seems  to  be  their  metropolis.  Of 
their  habits  but  little  is  known  except  that  their  food  consists  largely  of  soft  fruits, 
supplemented  by  insects. 


358 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


Three  genera,  Psittacella,  Cydopsittacus,  and  Nasiterna,  represented  by  eighteen 
species  are  recognized,  but  so  little  are  they  known  that  only  the  last  mentioned  has 
received  a  common  name,  —  pigmy  parrots.  In  size  they  are  the  smallest  of  the 
order,  and  in  their  coloration  green  predominates,  relieved  by  blue,  scarlet,  yellow, 
and  other  colors.  In  Nasiterna  the  tail  is  rounded  and  the  shafts  of  the  feathers 
extend  beyond  the  barbs. 

The  lories  form  the  family  TRICHOGLOSSID^E,  and  have  about  the  same  distribution 
as  the  Micropsittacidae  and  Platycercidaj.  The  characters  of  their  bill  and  tongue  at 

once  separate  them  from  all 
others.  The  former  is  as 
long  as  or  longer  than  high, 
smooth  and  usually  without 
distinct  teeth,  while  the  tip 
of  the  tongue  is  beset  with' 
bundles  of  bristly  papillae 
(except  in  the  genus  Coryl- 
lis).  The  cere  is  broadest  on 
the  top  of  the  bill,  and  runs 
down  on  either  side  to  a 
point.  The  tail  varies  in 
shape  with  the  genus,  but 
is  usually  shorter  than  the 
pointed  wings.  The  lories 
are  quick  flyers,  and  jump 
about  among  the  branches, 
but  do  not  climb,  as  do  many 
of  the  forms  yet  to  be  des- 
cribed. Soft  fruits  form  the 
bulk  of  their  food,  but,  as 
the  structure  of  their  tongue 
would  indicate,  they  are  very 


fond  of  the  nectar  of  flow- 
ers. They  form  large  flocks, 
sometimes  thousands  being 
found  together,  when  the  noise  of  their  loud  voices  is  almost  deafening.  In  all, 
eighty-eight  species  are  recognized. 

The  typical  genus,  Trichoglossus,  embraces  half  the  family.  In  size  they  are 
between  a  sparrow  and  a  dove ;  in  their  coloration  green  pi-edominates,  and  next  in 
order  comes  red,  especially  on  the  breast.  The  long  tails  taper  to  a  rounded  point, 
and  hence  the  species  are  known  as  the  wedge-tailed  lories.  The  species  which  we 
figure  comes  from  South  Australia,  and  is  known  as  Swainson's  lory.  Its  back,  wings, 
and  tail  are  green,  its  head  and  belly  blue,  breast  red,  sides  yellow,  and  the  other  parts 
variously  mottled  with  all  of  these  colors.  Its  favorite  habitat  is  in  the  gum-trees 
(Eucalyptus)  which  form  so  prominent  a  feature  in  the  vegetation  of  the  country. 
From  the  large  flowers  of  these  trees  it  extracts  honey,  varying  its  diet  with  insects. 
It  lays  two  eggs  in  the  hollows  of  the  highest  gum-trees. 

Closely  allied  are  the  broad-tailed  lories  belonging  to  the  genus  Domlcella.  Their 
tails  are  shorter  than  the  wings,  and,  as  the  common  name  indicates,  are  broad,  the 


FIG.  163.  —  Nasiterna pygmcea,  pigmy  parrot. 


PARROTS. 


359 


feathers  never  being  pointed  at  the  extremity.  Some  twenty-two  species  are  known, 
all  from  the  Austro-Malay  region.  The  prevailing  color  is  red,  variously  marked 
and  mottled  with  blue,  though  occasionally  one  may  be  green,  brown,  or  even  black. 

Passing  by  the  genus  Coriphilus,  with  its  five  species,  we  come  to  Coryllis,  the 
genus  of  bat-parrots,  characterized  by  having  the  tail  but  about  half  as  long  as  the 
pointed  wings,  and  the  tongue  without  the  papilla?,  noted  as  characteristic  of  the  family. 
Indeed,  so  different  are  they  in  habits  as  well  as  structure  from  the  other  members  of 
the  family  that  their  separation,  at  least  as  a  sub-family,  seems  warranted.  They 
have  not  the  strong  flight  of  the  others,  but  jump  about  either  when  on  the  earth  or 


FIG.  164.  —  Trichoglossus  novce-holland'ue,  Swainson's  lory. 

among  the  branches.  They  do  not  have  as  varied  a  voice  as  the  others,  but  utter 
only  a  single  note.  Most  noticeable  among  them  is  their  mode  of  rest.  When 
sleeping  or  even  when  eating,  they  hang  head  downward  from  the  branches  of  the 
trees  or  the  bars  of  their  cage.  They  reach  much  farther  north  than  the  rest  of  the 
family,  some  being  found  in  southern  China  and  Ceylon,  but  the  majority  come  from 
the  Malays.  Many  have  been  carried  to  Europe,  where  they  form  interesting  pets. 
They  are  readily  tamed  and  become  very  affectionate.  The  prevailing  color  is  green. 
The  species  figured  is  the  blue-crowned  hanging-parakeet  of  Malacca,  Sumatra,  and 
the  adjacent  islands.  Its  native  food  is  fruit  and  berries,  but  in  captivity  it  thrives 
on  canary  seed,  especially  if  this*is  varied  occasionally  by  ant  pupse  or  insects. 

The  PALuEOKNiTHiD^E  extend  farther  west  than  the  families  so  far  mentioned,  for 
while  some  occur  in  the  Austro-Malay  region,  others  are  found  in  India  and  Africa. 


360 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


They  have  a  strongly  developed  beak,  higher  than  long,  but  without  distinct  teeth  in 
its  margins.  In  color  the  beak  is  usually  red,  but  it  may  be  black  or  lead  color ;  what- 
ever its  color,  it  always  has  a  waxy  appearance,  by  which  these  birds  can  readily  be 
separated  from  all  the  other  parrots.  The  small  cere  extends  across  the  beak,  and  is  as 
wide  at  the  sides  as  at  the  middle ;  it  is  frequently  partly  feathered.  The  tail  may  be 
long  and  tapering,  or  broad,  straight,  and  short ;  the  second  and  third  (rarely  first  and 
second)  wing  feathers  are  the  longest.  The  general  coloration  is  green.  In  habits  the 
greatest  diversity  is  found,  and  no  general  summary  will  answer  for  all,  as  in  the  fami- 
lies already  mentioned. 


Q 


FIG.  165.  —  Coryllls  galgulus,  blue-crowned  hanging-parakeet. 


First  to  be  mentioned  is  the  now  extinct  Madagascar  parrot,  Mascarinus  obscurus. 
At  about  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  living  specimens  were  brought  Jo 
Europe,  and  yet,  to-day,  specimens  are  to  be  found  only  in  the  museums  of  Paris  and 
Vienna.  Its  general  color  was  brown,  with  the  head  and  the  base  of  the  tail  griseous, 
the  beak  red. 

Turning  now  to  the  living  forms,  Palceornis  must  be  mentioned  first.  This  genus 
embraces  some  twenty-two  forms  of  long-tailed  parrots  which  have  no  bare  space  near 
the  eye.  They  inhabit  Madagascar  and  the  Oriental  regions.  They  are  sociable 
birds  with  loud  screeching  voice.  The  sexes  are  distinguished  by  the  different  color 
of  the  bill,  —  red  in  the  males,  black  or  yellow  in  the  females. 


PARROTS. 


361 


Apparently  one  species  of  this  family  was  known  to  the  ancients.  Onesicrites,  the 
admiral  of  Alexander  the  Great,  brought  from  Ceylon  a  green  parrot  with  a  red  ring 
around  its  neck.  Some  have  regarded  this  as  the  form  known  to  science  as  Palceornis 
etipatrius,  while  Linne  thought  he  recognized  the  ancient  form  in  a  species  from  Java, 
which  he  therefore  called  P.  alexandri.  Now  most  people  think  that  the  common 
ring-parrot  of  India,  the  Palceornis  torgruatus,  was  the  bird  brought  by  Alexander's 
sailors.  Others  more  or  less  closely  allied  were  brought  to  Greece  and  Rome  from 


FIG.  16fi.  —  Palceornls  torquatus,  ring-parrot. 

Africa.     These  were  the  only  parrots  then  known,  and  from  their  beauty,  as  well  as 
their  docility  and  powers  of  speech,  they  were  great  favorites. 

The  ring-parrot  occurs  both  in  India  and  Africa.  In  the  former  country  it  is  one 
of  the  most  abundant  of  the  order,  not  only  in  the  forests,  but  even  about  towns  and 
villages.  It  forms  a  pest  in  some  localities  on  account  of  its  ravages  in  the  fields  and 
gardens.  It  associates  in  large  flocks,  sometimes  of  thousands,  and  when  these  descend 
on  a  field  of  grain,  the  amount  they  consume  is  of  considerable  account.  It  has  a  harsh 
cry,  and  learns  to  repeat  a  few  words,  but  is  not  nearly  so  good  a  talker  as  some  of  the 
other  species. 


362 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


The  species  of  Tanygnathus,  from  the  Malay  region,  are  much  like  the  forms  just 
mentioned  in  their  habits,  but  they  differ  from  them  in  their  larger  bill  and  smaller 
tail.  JEclectus  shares  with  the  Trichoglossidae  the  common  name  lory.  Its  four 
species  are  Malayan;  they  are  not  sociable  birds,  and  are  most  abundant  in  the 
denser  forests.  The  racket-tailed  parrots  (Prionitumis)  come  from  the  same  region. 
Their  colors  are  largely  blue,  green,  and  yellow,  while  the  fact  that  their  two  middle 
tail  feathers  terminate  in  broad  spatules  gives  rise  to  the  common  name. 


FIG.  167.  —  Ayrtpornis  roseicollis,  red-faced  love-bird. 

Some  of  the  love-birds  are  embraced  in  the  genus  Agap^nis.  They  are  very 
small  parrots,  with  a  short  rounded  tail,  and  with  a  plumage  of  which  the  prevailing 
color  is  green.  Their  popular  name  is  well  appli^,  tor  they  are  most  affectionate 
creatures,  not  only  when  in  confinement,  but  in  their  native  wilds,  the  forests  of  the 
Ethiopian  region.  Usually  they  are  kept  in  pr.irs,  and  the  closeness  with  which  they 
snuggle  up  to  each  other  bears  testimony  to  their  mutual  regard.  Our  figure  shows 
the  red-faced  love-bird  (A.  roseicollis)  from  s«  mthwestern  Africa. 


PARROTS. 


363 


The  gray  parrots,  forming  the  family  PSITTACID^E,  are  few  in  number,  and  are  con- 
fined to  Africa  and  Madagascar.  They  have  a  broad  cere  covering  the  whole  base 
of  the  upper  bill;  there  is  a  naked  space  around  the  eye,  the  upper  mandible  is 
rounded  and  smooth,  and  its  cutting  edges  are  without  teeth.  The  wings  are  rather 
long,  and  the  tail,  about  as  long  as  the  wings,  is  straight  or  weakly  rounded.  Their 
plumage  is  gray  or  blackish,  and  they  are  without  the  bright  feathers  so  characteristic 
of  most  members  of  the  order,  but  to  compensate  they  are  among  the  best  talkers  of 


Fio.  168.  —  Psittacus  erithacus,  jako,  gray-parrot. 


the  group.  They  fly  poorly,  but  walk  about  on  the  ground,  or  climb  with  great  agility 
among  the  branches  of  the  trees.  They  are  very  social  and  live  in  vast  flocks,  feeding 
on  the  fruits  and  especially  on  the  grains  of  the  region,  sometimes  committing  serious 
depredations  on  the  fields  of  the  colonists. 

Two  genera  are  recognized,  Coracopsis  and  Psittacus.  The  former  embraces  the 
Vaza-parrots  of  Madagascar,  species  which  show  many  points  of  resemblance  to  the 
extinct  Mascarine  parrot  mentioned  on  a  preceeding  page.  Of  the  two  species  of 


364 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


Psittacus,  P.  erithacus,  the  jako  of  west  and  central  Africa  is  best  known,  but  though 
this  species  has  been  common  in  Europe  for  three  hundred  years,  almost  nothing  is 
known  of  its  habits  in  its  native  country.  One  curious  fact  deserves  mention.  In 
the  Gulf  of  Guinea  are  two  islands,  St.  Thomas  and  Prince's,  separated  by  a  distance  of 
less  than  a  hundred  miles.  On  the  latter  the  gray  parrots  are  extremely  common, 
"  but  not  a  single  kite  is  met  with  on  the  island.  On  the  neighboring  island  of  St. 


FIG.  169.  —  Sittace  hyacinthina,  hyacinth  macaw. 

Thomas  there  is  an  abundance  of  black  kites,  but  not  a  single  parrot,  between  whom 
and  the  kites  a  constant  warfare  is  waged,  so  that,  should  one  of  the  latter  get  driven 
over  to  Prince's  Island  he  is  almost  immediately  set  upon  by  the  parrots  and  slaugh- 
tered; and  the  compliment  is  returned  if  a  parrot  is  so  unfortunate  as  to  land 
uninvited  on  St.  Thomas's." 

With  the  largest  family  of  parrots,  the  CONURID^E,  we  turn  our  steps  to  the  New 
World,  to  which  all  of  the  ninety-three  known  species  belong.     They  have  strong  bills, 


.MACAWS. 


PARROTS.  365 

the  upper  half  of  which  may  be  either  smooth  or  grooved,  its  cutting  edges  being 
toothed.  The  cere  is  large  and  even  in  width  across  the  base  of  the  bill,  and  is  either 
naked  or  feathered.  The  tapering  and  long  tail  readily  separates  these  birds  from  the 
other  New  World  forms,  while  from  the  Platycercidae  of  the  eastern  hemisphere 
they  may  be  distinguished  by  having  the  two  median  tail  .feathers  longer  than  the 
others. 

First  in  the  order  comes  the  genus  Sittace  which  embraces  the  macaws.  These 
are  the  largest  of  the  parrots,  brilliantly  plumaged  birds  but  with  the  colors  laid  on  in 
utter  defiance  of  human  ideas  of  beauty ;  shades  of  red  and  blue  which  do  not  harmon- 
ize are  placed  side  by  side,  while  the  contrasts  between  these  and  the  greens  and 
yellows  which  also  occur  is  far  from  pleasing.  In  short,  many  appear  like  night- 
mares of  color.  They  are  separable  from  others  of  the  family  by  having  the  orbital 
region  and  cheeks  naked  or  clothed  with  small  feathers ;  and  the  second  and  third  | 
feathers  of  the  wing  long,  the  first  shorter. 

Of  the  eighteen  species  only  two  or  three  can  be  mentioned.  First  comes  the 
hyacinth  macaw,  S.  hyacinthina,  of  Brazil  which  reaches  a  length  of  three  feet.  Its 
general  color  is  cobalt  blue,  with  yellow  chin  and  orbital  region.  Of  equal  size  is  the 
great  scarlet  macaw,  S.  coccinea,  but  it  is  more  abundant  and  more  widely  distributed, 
extending  from  Mexico  to  northern  Brazil.  The  prevailing  color  is  red,  but  this  is 
varied  on  wings,  tail,  and  back  with  blue  and  yellow.  The  green  macaw,  S.  militaris, 
with  the  same  distribution  as  the  last,  is  somewhat  smaller,  having  a  total  length  of 
about  two  feet  and  a  half. 

The  macaws  are  noisy  birds  with  harsh  and  unpleasant  voices.  They  do  not  talk 
well,  and  only  with  difficulty  can  they  be  taught  a  few  words.  They  make  their  nests 
in  hollow  trees,  lay  but  two  eggs  at  a  time,  and  raise  two  broods  in  a  season. 
They  are  far  from  timorous  birds,  and  the  hunters  have  no  difficulty  in  bagging  large 
numbers  of  them.  Their  harsh  voices  make  them  unpleasant  as  pets. 

Of  the  genus  Conurus,  a  single  species  enters  the  United  States,  but  further  south 
the  species  are  more  numeixms,  some  thirty  being  known,  one  extending  its  range  to 
the  Strait  of  Magelhaen.  Some  are  large,  others  small;  the  prevailing  colors  are 
green.  The  larger  ones  are  poor  talkers,  or  cannot  articulate  at  all,  but  some  of  the 
smaller  species  acquire  considerable  proficiency  in  this  direction.  The  only  species 
needing  mention  is  the  Carolina  parakeet,  Conurus  carolinensis. 

The  Carolina  parrot,  the  only  species  of  the  order  which  enters  the  territory  of  the 
United  States,  is  apparently  doomed  to  early  extinction.  At  the  time  when  Wilson 
wrote  (1811),  it  extended  north  to  the  Ohio  and  even  beyond,  while  Barton  states 
that  in  January,  1780,  a  large  flock  was  observed  twenty-five  miles  north  of  Albany, 
N.  Y.  To-day  the  distribution  is  much  restricted.  They  still  occur  in  considerable 
numbers  in  Florida  and  some  of  the  southern  states  west  of  the  Mississippi  river.  In 
color  the  Carolina  parakeet  is  generally  greenish,  inclining  to  yellow  below,  and  with 
the  head  and  neck  yellow,  the  forehead  brick  red.  Though  an  inhabitant  of  our  own 
country,  it  has  not  yet  been  settled  whether  the  adults  of  both  sexes  agree  in  color. 
Females  have  been  killed  with  the  head  and  neck  green  like  those  of  young  birds,  but 
it  is  not  known  whether  this  is  the  color  of  the  adult  female  or  merely  characteristic 
of  birds  of  the  second  year. 

In  regard  to  breeding  habits  a  somewhat  similar  uncertainty  exists.  All  agree 
that  it  makes  its  nest  in  hollow  trees,  and  that  the  oval  eggs  equally  curved  at  each 
end  are  of  a  uniform  dull  white,  or  greenish  white,  but  the  nests  are  so  rarely  seen  by 


366 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


scientific  observers,  that  our  information  on  other  points  is  extremely  deficient.  Au- 
dubon  thinks  that  several  females  lay  in  the  same  nest,  and  that  each  bird  only  lays  two 
eggs.  They  feed  largely  on  the  cockle-burr  (Xanthium  strumaritim),  but  they  also  are 
very  fond  of  cultivated  grains.  Indeed  it  is  to  the  fact  that  their  depredations  in  the 
fields  of  the  farmer  are  (QT  have  been)  of  serious  extent  that  a  large  part  of  their  per- 
secution is  due.  This  is  not  the  sole  cause  for  their  diminution  in  numbers  and 
range.  So-called  sportsmen  shoot  them  in  large  numbers  for  the  mere  purpose  of 


FIG.  170.  —  Conurus  carolinensis,  Carolina  parrot. 

killing  as  many  as  they  can.  Professional  bird-hunters  take  hundreds  every  year  in 
Florida  and  send  them  to  the  north.  All  these  elements  are  tending  toward  the 
destruction  of  the  species. 

Nineteen  species  of  Pyrrhura,  the  red-tailed  parakeets,  are  known,  all  with  three 
exceptions  from  Brazil,  one  reaching  as  far  north  as  Mexico.  They  are  all  small. 
Brotogerys,  also  Brazilian,  contains  eleven  species,  while  Bolborhynchus,  with  seven 
species,  reaches  north  to  Mexico,  and  south  to  the  Argentine  Republic.  One  species, 
the  monk  or  gray-breasted  parakeet  (B.  monachus),  differs  from  all  other  parrots  in  its 
nidification.  All  parrots,  with  this  exception,  nest  in  hollow  trees,  or  in  clefts  in  the  rocks. 
The  monk  parakeet,  on  the  other  hand,  builds  a  free  ball-shaped  nest,  with  a  lateral 


PARROTS.  367 

entrance  to  the  small  interior.  The  species  of  Psittacula,  seven  in  number,  range 
from  Mexico  to  northern  Brazil.  They  are  small  birds,  green  and  blue  in  coloration. 

The  PIONID^E — parrots  with  short,  broad,  and  straight  tails,  half  as  long  as  the 
wings  ;  strong  bill,  with  the  upper  half  grooved  and  toothed  near  the  tip ;  the  cere 
extending  across  the  base  of  the  bill,  produced  in  front  of  the^  nostrils,  and  naked ;  and 
a  green  coloration  prevailing — are  found  in  both  tropical  America  and  tropical  Africa. 
At  the  breeding  season  they  separate  into  pairs,  but  at  other  times  they  form  large, 
sometimes  enormous,  flocks.  On  the  ground  the  larger  species  are  awkward,  but  the 
smaller  ones  are  perfectly  at  home.  Their  natural  voice  is  harsh,  but  they  are  all  good 
talkers,  some  being  excelled  in  this  respect  only  by  the  jako.  Over  eighty  species  are 
known,  seventy  belonging  to  the  New  World. 

Of  the  genera,  Androglossa  (  Chrysotis)  is  the  largest  and  best  known.  It  con- 
tains the  green  parrots  known  as  Amazons.  These  are  distributed  over  Mexico,  the 
West  Indies,  and  South  America.  They  are  so  much  alike  in  habits  that  a  descrip- 
tion of  one  will  answer  pretty  well  for  all.  Mr.  Gosse,  in  describing  the  Jamaican 
species,  says :  — 

"  Flocks  varying  from  half  a  dozen  to  twenty  or  thirty  fly  hither  and  thither  over 
the  forest,  screeching  as  they  go,  and  all  alight  together  on  some  tree  covered  with 
berries.  Here  they  feast,  but  with  caution.  On  a  slight  alarm  one  screams,  and  the 
whole  flock  is  on  the  wing,  vociferous  if  not  musical,  and  brilliant  if  not  beautiful, 
particularly  when  the  sun  shines  on  their  green  backs  and  crimsoned  wings.  They 
generally  prefer  lofty  trees,  except  when,  in  June,  the  ripe  yellow  plantain  tempts 
them  to  descend,  or  when  the  blackberry  shines  on  the  pimento.  Of  the  latter,  the 
flocks  devour  an  immense  quantity,  and  the  former  they  destroy  by  cutting  it  to  pieces 
with  their  powerful  beaks,  to  get  at  the  small  seeds.  One  day  in  January,  when  the 
pimento  on  the  brow  of  Bluefields  Mountain  was  about  ready  for  picking,  being  full- 
sized,  but  yet  green  and  hard,  I  observed  large  flocks  of  black-bills  [A.  agilis],  and  a 
few  parakeets  flying  to  and  fro  with  voluble  chatter,  now  alighting  to  feed  on  the  hot 
aromatic  berry,  now  flying  off  and  wheeling  round  to  the  same  neighborhood  again. 
...  Of  two  which  I  shot  on  this  occasion,  I  found  the  crop  stuffed  with  the  cotyle- 
dons of  the  seed  alone,  the  most  pungently  aromatic  part  of  the  berry ;  the  fleshy 
part  having  been,  as  I  presume,  shorn  off  by  the  beak  and  rejected.  When  alighted, 
as  is  often  the  case,  on  a  dry  branch,  their  emerald  hue  is  conspicuous,  and  affords  a 
fine  mark  for  the  gunner ;  but  in  a  tree  of  full  foliage  their  color  proves  an  excellent 
concealment.  They  seem  to  be  aware  of  this,  and  their  sagacity  prompts  them  to 
rely  on  it  for  security.  Often  we  hear  their  voices  proceeding  from  a  certain  tree,  or 
else  have  marked  the  descent  of  a  flock  upon  it,  but  on  proceeding  to  the  spot,  though 
the  eye  has  not  wandered  from  it,  and  we  are  sure  that  they  are  there,  we  cannot  dis- 
cover an  individual.  We  go  close  to  the  tree,  but  all  is  silent  and  still  as  death ;  we 
institute  a  careful  survey  of  every  part  with  the  eye,  to  detect  the  slightest  motion, 
or  the  form  of  a  bird,  among  the  leaves,  but  in  vain.  We  begin  to  think  that  they 
have  stolen  off  unperceived,  but,  on  throwing  a  stone  into  the  tree,  a  dozen  throats 
burst  forth  into  cry,  and  as  many  green  birds  rush  forth  on  the  wing." 

The  species  of  Derotypus  and  Caica,  four  in  number,  also  belong  to  tropical 
America,  while  the  ten  of  Porocephalus^  the  last  of  the  order,  are  African. 

J.    S.   KlNGSLEY. 


368  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


ORDER  XVII.  —  PICARIAE. 

Coinciding  with  Professor  Newton's  words,  that  the  Picariae  "  are  already  a  suffi- 
ciently heterogeneous  assemblage "  to  also  include  the  owls,  we  retained  the  latter 
at  the  end  of  the  Raptores,  though  admitting  that  this  group,  thereby,  becomes 
even  more  heterogeneous  than  the  Picarians.  But,  true  to  our  principle  of  not 
exchanging  one  doubtful  course  for  another  equally  doubtful,  we  think  it  safer  to 
adhere  to  the  arrangement  adopted.  That  we  have  here  indicated  the  true  course  of 
development  of  some  of  the  Picariae  at  least,  —  the  goatsuckers  and  their  allies,  — 
seems,  however,  less  doubtful.  Another  line  of  descent  seems  to  connect  certain 
forms  included  in  the  present  order  with  the  Gallinaceous  birds,  through  the  Muso- 
phagidae. If  this  view  be  correct,  then  the  '  order '  Picariae  will  have  to  be  split  up 
according  to  its  double  descent. 

To  the  scientific  ornithologist,  the  Picariae  form  an  assemblage  of  the  greatest 
interest.  Their  anatomy  has  in  many  instances  been  worked  up  pretty  well,  and  has 
disclosed  a  multitude  of  characters,  generalized  as  well  as  specialized,  extremely 
marked,  but  pointing  in  all  directions.  Numerous  classificatory  attempts  have  been 
made,  based  upon  the  most  different  principles,  and  the  most  varied  sets  of  characters ; 
still,  whether  based  upon  external  or  internal  structure,  the  general  aspects  of  these 
different  systems  show  greater  similarity  than  might  be  expected.  Messrs.  Garrod 
and  Forbes  have  especially  elucidated  the  anatomy  of  the  Picarians,  and  their  opin- 
ions are,  therefore,  entitled  to  special  consideration.  A  brief  summary  of  the  more 
important  structural  features  of  the  different  groups  is  therefore  necessary,  the  more 
so  since  we  are  obliged  to  dissent  from  some  of  the  conclusions  of  these  gentlemen. 

Mr.  Garrod  divided  the  forms  here  included  into  two  main  divisions,  —  the  Homal- 
ogonatae,  which  possess  the  ambiens  muscle,  and  the  Anomalogonataa,  which  do  not 
have  it.  The  former,  viz.  the  Cuculidae  and  Musophagidae,  he  referred  simply  as 
families  to  the  '  order '  Galliformes,  while  of  the  latter,  plus  the  Passeres,  he  made  an 
'order'  under  the  above  name.  This  order  he  again  subdivided  in  Piciformes,  Passer- 
iformes,  and  Cypseliformes.  The  last  mentioned  group  is  generally  admitted  to  be 
natural  and  distinct ;  the  other  two,  and  the  removal  of  the  Coccygiformes,  are  rather 
novel  features,  and  need  explanation. 

The  Cuculidae  and  Musophagidae  are  zygodactylous,  i.e.,  they  have  two  toes  in 
front  and  two  behind,  like  the  woodpeckers  and  allied  forms,  with  which  they  have 
usually  been  placed.  The  structure  of  the  foot  is  so  characteristic  that  more  than  the 
presence  of  the  ambiens  muscle  would  be  required  to  remove  them  from  that  neigh- 
borhood. Such  additional  features  are  also  found  in  the  skeleton,  as  well  as  in  the 
myology  and  pterylography.  Not  to  go  too  deep  into  details,  we  shall  only  refer  to 
the  arrangement  of  the  muscles  that  bend  the  toes,  viz.  the  deep  plantar  tendons.  In 
the  introduction  (page  14),  mention  is  made  of  the  fact  that  in  the  Cuculidae  and 
Musophagidae  the  flexor  perforans  splits  up  to  supply  second,  third,  and  fourth  digits 
or  toes,  i.  e.  to  the  three  toes  which  in  most  other  birds  are  directed  forwards,  while 
the  flexor  hallucis  is  single,  and  only  goes  to  the  hallux ;  this  arrangement  is  the  origi- 
nal one,  as  it  seems,  and  the  commonest  amongst  the  birds,  hence  we  call  it  nomopel- 
mous;  in  the  cuckoos,  parrots,  gallinaceous  birds,  the  two  tendons  are  united  at  their 
crossing  point  by  a  vinculum ;  these  are  therefore  called  desmopelmous,  while  the 


PIC  ASIAN  BIRDS, 


369 


Passeres  may  be  styled  schizopelmous,  since,  being  otherwise  similar,  they  differ  in 
having  the  tendons  quite  separate ;  this  arrangement  is  illustrated  in  Fig.  171  A.  In 
Fig.  171C  it  is  quite  otherwise ;  here  is  a  zygodactylous  foot,  but  it  is  the  fl.  perforans 
which  is  single,  only  supplying  the  third  toe,  while  the  fl,  hallucis  split  into  three, 
giving  a  branch  to  the  second  and  fourth  toes  as  well  as  to  the  first  one,  or  the  hallux ; 
being  opposed  to  the  above,  and  only  found  in  these  nou-cuculine,  pair-toed  birds,  we 
propose  to  call  this  arrangement  antiopelmous. 

While  on  this  subject  we  may  at  once  describe  two  other  plantar  arrangements, 
which  obtain  among  birds  of  the  present  order.  The  trogons  are  also  '  pair-toed,'  or 
*  yoke-toed,'  that  is,  they  have  two  toes  in  front  and  two  behind ;  but  while  in  the 
woodpeckers  the  first  and  fourth  are  directed  backwards,  in  the  trogons  the  first  and 
second  take  that  position ;  hence  they  are  said  to  be  heterodactylous.  To  this  entirely 
unique  disposition  of  the  toes  corresponds  an  equally  unique  distribution  of  the  ten- 
dons, for,  as  shown  in  Fig.  171D,  each  of  the  two  flexores  splits  up  into  two,  the/,  hal- 


-flh 


...fpd 


fPd~ 


fpd~ 


•flh 


D 

FIG.  171.  —  Diagrams  showing  the  manner  of  distribution  of  the  deep  plantar  tendons  ;  flh,  flexor  longus 
hallucis  ;  fpd,  flexor  perforans  digitorum  ;  v,  vinculum.  I -IV,  first  to  fourth  toes.  A,  noniopelmous  (schizopel- 
mous) ;  B,  synpelmous  ;  C,  antiopelmous ;  D,  heteropelmous. 

•lucis  supplying  first  and  second  digits,  i.  e.  the  posterior  toes,  while/!  perforans  bends 
the  two  anterior  toes,  the  third  and  the  fourth.  This  structure,  found  nowhere  else,  we 
shall  designate  as  heteropelmous.  We  have  finally  to  consider  Fig.  171B,  which  repre- 
sents an  arrangement  to  be  called  synpelmous,  since  the  two  tendons  are  completely 
blended.  It  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  direction  of  the  fibres  seems  to  indicate  that 
the/,  hallucis  goes  to  the  fourth  toe,  while  the  branch  to  the  first  one  is  supplied  from 
the  other  tendon,  a  supposition  the  more  probable  since  in  a  slight  modification  of 
this  arrangement  the  slip  to  the  first  toe  (hallux)  branches  off  from  the  main  stem 
above  the  point  where  the  two  tendons  blend  together.  The  synpelmous  distribution 
of  the  deep  plantar  tendons  obtains  especially  in  the  swifts,  humming-birds,  goat- 
suckers, king-fishers,  horn-bills,  and  their  allies,  many  of  which  are  also  syndacty- 
lous.  We  may  finally  state  as  an  important  fact  that  the  synpelmous,  the  heteropel- 
mous and  the  antiopelmous  arrangements  are  entirely  peculiar  to  the  present  order. 

Garrod  thought  that  he  had  another  set  of  characters  concomitant  with  the  pres- 
sence  or  absence  of  the  ambiens  muscle,  finding  as  he  did  that  in  all  homalogonatous 
birds  the  dorsal  feather  tract  bifurcates  between  the  shoulder,  while  in  the  anomalo- 
VOL.  iv.  —  24 


370 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


gonatous  it  is  simple  until  behind  the  end  of  the  shoulder-blades.  A  glance  at  our 
Figure  172,  as  compared  with  Fig.  173,  representing  the  dorsal  pterylosis  of  two  ano- 
malogonatous  birds  shows  that  the  bifurcation  also  occurs  among  these,  as,  for  instance, 
in  Steatornis,  Caprimulgus,  Coracias,  etc., 

The  swifts  and  the  humming  birds  have  neither  caeca  nor  a  tufted  oil  gland.  Thi& 
combination  was  at  first  considered  unique  in  the  group  called  by  Garrod  Anomalogo- 
natae,  since  all  the  rest,  including  the  Passeres,  were  found  to  have  either  the  one  or 
the  other,  hence  the  Cypseliformes  were  set  apart  without  further  dissent  or  discus- 
sion. Then  Garrod  found  that  all  of  the  species  examined  by  him  which  had  caeca 
were  lacking  a  tuft  to  the  oil  gland,  and  that  those  which  possessed  this  circlet  of 
feathers  were  deficient  in  caeca.  This  discovery  led  to  the  division  of  the  non-cypse- 
line  Anomalogonatse  into  two  groups,  Piciformes  with  tuft  and  no  caeca,  and  Passeri- 
formes  with  caeca  but  no  tuft.  As  the  name  indicates,  the  latter,  with  several  other 
forms,  embraced  all  the  Passeres.  As  it  was  found  out  later  on  that  some  of  the 


FlG.  172.  —  Pterylosis  of  Ramphastos, 
dorsal  surface. 


FIG.  173.  —  Pterylosis  of  Steatornis,  dorsal 
surface. 


Momotidffi,  which  are  destitute  of  caeca,  were  also  possessed  of  a  nude  oil  gland, 
while  other  species  had  a  minute  tuft,  resort  was  had  to  the  theory  that  the  tuft  was 
lost  after  the  two  great  divisions  had  branched  off,  in  order  to  explain  this  "  excep- 
tion." 

We  cannot  help  thinking  that  too  much  stress  has  been  laid  upon  the  concomitancy 
alluded  to,  and  that,  by  applying  it  as  a  divisional  character,  forms  have  been  artifi- 
cially separated  which  are  really  closely  related.  With  us  the  concomitancy  of  the 
zygodactylous  feet  with  the  antiopelinous  plantar  arrangement  weighs  much  more, 
especially  since  cuckoos  and  parrots  conclusively  prove  that  these  two  peculiarities  are 
entirely  independent  of  each  other.  It  is  extremely  improbable  that  such  an  abnor- 
mal arrangement  as  is  the  synpelmous  one  should  have  developed  independently  in 
the  two  groups  Piciformes  and  Passeriformes,  while  the  case  of  the  Momotidae  proves 
that  the  absence  of  the  feather  tuft  on  the  oil  gland  is  a  fact  of  comparatively  slight 
consequence. 

We  explained  above  the  two  terms,  zygodactylous  and  heterodactylous.  TWO  more 
will  need  explanation,  viz.  anisodactylous  and  pamprodactylous ;  the  former  indicates. 


PIC  ASIAN  BIRDS.  371 

that  three  toes  are  turned  forwards,  while  the  latter  signifies  having  all  four  toes 
turned  in  that  direction.  The  reader  is  now  prepared  to  understand  the  following 
attempt  at  tabulating  the  chief  characters  of  the  Picarian  super-families :  — 

Homalogonatous  ;  desmopelmous,  Cuculoidev  I  dorgal  ^  furcate  ^^  ^  shoulderg 

(Coracioidece  ) 
Colioidece  ;  feet  pamprodactylous      j  dorsal  tract  simple  be- 
Alcedinoideoe  ;  feet  anisodactylous  J  tween  the  shoulders. 


Anomalo- 
gonatous 


X  enters 

the  myo- 

logical 

formula; 


schizopelmous;  Upupoideos  ;  dorsal  tract  furcate  between  the  shoulders. 


antiopelmous  ;  Picoidece  ;  zygodactylous 
heteropelmous;  Trogonoidece ;  heterodactylous 


A   alone   constitutes  the  )   MicropodoidecB  I  P-P-dactylous  J 
myological  formula;  J  j    anisodactylous   J 


dorsal  tract  simple 

between  the 

shoulders. 


In  regard  to  the  above  arrangement  it  may  be  remarked  that  Steatornis  is  here 
included  among  Coracioideae,  but  that  it  is  an  easy  matter  to  change  the  scheme  so  as 
to  accommodate  a  super-family,  Steatornithoideae,  should  it  be  thought  advisable  to 
adopt  such  a  division. 

The  Picariae  form  a  group  embracing  upwards  of  eighteen  hundred  species,  highly 
characteristic  of  the  tropical  regions,  for  while  the  great  majority  of  the  families 
composing  it  are  "  exclusively  tropical,  none  are  confined  to,  or  have  their  chief  devel- 
opment in,  the  temperate  regions."  The  Neotropical  region  is  richer  in  peculiar  fam- 
ilies, but  the  total  number  of  families  represented  in  the  Ethiopean  region  is  greater. 
In  regard  to  the  many  curious  features  of  the  geographical  distribution  of  the  Picariae, 
Mr.  Wallace  remarks :  "  We  may  see  a  reason  for  the  great  specialization  of  this  trop- 
ical assemblage  of  birds  in  the  Ethiopian  and  Neotropical  regions,  in  the  fact  of  the 
large  extent  of  land  on  both  sides  of  the  equator  which  these  two  regions  alone  pos- 
sess, and  their  extreme  isolation,  either  by  sea  or  deserts,  from  other  regions,  —  an  iso- 
lation which  we  know  was  in  both  cases  much  greater  in  early  tertiary  times.  It  is,  per- 
haps, for  a  similar  reason  that  we  here  find  hardly  any  trace  of  the  connection  between 
Australia  and  South  America  which  other  groups  exhibit ;  for  that  connection  has 
most  probably  been  effected  by  a  former  communication  between  the  temperate 
southern  extremities  of  those  two  continents.  The  most  interesting  and  suggestive 
fact  is  that  presented  by  the  distribution  of  the  Megalaimidae  and  Trogonidae  over 
the  tropics  of  America,  Africa,  and  Asia.  In  the  absence  of  paleontological  evidence 
as  to  the  former  history  of  the  Megalaimidae,  we  are  unable  to  say  positively  whether 
it  owes  its  present  distribution  to  a  former  closer  union  between  these  continents  in 
intertropical  latitudes,  or  to  a  much  greater  northern  range  of  the  group  at  the  period 
when  a  luxuriant  sub-tropical  vegetation  extended  far  toward  the  Arctic  regions ;  but 
the  discovery  of  Trogon,  in  the  miocene  deposits  of  the  south  of  France,  renders 
it  almost  certain  that  the  latter  is  the  true  explanation  in  the  case  of  both  these 
families." 

The  super-family  CUCULOIDEJE,  being  homalogonatous,  desmopelmous,  and 
zygodactylous,  is  to  all  appearance  a  natural  group  composed  of  two  families,  the 
plantain-eaters  and  the  cuckoos.  The  former  are  characterized  by  having  tufted  oil 
glands  and  after-shafts  to  the  contour-feathers,  at  the  same  time  lacking  colic  caeca. 
The  cuckoos,  on  the  other  hand,  lack  tufts  and  after-shafts,  but  possess  two  caeca. 

In  having  small  heads  and  a  long  neck,  as  also  in  the  character  of  the  plumage  and 
several  structural  features,  the  MTJSOPHAGID^E,  or  plantain-eaters,  resemble  the  Galli- 
naceous birds,  to  which  they  certainly  are  not  very  distantly  related.  Indeed,  the 


372 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


largest  species,  Corythceola  cristata,  presents  a  most  striking  similarity  to  a  hokko, 
and  is  not  much  inferior  in  size.  The  family  is  strictly  African,  however,  no  species 
occurring  outside  of  the  Ethiopian  region  proper,  not  even  in  Madagascar.  The  true 
plantain-eaters  (Musophaga)  are  glossy  bluish  or  violet-black,  and  have  a  bony  frontal 
shield  as  a  prolongation  of  the  beak  much  in  the  fashion  of  the  coots.  They  are  large 
and  handsome  birds,  the  typical  species  of  which  (M.  violaced)  is  figured  in  the 
accompanying  cut.  The  turacous  ( Turacus),  so  called  in  imitation  of  their  cry,  are 
somewhat  smaller,  of  a  peculiar  light  green  color,  while  the  wing-feathers  are  of  a 
most  beautiful  carmine;  a  rounded,  strongly  compressed  feather-crest  adorns  the 
head.  The  most  interesting  fact  in  regard  to  these  birds,  is,  perhaps,  the  nature  of 


"msuemmniimm    ^n^ 

FIG.  174.  —  Musophaga  violacea,  violaceous  plantain-eater, 


the  coloring  matter.  As  already  mentioned  in  the  introduction  (page  5),  the  only 
green  pigment  discovered  in  birds  is  that  which  has  been  called  turacoverdin,  while 
turacin,  the  magnificent  red  pigment  of  the  wing,  is  equally  peculiar  to  these  birds. 
This  latter  pigment  is  the  more  remarkable,  since  it  is  said  to  be  washed  out  during 
heavy  showers  of  the  rainy  season,  leaving  the  feathers  pinky  white,  their  former 
beauty  being  resumed,  however,  in  the  course  of  two  or  three  days.  The  best  known 
species  is  the  white-crested  turacou  (  T.  corythaix)  from  South  Africa,  which,  like  its 
congeners,  frequents  the  highest  trees,  feeding  on  fruits.  The  colonists  call  them 
lories.  Another  South  African  species  is  the  gray  turacou  (Chizcerhis  concolor), 
similar  in  form,  but  uniform  gray  all  over.  The  following  is  an  abstract  of  an  inter- 
esting account  communicated  to  Mr.  R.  B.  Sharpe  by  Dr.  Exter:  "In  traveling 
through  the  Betchuana  country,  one  often  comes  upon  a  party  of  five  or  six  of  these 


CUCKOOS.  373 

birds,  hiding  from  the  mid-day  heats  under  the  sheltered  portions  of  dense  foliage  near 
the  centre  of  a  large  tree.  Whilst  yet  undisturbed,  the  crest  lies  flat  on  the  head, 
and  can  only  be  seen  as  a  tuft  projecting  from  the  occiput.  But  their  first  act  on 
becoming  aware  of  an  intruder  is  to  run  along  the  branches,  either  to  the  summit  of 
the  tree,  or  to  the  extremity  of  a  branch  commanding  a  good  look-out,  where,  with 
crest  fully  erected  and  well  thrown  forward,  they  keep  up  a  constant  reiteration  of 
their  note.  If  but  little  alarmed,  they  move  rapidly  from  branch  to  branch,  frequently 
jerking  up  the  crest,  and  assuming  an  attitude  of  attention.  Again,  after  flight  from 
one  tree  to  another,  on  alighting,  they  first  rest  on  a  branch,  with  the  body  somewhat 
horizontal  and  the  tail  drawn  nearly  to  the  perpendicular,  as  if  assuring  themselves  of 
their  equilibrium,  and  then,  raising  the  body,  elongating  their  neck,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  elevating  the  crest,  they  seem  to  take  an  observation  as  to  the  security  of  their 
new  position.  So  much  is  this  a  habit  of  the  bird,  that,  during  the  conversational 
difficulties  of  my  earlier  intercourse  with  the  Betchuanas,  when  inquiring  for  the  nest 
of  Chizcerhis  (the  native  name  of  which  is  '  Ma-quaai '),  as  soon  as  it  dawned  upon 
the  mind  of  a  native  what  bird  I  meant,  he  has  imitated  its  note,  accompanied  by  a 
sudden  jerking  up  of  the  hand,  with  his  fingers  extended  to  the  utmost,  as  if  at  the 
same  time  to  mimic  the  elevation  of  the  crest.  I  was  one  day  walking  along  a  low 
ridge  of  rocks,  from  which  I  flushed  an  owl  that  flew  to  some  distance  to  a  clump  of 
trees.  Presently  I  heard  an  agonized  scream,  such  as  is  made  by  a  young  antelope 
when  seized  by  a  dog ;  and  so  exact  a  repetition  of  the  sound  was  it  that  even  my 
dogs  were  deceived  by  it,  and  rushed  off  in  the  direction  whence  it  came.  I  also  sent 
a  Kafir  boy,  and  presently  followed  myself,  when  I  discovered  it  was  the  frightful 
scream  of  Chizcerhis,  of  which  a  party  were  collected  round  the  owl  I  had  previously 
disturbed,  and  whose  presence  appeared  to  be  the  exciting  cause.  At  a  later  period  I 
had  second  opportunity  of  verifying  this  observation." 

During  the  early  part  of  the  year  1885,  Mr.  F.  E.  Beddard,  the  successor  of  Garrod 
and  Forbes  as  prosector  of  the  London  Zoological  Society,  published  an  attempt 
to  classify  the  CUCULID^E,  or  cuckoos,  on  anatomical  principles,  relying  solely  upon 
the  presence  or  absence  of  the  accessory  femoro-caudal  (B),  the  nature  of  the  syrinx, 
and  the  confirmation  of  the  pterylae  or  feather  tracts.  He  has  brought  out  the  con- 
comitancy  of  some  interesting  characters  and  has  succeeded  in  arranging  the  genera 
investigated  in  groups  corresponding  to  their  geographical  distribution.  But  it  seems 
as  if  the  anatomical  systematists  are  going  to  repeat  the  error  of  their  predecessors, 
the  '  skin  ornithologists,'  in  paying  attention  only  to  a  single  set  of  characters,  as  a 
trifling  or  unessential  feature  is  not  worth  more  when  anatomical  or  internal  than 
when  external. 

The  investigations  of  Mr.  Beddard  show  that  the  syrinx  of  the  Cuculidqe  appears 
in  three  different  forms,  the  bronchial,  the  tracheo-bronchial,  and  the  pseudo-bronchial 
syrinx. 

While  for  the  general  description  of  the  syrinx  we  refer  to  the  introduction  to  this 
volume  (page  16),  a  short  explanation  of  the  above  terms  may  find  an  appropriate 
place  here.  In  the  tracheo-bronchial  form,  the  syrinx  is  formed  at  the  point  where 
the  trachea  bifurcates  to  form  the  two  bronchi,  in  such  a  way  that  the  last  tracheal 
rings  and  first  bronchial  rings  partake  in  the  formation,  and  the  tympaniform  membrane 
reaches  the  bifurcation.  Such  a  syrinx  is  represented  in  Fig.  175.  The  true  bron- 
chial syrinx  is  paired,  and  is  located  farther  down,  one  on  each  bronchus;  the  trachea 
is  simply  continued  in  two  bronchi,  the  first  rings  of  which  are  complete;  at  some 


374 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


FIG.  175.  —  Syrinx  of  Piaya 
cay  ana,  tracheo-bronchial. 


FIG.  176.  —  Syrinx  of 
Centropus,  pseudo- 
bronchial. 


distance  from  the  bifurcation  they  are  replaced  by  semi-rings,  the  ends  of  which  are 
connected  by  the  tympaniform  membrane,  which,  therefore,  is  not  continuous  with 
any  of  the  tracheal  rings.  This  condition  in  the  cuckoos  is  similar  to  that  of  Steator- 
nis,  which  is  figured  later  on  (page  385).  The  pseudo-bronchial  syrinx,  as  we  propose 
to  call  it,  is  somewhat  intermediate  between  the  above  two.  At  some  distance  down 
the  bronchi  are  the  ends  of  the  semi-rings,  separated  by  a  rather  broad  membrane,  but 
the  rings  between  this  and  the  actual  bifurcation  are  not  complete,  and  the  narrow 
space  between  their  ends  is  filled  by  a  strip  of  membrane,  which  connects  the  tympa- 
num proper  with  the  bifurcation,  and 
the  lower  tracheal  rings  which  may 
also  be  similarly  incomplete,  as  shown 
in  Fig.  176. 

The  true  bronchial  syrinx  is  only 
found  in  two  peculiar  American  forms, 
Crotophaga  and  Guira,  which  also 
agree  in  many  external  characters,  for 
instance,  in  being  the  only  cuckoos 
with  eight  tail-feathers,  all  the  rest 
having  ten.  These  two  are,  therefore, 
fairly  entitled  to  sub-family  rank.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  muscular  formula 
AXY+  is  concomitant  with  a  certain  pattern  of  the  inferior  feather  tract,  as  in  the 
cuckoos  which  have  not  the  muscle  B,  the  ventral  tract  of  both  sides  is  single  and  not 
bifurcate.  The  sub-family  thus  characterized  comprises  the  true  Cuculinae,  which 
again  falls  in  two  groups,  those  of  the  New  World  with  the  inferior  space  reaching 
quite  to  the  symphysis  of  the  mandible,  an  altogether  peculiar  arrangement,  and  the 
Old  World  species  in  which  it  only  reaches  part  up  the  neck.  The  pterylographic 
peculiarities  are  contrasted  in  figures  177  and  178.  However,  on  the  whole,  the  clas- 
sification of  the  cuckoos  is  in  an  unsatisfactory  condition,  and  we  therefore  proceed  to 
the  more  interesting  forms  without  committing  ourselves  to  any  limitation  of  the 
minor  groups. 

It  is  but  natural  to  begin  with  the  bird  which  is  the  cuckoo,  from  the  sonorous 
voice  of  which  the  whole  family  derives  its  name.  The  cuckoo  (Cuculus  canorus),  in 
different  local  forms  occurring  all  over  the  Palaearctic  region,  and  wandering  far  south 
in  winter,  is  astonishingly  like,  in  external  appearance,  some  of  the  smaller  hawks,  not 
only  in  color,  but  also  in  its  manner  of  flight,  a  resemblance  which  in  Europe  caused 
the  superstition  that  the  young  cuckoo  in  the  autumn  turns  into  a  hawk.  The  male 
bird  is  well  represented  in  the  accompanying  cut ;  the  back  is  slaty  blue,  throat  lighter 
gray,  rest  of  under  side  white  with  dusky  cross-bars ;  feet  cadmium  yellow,  and  bill 
dusky,  with  the  corner  of  the  mouth  yellow,  as  is  also  the  eye.  Some  Oriental  cuckoos 
belonging  to  the  nearly  allied  genus  Hierococcyx  carry  the  Accipitrine  resemblance 
still  further,  as  the  young  birds  have  the  dusky  markings  on  the  lower  surface  longi- 
tudinal, as  in  many  hawks  and  falcons,  later  on,  like  them,  changing  into  a  plumage 
transversely  barred.  This  similarity  is  not  accidental,  but  evidently  a  case  of  protec- 
tive mimicry,  a  supposition  greatly  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  we  know  of  some 
small  Malaccan  cuckoos  (Penthoceryx),  rusty  brown  above,  and  white  beneath,  barred 
with  dusky,  which,  in  size,  color,  and  general  habits  most  closely  ape  the  appearance  of 
certain  diminutive  shrikes  inhabiting  the  same  country.  Still  more  remarkable,  if 


CUCKOOS. 


375 


possible,  is  the  mimicry  of  the  Drongo-cuckoo  (Surnicitlus)  of  which  more  further  on. 
It  is,  probably,  this  similarity  to  a  hawk  which  causes  such  commotion  among  the 
smaller  birds  when  they  become  aware  of  the  cuckoo's  presence,  rather  than  an  in- 
stinctive recognition  of  the  cuckoo  as  the  parasite  which  imposes  the  heavy  burden 
upon  them  of  rearing  and  educating  its  gluttonous  and  ungrateful  offspring.  We 
have  here  arrived  at  the  very  vexed  questions  relative  to  the  reproduction  of  the 
cuckoo,  of  which  so  much  has  been  written  and  so  little  is  known.  We  can  certainly 
do  no  better  than  give  extracts  of  the  summary  which  Mr.  Seebohm  published  in 
1884  in  his  excellent  work  on  English  birds  and  their  eggs. 

"  The  cause  of  this  curious  habit  is  very  difficult  to  discover.  It  has  been  suggested 
that  the  hereditary  impulse  to  leave  its  breeding-grounds  so  early  originally  obliged 
it  to  abandon  the  education  of  its  young  to  strangers ;  but  the  same  habit  is  found  in 
many  species  in  India  and  Africa,  which  are  resident  and  do  not  migrate.  Others 
have  attributed  it  to  the  polygamous  habits  of  the  cuckoo,  but  the  cuckoo  is  not 


FIG.  177.  —  Pterylosis  of   Playa  cayana,    ventral 
surface. 


FIG.  178.  —  Pterylosis  of  Eudynamys  orientalis, 
ventral  surface. 


polygamous,  it  is  polyandrous.  The  males  are  much  more  numei-ous  than  the  femalw. 
The  sexes  do  not  pair,  even  for  the  season.  It  is  said  that  each  male  has  its  own 
feeding-grounds,  and  that  each  female  visits  in  succession  the  half  dozen  males  who 
happen  to  reside  in  the  neighborhood.  A  plausible  explanation  of  the  peculiar  habits 
of  the  cuckoo  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  its  eggs  are  laid  at  intervals  of  several 
days,  and  not,  as  is  usual,  on  successive  days.  Vei'y  satisfactory  evidence  has  been 
collected  that  the  cuckoo  lays  five  eggs  in  a  season,  and  that  they  are  laid  at  intervals 
of  seven  or  eight  days ;  but  the  American  cuckoo  and  many  of  the  owls  very  often 
do  the  same.  This  power  has  probably  been  gradually  acquired  by  the  cuckoo,  so  as 
to  give  the  female  time  to  find  a  suitable  nest  in  which  to  deposit  each  egg.  It  is 
possible  that  this  singular  habit  of  the  cuckoo  has  arisen  from  its  extraordinary 
voracity.  The  sexual  instincts  of  the  male  cuckoo  appear  to  be  entirely  subordinate 
to  his  greed  for  food.  He  jealously  guards  his  feeding-grounds,  and  is  prepared  to 
do  battle  with  any  other  male  that  invades  them,  but  he  seems  to  be  a  stranger  to 
sexual  jealousy.  He  is  said  to  be  so  absorbed  in  his  gluttony  that  he  neglects  the 
females,  who  are  obliged  to  wander  in  search  of  birds  of  the  opposite  sex,  and  appear 


376 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


to  have  some  difficulty  in  obtaining  the  fertilization  of  their  ovaries.  The  extreme 
voracity  of  the  young  bird  is  an  additional  reason  why  the  care  of  the  five  nestlings 
should  be  entrusted  to  as  many  pairs  of  birds. 

"  In  its  choice  of  a  foster-parent  for  its  offspring,  it  exercises  more  discrimination 
than  might  be  supposed  from  the  long  lists  which  have  been  published  of  birds  in 
whose  nests  its  eggs  have  been  found.  An  insectivorous  bird  is  generally  chosen,  and 
preference  is  given  to  such  as  build  open  nests.  Sometimes  the  cuckoo  is  unable  to 
find  the  nest  of  a  suitable  bird,  and  is  obliged  to  deposit  its  egg  in  the  nest  of  a 
granivorous  bird,  such  as  the  various  species  of  finches,  buntings,  etc.,  and  occasion- 


FIG.  179.  —  Cuculus  canorus,  European  cuckoo. 

ally  cuckoos'  eggs  have  been  found  in  the  nests  of  such  totally  unsuitable  birds  as 
magpies,  jays,  shrikes,  pigeons,  and  even  the  little  grebe.  The  young  cuckoo  is 
usually  much  larger  than  its  foster-brothers  or  sisters,  and  monopolizes  the  attention 
of  the  parents  to  the  exclusion  of  the  other  inhabitants  of  the  nest,  who  die  or  are 
eventually  expelled  by  the  young  cuckoo.  It  has  been  said,  on  what  appears  to  be 
incontestable  evidence,  that  the  young  cuckoo,  soon  after  it  is  hatched,  ejects  the 
young  or  eggs  from  the  nest  by  hoisting  them  on  its  back ;  but  one  feels  inclined  to 
class  these  narratives  with  the  equally  well-authenticated  stories  of  ghosts  and  other 
apparitions  which  abound. 

"  The  eggs  of  the  cuckoo  are  subject  to  great  variation  of  color,  and  they  very 
frequently  resemble  closely  the  eggs  amongst  which  they  have  been  placed,  so  much 


CUCKOOS. 


377 


so  that  cuckoos'  eggs  are  often  supposed  to  be  double-yolked  eggs  of  the  same  species. 
This  fact  has  given  rise  to  the  extravagant  theory  that  the  cuckoo  possesses  the  power 
of  determining  the  color  of  her  eggs,  so  as  to  make  them  resemble  the  other  eggs  in 
the  nest.  The  explanation,  probably,  is  that  the  eggs  of  each  individual  cuckoo  vary 
very  slightly.  A  cuckoo  which  lays  blue  eggs  always  lays  blue  eggs,  and  its  descend- 
ants will  continue  to  lay  blue  eggs ;  it  was  probably  hatched  in  a  nest  containing  blue 
eggs,  and  will,  to  the  best  of  its  ability,  intrust  the  care  of  its  eggs  to  foster-parents  of 
the  same  species  as  those  which  tended  it  in  its  infancy." 

The  cuckoo  feeds  on  insects,  especially  caterpillars,  being  particularly  fond  of  the 
large  hairy  ones  which  most  other  birds  despise,  and  the  walls  of  the  stomach  are 


f  — ^—i  "  ft 

^^^=~-  ^    V    '— i    ,       \JtP* 


V^L 


FIG.  180.  —  Coccystes  glandarius,  great  spotted  cuckoo. 


often  found  lined  with  the  matted  hairs  of  these  larvas.  It  is  also  fond  of  hairy 
bumble-bees,  but  a  most  extraordinary  diet  for  a  cuckoo  is  certainly  the  small  crusta- 
ceans (Gammarida?)  which  abound  on  sandy  beaches ;  still,  the  present  writer  was 
fortunate  enough,  during  a  short  stay  on  Copper  Island,  near  Kamtschatka,  to  shoot 
a  cuckoo  which  had  the  stomach  ci*ammed  with  these  animals.  In  justice  to  the  bird, 
it  must  be  stated,  however,  that  the  island  had  neither  hairy  caterpillars  nor  bumble- 
bees to  offer. 

Another  European  species,  the  great  spotted  cuckoo  (Coccystes  glandarius)^  of 
which  we  also  present  a  cut,  is  confined  to  the  northern  and  eastern  parts.  Its 
breeding  habits  are  likewise  parasitic,  though  somewhat  different,  as  it  usually  deposits 


378 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


more  than  one  egg,  even  as  many  as  four,  in  a  foreign  nest,  and  that  it  usually  selects 
the  nest  of  some  member  of  the  crow  family. 

Our  next  figure  represents  one  of  the  small  golden  cuckoos  peculiar  to  the  African, 
Oriental,  and  Australian  regions.  The  species  are  not  larger  than  a  sparrow,  and 
remarkable  for  the  metallic  green  reflections  on  the  back,  and  in  some  species  the 
neck  anteriorly  also,  in  richness  and  brilliancy  equalling  the  radiant  hues  of  humming- 
birds and  trogons.  The  species  figured  is  the  South  African  golden  cuckoo  (Lampro- 
coccyx  cupreus),  by  the  colonists  called  'didric,'  in  imitation  of  its  voice.  It  is 
migratory  in  the  Cape  Colony  and  adjacent  countries,  and  is  said  to  be  parasitic  in  its 
breeding  habits,  like  most  other  Old  World  Cuculinae. 


FIG.  181.  —  Lamprococcyx  cupreus,  golden  cuckoo. 

The  gigantic  Australian  species  and  type  of  a  separate  genus,  the  channel-bill,  or 
horn-bill  cuckoo  of  the  colonists  (Scythrops  novce-hollandice)  is  another  form  figured. 
The  character  of  the  bill  and  its  whole  structure  is  well  represented  in  the  cut ;  the 
coloration  is  similar  to  that  of  the  European  cuckoo,  but  the  orbits  and  lores  are  bare 
and  scarlet  red.  In  flight,  and  in  the  posture  when  resting,  it  is  said  to  be  quite 
hawk-like,  and  is  probably  parasitic.  Mr.  G.  Bennett  tells  of  a  young  bird  which  was 
taken  alive  and  placed  in  an  aviary  with  a  '  laughing-jackass '  (Dacelo  gigantea) : 
"Doubtless  feeling  hungry  after  its  journey,  it  immediately  opened  its  mouth  to  be 
fed ;  and  its  wants  were  readily  attended  to  by  the  Dacelo,  who,  with  great  kindness, 
took  a  piece  of  meat,  and  after  sufficiently  preparing  it  by  beating  it  about  until  it 


CUCKOOS. 


379 


was  in  a  tender  and  pappy  state,  placed  it  carefully  "in  the  gaping  mouth  of  the  young 
Scythrops;  this  feeding  process  continued  until  the  bird  was  capable  of  attending  to 
its  own  wants,  which  it  now  does,  feeding  in  company  with  the  Dacelo  in  the  usual 
manner." 

Structurally,  the  American  members  of  the  Cuculinae  differ  but  slightly  from  their 
Old  World  relatives.     The  former  do  not  exhibit  the  peculiar  parasitic  breeding 


FIG.  182.  —  Scyt?irops  iu>vce-holland'u£,  channel-billed  cuckoo. 

habits,  and  are,  on  the  contrary,  credited  with  great  affection  for  their  mate  and  for 
their  offspring.  Still,  some  individuals,  at  least,  possess  the  peculiarity  of  the  eggs 
ripening  only  with  long  intervals,  which  in  the  European  species  is  thought  to  have 
caused  its  breeding  vagaries.  Dr.  T.  M.  Brewer,  in  speaking  of  our  common  yellow- 
billed  cuckoo,  remarks  as  follows :  — 

"  No  writer  besides  Mr.  Audubon  makes  any  mention  of,  or  appears  to  have  been 
aware  of,  the  peculiar  habits  of  these  birds  in  hatching  out  their  successive  depositions 
of  eggs,  one  by  one.  In  this  respect  they  are  eccentric,  and  do  not  always  exhibit 


380 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


this  trait.  While  I  have  repeatedly  observed  facts  exactly  corresponding  with  those 
noticed  by  Mr.  Audubon  in  the  garden  of  Mr.  Rhett,  at  other  times  I  have  found  in 
the  opening  of  the  season  three  or  four  eggs  laid  before  incubation  commenced,  and 
all  hatched  before  others  were  deposited.  Then  the  parents  seemed  to  depend  in  no 
small  degree  upon  the  warmth  of  the  bodies  of  the  older  offspring  to  compensate  to 
the  younger  for  their  own  neglect,  as  well  as  for  the  exposed  and  insufficient  warmth 
of  the  nest.  I  have  repeatedly  found  in  a  nest  three  young  and  two  eggs,  one  of  the 
latter  nearly  fresh,  one  with  the  embryo  half  developed,  while  of  the  young  birds,  one 
would  be  just  out  of  the  shell,  one  half  fledged,  and  one  just  ready  to  fly." 


V 


FIG.  183.  —  Coccyzus  americanus,  yellow-billed  cuckoo. 


We  have  already  mentioned  that  certain  cuckoos  closely  mimic  other  birds  in  their 
appearance.  A  most  extraordinary  case  is  that  of  the  Indian  so-called  drongo- 
cuckoo  (Surniculus  dicruroides),  which,  as  indicated  by  the  names,  so  exactly  imitates 
the  king-crow,  or  drongo-shrike  (Dicrurus),  inhabiting  the  same  locality,  in  size,  form, 
and  color,  that  there  is  required  considerable  attention  in  order  not  to  confound 
them,  though  the  arrangement  of  the  toes,  of  course,  at  a  closer  inspection  is  alone 
sufficient  to  separate  them.  This  imitation  is  the  more  strange  since  it  has  even 
extended  to  the  curiously  furcated  tail,  a  featm-e  elsewhere  entirely  unexampled  among 
the  cuckoos.  "  Does  this  cuckoo,"  asks  Di*.  Jerdon,  "  select  the  nest  of  the  drongo  in 


CUCKOOS.  381 

which  to  deposit  her  eggs?  If  so,  the  foster-parents  would  hardly  be  undeceived  even 
when  the  bird  has  arrived  at  maturity.  One  day,  in  Upper  Burmah,  I  saw  a  king- 
crow  pursuing  what  at  first  I  believed  to  be  another  of  his  own  species ;  but  a  peculiar 
call  that  the  pursued  bird  was  uttering,  and  some  white  in  its  plumage,  which  I  observed 
as  it  passed  close  to  me,  led  me  to  suppose  that  it  was  a  drongo-cuckoo,  which  had,  per- 
haps, been  detected  (this  being  the  breeding  season)  about  the  nest  of  the  Dicrurus. 
Mr.  Blyth  relates  that  he  obtained  a  pure  white  egg  in  the  same  nest  with  four  eggs  of 
J).  macrocercus,  and  which,  he  remarks,  may  have  been  that  of  the  drongo-cuckoo." 

The  tropical  regions  of  the  Old  World  abound  in  several  large,  long-tailed,  rather 
high-legged  cuckoos,  with  strong  bills,  some  of  which  remind  us  of  those  of  the 
smaller  toucans.  They  have  a  muscular  formula  of  ABXY-f ,  and  are  generally 
called  ground-cuckoos,  on  account  of  their  habits.  Several  are  said  to  mimic  pheas- 
ants in  appearance  and  gait,  a  similarity  which  is  increased  by  the  large  red,  naked 
skin  surrounding  the  eyes  of  many  species,  peculiarities  which  find  expression  in 
several  of  the  popular  names,  as,  for  instance,  crow-pheasant  for  the  common  coucal 
(Centropus  rufipennis).  This  latter  belongs  to  a  group  which  is  characterized  by  the 
straight  and  lengthened  claw  of  the  first  toe,  resembling  much  that  of  a  lark,  whence 
they  have  been  called  '  lark-heel  cuckoos.' 

The  species  constituting  the  genus  Lepidogrammus,  residing  in  the  Philippine 
Islands,  is  remarkable,  above  all  the  others,  for  its  rounded  crest  and  the  black, 
horny  appendages  to  the  feathers  of  the  head  and  throat. 

Not  very  distantly  related  to  the  Indo-African  ground-cuckoos  are  those  of  our 
hemisphere  represented  by  the  curious  'road-runner'  (Geococcyx  calif ornianus). 
From  the  accompanying  illustration  it  will  be  seen  that  this  form  also  has  the  skin 
surrounding  the  eye,  and  a  large  space  behind  it,  denuded  of  feathers.  Dr.  K.  Shu- 
feldt  has  recently  described  the  color  of  these  naked  parts  as  follows  :  "  In  life,  the 
eye  of  Geococcyx  is  entirely  surrounded  by  a  naked  area  of  skin,  which  both  above  and 
anteriorly  is  colored  a  deep  Prussian-blue  tint.  Beneath  the  eye  this  gradually  passes 
into  a  pale  bluish  white,  —  almost  quite  white  in  some  lights.  The  naked  space  behind 
the  eye  is  the  most  extensive  of  all.  Posteriorly  this  merges  into  the  orange  of  the 
parietal  skin-tract,  while  anteriorly  it  blends  with  the  other  color  just  mentioned." 
The  parietal  spaces  are  described  as  being  "  of  a  deep,  though  very  bright,  orange 
color."  We  remark,  however,  that  in  the  colored  drawing  accompanying  the  descrip- 
tion the  spaces  mentioned  are  pure  scarlet.  The  species  in  question  inhabits 
California,  southern  Texas,  New  Mexico,  etc.,  and  northern  parts  of  Mexico,  in  the 
southern  parts  of  which  it  is  replaced  by  a  nearly  allied  species,  G.  affinis.  The  habits 
are  described  by  Col.  A.  I.  Grayson,  as  follows :  — 

"  This  remarkable  bird,  which  the  Mexicans  call  '  churea,  or  correa  del  camino ' 
(road-runner),  —  so  called  from  the  habit  it  sometimes  has  of  running  along  a  path  or 
road,  —  seldom  fails  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  traveler  by  its  solitary  and  peculiar 
habits,  and  often,  too,  in  the  mountainous  regions  and  desert  countries,  where  no  other 
living  creature  is  to  be  seen.  Although  met  with  in  such  localities,  it  is,  however,  not 
entirely  confined  to  them,  as  it  is  an  equal  habitant  of  some  portions  of  the  thinly 
wooded  parts  of  the  tierra  caliente  of  the  west,  where  the  trees  are  scrubby  and  the 
country  open,  as  the  barren  and  rocky  great  central  plains  of  Mexico.  It  seems  to 
prefer  a  hilly  country,  but  scantily  supplied  with  vegetation,  where  the  numerous  spe- 
cies of  cacti  form  impenetrable  thorn  thickets.  Here  the  road-runner  wanders  in  soli- 
tude, subsisting  upon  grasshoppers,  mice,  lizards,  etc. 


382 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


"  It  is  most  usually  met  with  upon  open  ground,  and,  as  soon  as  it  discovers  the 
presence  of  danger,  or  the  intruder,  instantly  runs  off,  with  remarkable  fleetness,  to 
the  nearest  thicket  or  hill,  where  it  generally  escapes  from  its  pursuers,  either  by  con- 
cealment, or  a  short  flight  from  one  hill  to  another.  If  a  tree  with  low  branches  be 
convenient  it  will  spring  into  that,  and,  soon  reaching  the  top,  will  fly  off  to  the  dis- 
tance of  an  hundred  yards  or  more.  It  appears  to  rise  from  the  level  ground  with 
much  difficulty.  It  is  very  quick  in  its  motions,  active,  and  vigilant ;  indeed,  its  fleet- 


FIG.  184.  —  Geococcyx  calif ornianus,  road-runner,  chapparal  cock. 

ness  enables  it  to  elude  its  pursuers,  although  one  may  be  mounted  on  a  good  horse, 
or  a  dog  may  be  in  the  train ;  but  this  is  only  for  a  short  distance,  as  it  could  soon  be 
run  down  by  the  horse  or  dog  were  not  some  convenient  thicket  or  hill  near,  from 
which  to  take  its  flight  from  the  latter,  or  conceal  itself  among  the  branches  of  the 
former." 

Capt.  Charles  Bendire,  in  1872,  collected  some  twenty  nests  of  the  'chapparal 
cock,'  as  the  road-runner  is  often  called,  "  the  first  nest  on  April  8,  the  last  on  Sep- 
tember 10.  During  the  month  of  April,  in  which  I  found  several  nests,  not  one  con- 


ANIS. 


383 


tained  more  than  three  eggs,  although  I  allowed  incubation  to  begin  before  taking  the 
eggs,  as  I  expected  the  birds  to  lay  more.  Nearly  every  nest  I  found  after  the  middle 
of  May  contained  four  or  five  eggs ;  and  I  account  for  the  greater  number  laid  later  in 
the  season  by  the  fact  that  insect  food  during  the  dry  season,  which  includes  April  and 
May,  is  comparatively  scarce.  Only  occasionally  have  I  found  eggs  in  different  stages 
of  incubation,  and  I  do  not  believe  that  there  was  over  a  week's  difference  in  the  time 
of  laying  of  the  eggs  in  any  nests  I  found.  The  food  of  this  species  consists  chiefly  of 
insects,  particularly  grasshoppers,  but  embraces  occasionally  a  lizard  or  a  field  mouse. 
I  do  not  believe  they  kill  and  eat  rattlesnakes,  as  has  been  sometimes  reported." 


FIG.  185.  —  Crotophaya  ani,  smooth-billed  ani. 

Finally,  we  have  to  mention  the  small  American  family  comprising  the  two  genera 
Guira  and  Crotophaga,  characterized  by  having  only  eight  tail-feathers,  coincident 
with  a  true  bronchial  syrinx. 

Three  species  compose  the  latter  genus,  two  of  which  belong  to  the  North  Ameri- 
can fauna,  as  occasional  visitors  to  the  southern  parts,  the  smooth-billed  ani  (C.  ani) 
to  southern  Florida,  the  groove-billed  ani  ( C.  sulcirostris)  to  the  valley  of  the  Rio 
Grande,  Texas.  Both  species  are  black,  with  steel  blue  reflections  above,  but  distin- 
guished by  the  characters  of  the  bill,  as  indicated  by  the  names. 

We  have  on  a  previous  page  related  the  vagaries  of  the  Old  World  cuckoos  in 
depositing  their  eggs  in  other  birds'  nests.  The  breeding  habits  of  the  anis,  however, 
are  very  different,  but  not  less  remarkable  or  aberrant.  Unfortunately,  no  recent 
author  has  had  the  opportunity  of  studying  the  process  to  such  an  extent  as  to  fur- 


384  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

nish  us  with  unquestionable  proof  of  all  the  details;  but,  taking  all  the  evidence  into 
consideration,  and  weighing  it  carefully,  the  following  seems  to  be  in  accordance  with 
facts :  The  smooth-billed  ani,  which  inhabits  the  West  Indies,  often  builds  its  own 
separate  nest,  and  rears  its  young  separately.  But  as  often,  or  perhaps  oftener,  several 
females  unite  to  build  but  one  nest.  In  this  they  all  deposit  their  eggs,  which  they 
incubate  in  common,  rearing  the  young  ones  together  when  hatched.  Often  as  many 
as  twenty  eggs  —  blue,  with  a  white  chalky  covering  —  are  found  in  one  nest,  which 
is  said  to  be  a  rude  collection  of  twigs  and  sticks,  lined  with  leaves,  large  and  deep. 
In  many  instances  the  eggs  are  found  in  regular  layers,  with  leaves  and  grass-straw 
between,  and  it  has  been  assumed  that  it  was  caused  by  the  females  covering  the  eggs 
while  leaving  the  nest,  to  preserve  them  at  an  equal  temperature.  It  may  be,  how- 
ever, that  subsequent  females  continue  building  the  nest  after  the  first  ones  have 
deposited  the  eggs,  though  it  must  be  conceded  that  we  know  nothing  definitely  at 
present,  and  that  the  breeding  habits  of  the  anis  is  a  veiy  promising  field  for  future 
researches.  De  Saussure  assei'ts  that  the  anis  "  breed  together  in  company  as  well  in 
Mexico  as  in  the  Antilles,"  referring  to  the  groove-billed  species,  and,  according  to 
Azara,  the  South  American  species,  C.  major,  has  a  similar  habit,  at  least  in  Para- 
guay. It  is  very  suggestive  in  regard  to  the  relationship  of  the  piririgua  (Gruira 
guira),  that  the  last  mentioned  author  attributes  to  it  the  same  communistic  breeding 
habits,  and  that  its  eggs  are  covered  with  a  chalky  layer  similar  to  that  of  the  ani's 
eggs. 

To  those  only  superficially  acquainted  with  the  external  habits  of  the  birds  com- 
posing the  super-family  CORACIOIDEJE,  viz.,  the  oil-bird,  the  podargus,  the  true  goat- 
suckers, the  rollers,  and  the  kirumbo,  the  statement  will  be  received  with  some  surprise 
that  there  has  been  less  doubt  in  regard  to  the  affinity  of  the  last-named  three  types, 
than  to  whether  the  first  two  really  belong  here.  Regarding  these,  however,  the 
doubt  is  so  great,  indeed,  that  some  recent  systematists  not  only  make  the  oil-bird  a 
separate  order  by  itself,  but  place  the  podargi  and  goat-suckers  in  two  different  orders. 
This  is  chiefly  the  result  of  regai-ding  one  single  character  as  indicative  of  relation- 
ship. In  this  case  it  is  the  palatal  arrangement  and  the  form  of  the  palatine  bones 
which  have  resulted  in  the  separation  of  these  forms,  but  it  would  almost  seem  as  if 
these  characters  have  comparatively  little  value  in  the  present  order,  since  we  may 
find  a  desmognathous  and  schizognathous  arrangement  within  the  same  group  of  birds, 
the  intimate  relationship  of  which  cannot  be  doubted  in  the  least.  The  different 
palates  are  illustrated  by  the  accompanying  cuts  of  the  arrangement  in  the  oil-bird, 
the  podargus,  and  the  goat-sucker.  In  the  first-mentioned  type  (Fig.  186 A),  the 
vomer  is  pointed  anteriorly  and  blended  with  palatines;  the  maxillo-palatines  are 
united,  and  the  skull,  consequently,  desmognathous ;  the  palatines  also  meet  across  the 
median  line,  presenting  a  very  peculiar  feature,  each  being  folded  upon  itself  behind 
the  junction,  and  lateral  posterior  processes  are  absent;  basipterygoid  facets  are 
present.  The  podargi  have  a  very  different  palate  (Fig.  I860),  the  palatines  being 
very  broad  with  large  lateral  posterior  processes  and  only  rudiments  of  basipterygoid 
facets.  Finally,  the  goat-suckers  proper  (Fig.  186B)  are  distinguished  by  a  palatinal 
arrangement  nearly  typical  passerine,  consequently  schizognathous,  with  the  vomer 
truncated  anteriorly,  but  the  slender  palatines  are  enormously  expanded  behind,  and 
small  basipterygoid  processes  are  present.  Parker  calls  them  *  incessorial  schizognaths.' 

Notwithstanding  these  important  differences  in  the  basis  of  the  skull,  we  regard 
these  three  types  as  related.  Indeed,  were  it  not  for  the  palate  we  should  not  think 


OIL-BIRD. 


385 


of  placing  the  podnrgi  in  a  family  separate  from  that  of  the  goat-suckers,  since  with 
that  exception  they  are  very  closely  approached  by  the  South  American  Nyctibius, 
which  has  the  palate  of  a  goat-sucker,  but  in  other  peculiarities  in  common  with  the 
former,  and  to  be  mentioned  farther  on,  disagree  with  the  latter. 

The  peculiarities  of  the  pterylosis  of  the  present  super-family  have  been  indicated 
and  illustrated  on  a  previous  page  (page  370,  fig.  173);  hence  we  only  remark  that  the 
first  three  families  have  only  ten  tail-feathers,  while  the  last  two  possess  twelve. 


pmx 


Ill  Cjl 


FiG.  186.  —  A,  Palate  of  oil-bird  (Sfeatornix);   B,  Palate  of  goat-sucker  (Caprimulgus) ;   C,  Palate  of  Podargus ; 
Ht.'-ji,  niaxillo-pulatiues  ;  j)l,  palatines  ;  pt,  pterygouls  ;  vo,  voiner. 

As  already  intimated,  the  STEATORXITIIID.E,  which  consists  only  of  a  single  species, 
the  remarkable  oil-bird,  is  possessed  of  a  certain  number  of  structural  features  which  seem 
to  connect  this  bird  with  the  owls,  on  one  hand,  though,  on  the  other,  many  are  so  pecu- 
liar as  to  make  it  somewhat  doubtful  if  Professor  Garrod  was 
not  right  in  claiming  for  it  a  more  independent  position.  The 
sternum  has  only  two  notches  behind  ;  the  femoro-caudal  is 
absent ;  the  second  pectoral  muscle  is  small ;  the  syrinx  is 
truly  bronchial,  as  depicted  in  the  accompanying  figure ; 
the  oil  gland  is  very  large ;  and  the  contour  feathers  are  de- 
prived of  an  after-shaft.  Their  bill  is  also  entirely  different 
from  that  of  the  other  caprimulgoid  birds,  being  much  stronger, 
more  owl-like,  and  with  a  narrower  gape.  The  color  of  the 
plumage,  a  sombre  bi'ownish,  dotted  with  white,  and  blended 
with  dusky  markings,  reminds  one  equally  of  the  goat-suckers 
and  the  owls,  indicating  a  bird  of  nocturnal  habits.  Alto- 
gether it  is  a  bird  of  a  most  singular  aspect. 

The  oil-bird  (Steatornis  steatornifi)^  also  called  by  its 
South  American  name  Guacharo,  was  originally  discovered 
in  1799  by  the  celebrated  Alexander  Humboldt  in  the  caverns 
near  the  mission  of  Carip6  (hence  it  is  often  called  S.  caripensis),  Venezuela.  Since 
then  it  has  been  found  in  several  localities  in  northern  South  America,  lately  also  in 
certain  districts  of  Peru,  and  for  some  time  it  has  been  known  to  occur  in  the  Island  of 
Trinidad,  the  fauna  of  which  strictly  resembles  that  of  the  adjacent  mainland,  but  not 

VOL.  IV.  — 25 


FiG.  187.  — Syrinx  of  Steator- 
nis, front  view. 


386  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

in  any  of  the  West  Indian  islands  proper.  Mr.  W.  I.  Hornaday,  chief  taxidermist  of 
the  National  Museum  visited  some  of  the  Trinidad  caves  a  few  years  ago,  and  has 
kindly  allowed  me  to  make  the  following  abstracts  from  an  unpublished  manuscript  of 
his :  — 

"  At  the  extreme  northwestern  point  of  the  Island  of  Trinidad,  and  directly  opposite 
the  extreme  northeastern  point  of  the  mainland  of  South  America,  there  lies  a  group 
of  small  islands.  The  north  shore  of  each  of  these  is  a  smooth  perpendicular  wall  of 
rock  rising  out  of  deep  water  to  a  height  of  a  hundred  feet  or  more.  The  caves 
Avhich  shelter  the  guacharo  birds  are  in  these  cliffs,  with  their  entrance  opening  only 
on  the  blue  waters  of  the  Caribbean  Sea.  When  the  sea  is  at  all  rough,  an  entrance 
to  any  of  the  caves  is  utterly  impossible,  and  even  in  the  calmest  weather  it  is  neces- 
sary to  exercise  a  due  amount  of  caution. 

"  We  set  off  early  one  morning  when  the  sea  was  calmest,  pulled  westward  along 
the  south  shore  of  Monos  Island,  then  out  through  the  Huevos  passage  into  the  open 
sea.  Half  an  hour's  pull  along  the  precipitous  side  of  Huevos  Island  brought  us  to  a 
tiny  bay  hemmed  in  by  the  same  high  wall  of  rock.  A  turn  to  the  left  around  some 
half-sunken  rocks  and  we  were  at  the  entrance  of  the  cave,  a  black,  semicircular  hole 
at  the  base  of  the  cliff,  six  feet  high  and  twelve  wide,  into  which  the  swells  of  the 
sea  dashed  every  moment. 

"  The  oarsmen  held  the  boat  carefully  in  position  until  a  big  wave  came  rolling  in, 
when  they  sent  the  boat  flying  forward  on  its  crest.  We  passed  safely  over  the 
sunken  rocks,  and  the  next  roller,  which  lifted  the  boat  so  high  that  we  had  to  crouch 
down  in  order  that  our  heads  might  escape  the  roof  of  the  tunnel,  brought  us  to  terra 
firma.  Scrambling  out  upon  the  pebbly  beach  we  found  rising  before  us  a  huge  dome- 
like cave.  The  moment  we  entered  there  arose  a  perfect  storm  of  rasping  cries 
coming  from  the  throats  of  about  two  hundred  guacharo  birds  that  circled  about  the 
top  of  the  cave. 

"  The  walls  of  the  cave  were  smooth  bare  rock,  but  at  one  side  a  huge  mass  of 
fallen  rock  formed  a  series  of  ledges  from  the  floor  up  to  a  height  of  thirty  feet. 
Climbing  upon  this  we  found  numerous  nests  of  the  guacharos.  The  rocks  were  cov- 
ered with  guano  to  a  depth  of  several  inches.  Whenever  a  smooth  spot  offered  a  safe 
resting  place  the  nests  were  placed  like  so  many  cheeses,  while  others  were  built  half 
swallow-like  on  the  slopes. 

"  As  nearly  as  we  could  estimate  there  were  about  seventy  or  eighty  nests,  nearly 
all  of  which  we  searched  for  eggs.  In  different  nests  we  found  the  number  to  vary 
from  one  up  to  four,  so  that  we  are  unable  to  say  what  is  the  usual  number  laid. 

"  Half  an  hour  from  the  time  we  entered,  the  surf  began  to  thunder  so  ominously 
against  the  rocks  outside,  that  our  guide  announced  that  we  must  quit  the  place  with- 
out delay,  or  run  the  risk  of  being  penned  up  in  the  cave  for  an  indefinite  length  of 
time.  Reluctantly  enough  we  tumbled  our  specimens  into  the  boat  and  pushed  off." 

At  the  meeting  of  the  Washington  Biological  Society,  when  Mr.  Hornaday  read 
his  paper  he  also  exhibited  one  of  the  nests,  very  characteristically  likened  by  him  to 
a  cheese  from  seven  to  nine  inches  in  diameter,  and  from  three  to  six  inches  in  height, 
with  the  top  slightly  hollowed.  It  was  formed  of  a  brownish,  spongy  mass  of  consid- 
erable solidity,  which  apparently  consisted  of  the  undigested  seeds  and  skins  of  fruits, 
ejected  by  the  mouth,  and  mixed  with  the  droppings  of  the  birds. 

This  indicates  that  the  guacharo  feeds  upon  fruits,  which,  in  fact,  constitute  its 
only  food  quite  in  contradistinction  to  the  other  caprimulgoid  birds,  which  are  exclu- 


Batrachostomus  auritus,  eared  frog-mouth. 


Nyctibins  yrundis,  grand  potoo. 


PODARGL 


387 


sively  insectivorous,  an  interesting  analogy  to  the  two  groups  of  frugivorous  and 
insectivorous  bats. 

The  name  '  oil-bird'  is  derived  from  the  superabundance  of  fat  in  the  young  birds, 
from  which  the  natives  prepare  a  colorless  and  inodorous  oil,  extensively  used  instead 
of  butter. 

The  characters  of  the  PODARGIDJS,  so  far  as  they  relate  to  the  palatal  structure, 
have  already  been  pointed  out.  There  remain  to  be  briefly  mentioned  a  few  other 
peculiarities.  Dr.  Ph.  L.  Sclater  has  published  the  result  of  the  anatomical  examina- 
tion of  a  Podargiis,  the  most  important  of  which  are  the  total  absence  of  the  oil  gland, 
and  the  presence  of  a  pair  of  large  powder-down  patches.  The  latter  he  describes  thus 
(Fig.  188)  :  "  Two  large  powder-down  patches  were  discovered,  placed  on  each  side  of 
the  rump.  Each  patch  consists  of  about  forty  feathers,  placed  in  a  line  extending 
from  above  the  outer  end  of 

the   root   of    the    rectrices    to-  i  \| 

wards  the  femur.  Each  feather 
consists  of  a  horny  sheath,  about 
0.8  inch  in  length,  of  which  0.5 
is  external.  At  the  termination 
of  the  sheath  the  feather  pre- 
sents the  usual  decomposed  ap- 
pearance of  powder-down  patch- 
es, being  divided  entirely  into 
numerous  elongated  minute  fila- 
ments of  a  dark  gray  color." 

The  external  aspect  of  the 
members  of  this  family  is  very  . 
much  like  that  of  owls  and  goat- 
suckers, but  the  bill  is  most 
enormously  widened,  and  the 
size,  especially  that  of  the  gi- 
gantic podargi,  is  considerably 

greater  than  that  of  the  goat-suckers.  Their  habits,  though  quite  nocturnal,  differ 
considerably  from  the  latter,  since  their  food  seems  to  consist  mostly  of  insects  which 
crawl  along  the  bark  of  the  trees. 

The  geographical  distribution  of  the  Podargida3  is  limited  to  parts  of  the  Oriental 
and  Australian  regions,  the  podargi  proper  belonging  to  New  Guinea  and  Australia, 
while  the  frog-mouths  (Batrachostomus)  are  confined  to  southern  India,  Burmah, 
Malacca,  and  the  Moluccan  Islands.  A  species  of  the  latter  genus  is  figured  in  the 
accompanying  illustration,  but  their  habits  seem  to  be  very  little  known.  An  inter- 
esting feature  is  an  apparent  dichromatism  analogous  to  that  of  many  small  owls, 
some  specimens  presenting  a  gray,  others  a  rufous,  phase. 

The  CAPKIMULGID^E,  goat-suckers  or  night-jars  proper,  have  a  long  second  pectoral 
muscle,  a  small  oil  gland,  and  after-shafts  to  the  feathers.  They  are  easily  divided 
into  two  sub-families:  Nyctibiina?,  which  have  the  outer  toe  consisting  of  five  pha- 
langes, the  normal  number,  a  smooth  middle  claw,  and  four  notches  to  the  hind  border 
of  the  breastbone,  while  the  CaprimulginaB  have  only  four  phalanges  in  the  outer 
toe,  the  edge  of  the  middle  claw  pectinated,  and  the  sternum  with  two  notches  only. 
Nyctibius  agrees  with  the  Podargida?  in  most  of  the  features  in  which  it  differs  from 


Fi<i.  188.  —  Powder-down  patches  of 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

the  other  goat-suckers,  but  the  character  of  the  palate  seems  to  refer  it  to  the  latter. 
It  is  a  small  group  restricted  to  South  America  and  the  Antilles,  in  aspect  and  habits 
very  similar  to  the  other  Caprimolgide.  A  striking  peculiarity  is  the  tooth  of  the  bill, 
as  depicted  in  the  accompanying  cut. 

The  Caprimulginae  form  a  nearly  cosmopolitan  group  of  nocturnal  birds,  which, 
like  the  owls,  play  a  great  role  in  the  superstitions  of  all  human  races,  whether  white 
or  black,  red  or  yellow.  "  The  harmless,  unoffending  goat-sucker,"  says  Mr.  Water- 
ton,  "from  the  time  of  Aristotle  down  to  the  present  day,  has  been  in  disgrace  with 
man.  Father  has  handed  it  down  to  son,  and  author  to  author,  that  this  nocturnal 
thief  subsists  by  milking  the  flocks.  Poor  injured  little  bird  of  night,  how  sadly  hast 
thou  suffered,  and  how  foul  a  stain  has  inattention  to  facts  put  upon  thy  character! 
Thou  hast  never  robbed  man  of  any  part  of  his  property,  nor  deprived  the  kid  of  a 
drop  of  milk. 

"  When  the  moon  shines  bright  you  may  have  a  fair  opportunity  of  examining  the 
goat-sucker.  You  will  see  it  close  by  the  cows,  goats,  and  sheep,  jumping  up  every 
now  and  then  under  their  bellies.  Approach  a  little  nearer.  See  how  the  nocturnal 
flies  are  tormenting  the  herd,  and  with  what  dexterity  he  springs  up  and  catches  them 
as  fast  as  they  alight  on  the  bellies,  legs,  and  udders  of  the  animals.  Were  you  to 
dissect  him  and  inspect  his  stomach,  you  would  find  no  milk  there.  It  is  full  of  the 
flies  which  have  been  annoying  the  herd." 

The  same  author,  in  speaking  of  the  species  inhabiting  Denierara,  and  referring  to 
the  largest,  continues  as  follows :  "  Its  cry  is  so  remarkable  that,  having  once  heard 
it,  you  will  never  forget  it.  When  night  reigns  over  these  innumerable  wilds,  whilst 
laying  in  your  hammock,  you  will  hear  the  goat-sucker  lamenting  like  one  in  distress. 
A  stranger  would  never  conceive  it  to  be  the  cry  of  a  bird ;  he  would  say  it  was  the 
departing  voice  of  a  midnight  murdered  victim,  or  the  last  wailing  of  Niobe  for  her 
poor  children  before  she  was  turned  into  stone.  Suppose  yourself  in  hopeless  sorro\v, 
begin  with  a  high,  loud  note,  and  pronounce  '  Ha,  ha,  ha,  ha,  ha,  ha,  ha ! '  each  note 
lower  and  lower,  till  the  last  is  scarcely  heard,  pausing  a  moment  or  two  betwixt 
every  note,  and  you  will  have  some  idea  of  the  moaning  of  the  largest  goat-sucker  in 
Demerara.  Four  other  species  of  the  goat-sucker  articulate  some  words  so  distinctly 
that  they  have  received  their  names  from  the  sentences  they  utter,  and  absolutely 
bewilder  the  stranger  on  his  arrival  in  these  parts.  The  most  common  one  sits  down 
close  by  your  door,  and  flies  and  alights  three  or  four  yards  before  you  as  you  walk 
along  the  road,  crying,  'Who  are  you,  who-who-who-are-you.'  Another  bids  you 
'Work  away,  work-work-work-away.'  A  third  cries  mournfully,  ' Willy-come-go, 
willy-willy-willy-come-go.'  And  high  up  in  the  country,  a  fourth  tells  you  to  'Whip- 
poor-will,  whip-whip-whip-poor-will.'  You  will  never  persuade  the  negro  to  destroy 
these  birds,  or  get  the  Indian  to  let  fly  his  arrows  at  them.  They  are  birds  of  omen 
and  reverential  dread.  If  the  largest  goat-sucker  chance  to  cry  near  the  white  man's 
door,  sorrow  and  grief  will  soon  be  inside,  and  they  expect  to  see  the  master  waste 
away  with  a  slow  consuming  sickness.  If  it  be  heard  close  to  the  negro's  or  Indian's 
hut,  from  that  night  misfortune  sits  brooding  over  it,  and  they  await  the  event  in 
terrible  suspense." 

The  goat-suckers  are  of  a  very  uniform  appearance,  their  coloration  being  a 
blended  mixture  of  brown,  gray,  black,  buff,  and  white,  and  to  others  than  the 
specialist  the  characters  by  which  they  are  separated  into  genera  and  species  seem 
trifling  and  unimportant.  Few  but  the  ornithologists  will  therefore  care  to  hear  all 


Chordediles  popetue,  night-hawk. 


Antrostoinn*  mc/fcrnx,  whippoonvill 


GOAT-SUCKERS. 


389 


these  minute  details  by  which  our  whip-poor-will  or  the  night-hawk  may  be  distin- 
guished from  the  more  than  hundred  other  forms  in  the  different  parts  of  the  globe. 
The  tropics,  however,  have  developed,  even  in  this  group,  strangely  ornamented 
species,  as,  for  instance,  the  object  of  the  accompanying  cut,  the  pennant-winged 
night-jar  (Cosmetornis  vexillarius),  and  the  nearly  allied  Macrodipteryx  longipennis, 
in  which  the  shaft  of  the  elongated  primary  is  denuded  except  at  the  extremity, 
which  is  broadly  webbed  for  a  considerable  distance.  These  singular  night-jars 
are  confined  to  Africa.  Hardly  less  curious  are  the  South  American  lyre-tailed 
goat-suckers  (Macropsalis  li/ra  and  allies),  with  their  enoi-mously  elongated  outer  tail- 
feathers. 


FIG.  189.  —  Cosmetornis  vexillarius,  pennant-winged  night-jar. 

The  whole  external  habitus  of  the  rollers,  COBACIAD^E,  reminds  one  forcibly  of 
certain  Passerine  birds,  with  which  they  were,  indeed,  associated  by  earlier  ornitholo- 
gists ;  but  their  four-notched  breastbone,  with  a  pointed  episternal  apophysis,  synpel- 
mous  arrangement  of  the  plantar  tendons,  rudimentary  basipterygoid  processes, 
desmognathous  character  of  the  maxillo-palatines,  extreme  attenuation  of  the  vomer, 
and  furcation  of  the  dorsal  tract  between  the  shoulder-blades,  at  once  indicate  their 
position  amongst  the  Picarise.  We  have  already,  on  a  previous  page,  indicated  an 
external  character  by  which  they  may  be  easily  distinguished  from  the  foregoing 
families,  viz.,  the  number  of  tail-feathers,  which  is  twelve.  Besides,  their  gaudy 
colors  prevent  them  from  ever  being  confounded  with  any  of  the  goat-suckers. 


390 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


The  Coraciadse  are  characteristic  of  the  Ethiopian  and  Indian  regions,  though  one 
species,  the  common  roller  (Coracias  garrula),  is  extensively  distributed  over  the  tem- 
perate western  portions  of  the  Palaearctic  region,  and  a  few  species  of  the  blue-colored 
broad-bill  rollers  (Eurysiomus)  enter  parts  of  the  Australian  and  Austro-Maylayan 
regions.  None  of  the  rollers  are  found  in  the  New  World. 

The  island  of  Madagascar  possesses  three  species  of  rollers,  so  different  inter 
se  that  they  are  regarded  as  types  of  different  genera,  and  so  different  from  all 
other  rollers  that  a  separate  sub-family  has  been  established  for  their  reception.  The 
Brachypteracianas,  therefore,  consist  of  three  genera,  Brachypteracias,  Atelornis,  and 
Geobiastes,  which  are  not  found  anywhere  else  than  in  Madagascar.  They  are  charac- 


FJG.  190.  —  Coracias  garrula,  roller. 

terized  by  their  long  tarsus,  and  their  nocturnal,  ground-feeding  habits,  hence  they 
have  been  called  ground-rollers.  The  Atelornis  pittoides  is  gorgeously  colored,  very 
much  after  the  fashion  of  a  Pitta,  and,  as  remarked  by  Messrs.  Roch  and  Newton,  it  is 
singular  that  such  a  brightly  colored  species  should  be  nocturnal  in  its  habits.  Structur- 
ally the  ground-rollers  show  relationship  to  the  next  family,  —  the  Leptosomatidae. 
The  accompanying  engravings  illustrate  the  two  representative  genera  of  the  rollers,  the 
European  species,  Coracias  garrula,  and  the  Indian,  Eiirystomus  orientalis.  A  cut 
can  only  do  slight  justice  to  the  former's  beautiful  colors.  The  general  color  is  a  light 
bluish  green,  inclining  to  verditer,  the  mantle  light  cinnamon  brown,  the  wings  and 
rump  adorned  with  beautiful  azure  blue.  The  name  'roller'  is  derived  from  its  pecu- 


ROLLERS. 


391 


liar  flight,  which  is  varied  and  unsteady,  and  often  the  bird  turns  over  in  the  air  like 
a  tumbler  pigeon. 

The  genus  JEurystomus  is  remarkable  for  being  represented  in  Africa  by  ruddi- 
colored  species,  while  blue  is  the  predominating  coloration  of  those  living  in  India  and 
further  east;  but  Mr.  K.  B.  Sharpe  remarks  that  from  his  study  of  the  kingfishers 
(Alcedinidae)  he  is  led  to  consider  that  the  possession  of  a  blue  color  by  one  species 
and  of  a  ruddy  tint  by  another  does  not  indicate  remote  relationship.  "Change,"  he 


r 


FlG.  191.  —  Kuryatinniix  urn  ntaiig,  broad-billed  r 


says,  "the  lilac  tints  into  blue  all  over  the  body,  and  the  African  broad-billed  rollers 
assume  the  exact  style  of  coloration  as  their  eastern  congeners."  The  broad-billed 
rollers,  like  the  true  rollers,  are  said  to  be  fond  of  tumbling  in  the  air. 

Lieutenant  H.  R.  Kelham  makes  the  following  remarks  upon  the  habits  of  E.  ori- 
<  ut'iUs:  "I  hardly  like  to  say  that  it  is  nocturnal  in  its  habits,  still  it  is  rarely  met 
with  -luring  the  heat  of  the  day;  but  in  the  country  round  Kevala  Kangsar,  IVrak,  I 
frequently  saw  it  of  an  evening  when  on  my  way  home  after  a  day  in  the  jungle;  it 


392  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

was  usually  perched  on  the  upper  branches  of  some  tree,  from  which  it  made  short 
flights  into  the  air  in  pursuit  of  insects.  The  first  one  I  shot  was  only  winged,  and, 
turning  on  its  back,  and  uttering  harsh  screams,  it  fought  most  savagely  with  my  dog. 
It  was  a  male ;  length  eleven  inches ;  irides  dark  brown  ;  legs,  feet,  and  beak,  scarlet ; 
plumage  greenish  blue ;  head  almost  black ;  wings  very  prettily  marked  with  blue  and 
black,  each  having  on  it  a  spot  of  very  pale  blue ;  patch  on  throat  rich  violet ;  beak 
short,  strong,  and  hooked  at  tip ;  gape  and  eyes  very  large." 

The  following  family,  the  LEPTOSOMATID^E,  is  not  the  least  remarkable  for  the  fact 
that  there  is  only  one  species  living,  inhabiting  the  wonderful  Madagascar,  while 
another  is  known  as  fossil  from  the  tertiary  deposits  in  France.  As  may  be  expected, 
this  last  survival  stands  alone  among  his  more  modern  contemporaries,  and  many 
are,  indeed,  its  peculiarities,  though  the  relationship  to  the  rollers  is 
unmistakable  ;  in  fact  no  other  living  birds  come  nearer  to  it,  and 
several  authors  refer  it  unhesitatingly  to  the  Coraciadre.  There  are 
two  external  peculiarities  which  may  be  very  well  seen  in  the  illustra- 
tion herewith  presented,  viz.,  the  position  of  the  nostrils  at  the  middle 
of  the  beak,  the  curious  development  of  the  loral  plumes  into  a  con- 
spicuous tuft,  and  the  apparently  yoke-toed  feet.  I  say  apparently 
yoke-toed,  since  the  fourth  toe  is  not  placed  directly  behind,  as  in 
the  cuckoos  or  wood-peckers,  but  laterally,  rather  more  behind  than 
in  front.  This  disposition  of  the  toes  induced  the  older  systematists 
to  place  the  bird  in  question  among  the  Cuculidas,  but  Dr.  P.  L.  Sclater 
has  shown  that  it  differs  considerably  from  the  latter,  and  approaches 

FIG.  192.—  Pterylosis 

the  rollers.     Recent  studies  of  its  myology  show  that  it  really  belongs      of  Leptowmus,  <u>r- 

.......  rn,  sal  view;/?,  powder- 

here;  the  breastbone  presents  some  peculiarities  ot  its  own.      ihe      down   patches;  o, 

pterylosis  is  remarkable.     It  possesses  long  after-shafts,  and  the  dor- 
sal tract  bifurcates  between  the  shoulders,  and  there  are  two  highly  developed  powder- 
down  patches,  one  on  each  side  of  the  rump,  as  shown  in  the  appended  figure.     There 
seems,  consequently  to  be  characters  enough  to  warrant  its  recognition  as  type  of  a 
distinct  family. 

Our  figure  of  Leptosomus  discolor,  or  kirumbo,  as  it  is  called  by  some  of  the 
natives  of  Madagascar,  only  represents  the  male,  which  is  glossy  green,  with  coppery 
reflections  on  the  back  and  crown,  cinereous  on  sides  of  head,  round  the  neck,  and 
below.  The  female,  which  by  Reichenbach  was  made  the  type  of  a  different  genus, 
and  placed  in  a  different  part  of  the  system,  is  barred  and  spotted  with  blackish  and 
rufous  brown. 

The  French  traveler,  Alfred  Grandidier,  gives  the  following  account  of  the  habits 
of  the  kirumbo.  They  "  live  in  bands  of  ten  or  twelve  individuals  on  the  borders  of 
woods.  As  soon  as  one  of  these  birds  is  knocked  over  with  a  shot,  all  the  others 
place  themselves  at  a  little  distance  off  or  hover  round  the  hunter,  so  that  sometimes 
one  may  kill  as  many  as  ten  in  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour."  About  the  roller-like 
tumbling  in  the  air,  Messrs.  Roch  and  Newton  made  the  following  observations : 
"  It  has  a  peculiar  habit  of  playing  in  the  air  for  some  time  over  the  same  place, 
ascending  almost  perpendicularly,  as  it  were  by  a  jump,  to  a  great  height,  and  descend- 
ing again  in  a  curve  nearly  to  the  top  of  the  trees,  by  almost  closing  its  wings,  at  the 
same  time  uttering  a  whistle  so  like  an  eagle's  that  it  was  for  a  long  time  doubted  by 
us  whether  the  bird  that  performed  this  wonderful  freak  was  not  a  raptorial.  How- 
ever, after  having  several  times  watched  it  with  our  glasses,  we  satisfied  ourselves  that 


KIRUMBO. 


393 


it  was  this  species.     Whilst  one  bird  was  thus  playing,  another  would  frequently 
answer  its  cry  from  a  tree  hard  by." 

Only  one  family  constitutes  the  super-family  COLIOIDE^E,  a  rank  which  may 
fairly  be  defended  by  Dr.  Murie's  words :  "  If  we  take  one  set  of  regional  charac- 
ters, —  the  feet,  the  head,  the  breastbones,  the  pelvis,  and  so  on,  —  we  can  place  it  in 
as  many  different  groups ;  we  can  even  trace  raptorial  kin ;  so  that  it  is  hard  to  say 
where  Colius  could  not  be  wedged  in,  and  plausibly  too.  Not  only  is  it  entitled  to 
be  considered  aberrant,  but  to  afford  the  strongest  proof  of  the  interlinking  of  type, — 
not  in  the  chain  series  so  often  advocated,  but,  like  the  Isle  of  Man  tripodal  coat-of- 
arms,  kicking  its  legs  about,  and  whichever  alighting  upon,  there  it  stands.  But  if  in 


I/ 


i/isciilnr,  kiruinbu. 


true  spirit  of  ornithology  we  take  the  bird  in  its  completeness,  it  will  be  allowed  it 
does  not  so  closely  resemble  any  acknowledged  individual  group  as  to  come  under 
its  definition." 

As  demonstrated  by  Professor  Garrod,  the  palate  is  desmognathous  (cf.  the  accom- 
panying cut,  Fig.  194),  and  the  vomer  is  not  ossified,  and  consequently  lacking  as  a 
bone,  therein  agreeing  with  Alcedo.  There  are  no  basiptervgoid  processes.  As  to 
the  breastbone,  he  asserts  that  it  resembles  that  of  the  Megalaimidae  more  than  any 
other  bird.  The  rostrum  is  indented,  but  not  deeply  cleft.  In  regard  to  internal 
characters,  his  researches  confirm  the  result  of  Dr.  Murie,  based  upon  osteological 
grounds,  that  the  Collide  are  not  to  be  referred  to  the  Cuculoideae,  as  has  usually 
been  done.  They  lack  the  ambiens  muscle,  and  "in  the  arrangement  of  its  plantar 


394 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


FIG.  194.— Palate  of  Colius 
mxp,  inaxillo-palatines 
pi,  palatines. 


tendons,  Colius,  although  so  peculiar  and  uncertain  in  the  manner  in  which  it  employs 
its  toes,  exactly  resembles  the  feeble-footed  Alcedinida3,  and  hardly  differs  from  the 
Coraciada?,  Meropidse,  Bucerotida?,  and  Caprimulgidse.  I  could  find  no  trace  of  intes- 
tinal ca3ca.  Nitzsch  has  shown  that  the  oil  gland  is  tufted,  and 
that  there  are  ten  rectrices."  Only  the  left  carotid  is  present, 
and  the  syrinx  is  most  nearly  related  to  that  of  Ceryle  among 
the  kingfishers.  Professor  Garrod  sums  up  thus :  "From  what 
has  been  said  above,  it  is  evident  that  Colitis  must  be  included 
among  the  Piciformes,  and  near  those  of  this  division  with  a 
left  carotid  only,  a  four-notched  sternum,  and  a  blended  plantar- 
tendon  arrangement.  No  other  piciform  bird,  however,  com- 
bines these  characters.  Consequently,  the  fact  that  the  combi- 
nation of  characters  is  unique  justifies  us  in  retaining  the  Coliida? 
in  a  separate  family,  related  on  one  hand  to  the  Picidre,  and  on 
the  other  to  the  Alcedinidas  and  Bucerotidse." 

Very  interesting  is  the  construction  of  the  foot,  which  is 
pamprodactylous,  that  is,  all  toes  turn  forwards,  even  the  first 
one,  though  it  seems  as  if  the  latter  is  reversatile.  Dr.  Murie 
compares  the  foot  "  to  a  human  hand  strongly  clawed,  which, 
by  a  kind  of  griping  or  squeezing  of  the  digits,  securely  fastens 
to  the  slightest  inequalities  of  surface."  It  seems,  however,  as 

if  the  colies  are  able  also  to  direct  the  fourth  toe  more  or  less  backwards,  thus  some- 
times grasping  thin  twigs  in  a  way  similar  to  the  yoke-toed  birds. 

Only  one  genus,  Colius,  requires  recognition.  It  is  strictly  confined  to  the  Ethi- 
opian region,  except  Madagascar,  and  the  southern  and  eastern  portions  seem  to  be 
the  richest  in  species.  There  are  not  many  known  yet,  for  in  the  latest  review  of 
this  genus  (July,  1885),  Capt.  G.  E.  Shelley  only  enumerates  eight  species,  besides 
three  geographical  races.  He  gives  the  following  condensed  account  of  their 
habits :  — 

"  The  colies  are  all  fruit-eaters,  live  in  small  bands,  frequent  thick  bushes,  and, 
when  disturbed,  fly  straight  to  some  neighboring  covert.  Owing  to  their  peculiar 
structure,  they  place  themselves  in  the  most  extraordinary  attitudes  when  they  rest  or 
scramble  amongst  the  boughs,  and  they  roost  at  night  in  thickly  packed  companies 
for  warmth,  generally,  if  not  always,  with  their  feet  above  their  heads.  Their 
nests  are  cup-shaped,  and  placed  in  thickish  bushes  at  a  few  feet  from  the  ground, 
and  some,  if  not  all,  of  the  species  frequently  add  green  leaves  to  the  interior  of 
their  nests  during  incubation.  The  eggs  are  rough,  rather  obtuse  ovals,  and  generally 
white. 

"  There  are  now  examples  of  three  species  of  this  genus  living  in  the  Zoological 
Society's  Gardens  [London].  They  are  admirably  adapted  for  cage-birds,  being 
active,  bold,  and  apparently  hardy,  and  the  quaintness  of  their  attitudes  is  interesting 
to  watch." 

The  species  figured  is  C.  macrourus,  which  inhabits  northeastern,  eastern,  and 
western  Africa.  Its  bill  is  red  at  base,  black  at  tip,  in  strong  contrast,  feet  coral  red. 
The  general  color  is  gray,  more  isabella-colored  underneath,  and  a  patch  of  pure  sky- 
blue  on  the  nape.  The  ' Muis-vogeV  of  the  boers  in  South  Africa  (Colius  colius)  is 
distinguished  by  having  the  lower  and  middle  back  black,  with  a  broad  white  band 
down  the  centre. 


BEE-EATERS. 


395 


In  order  to  show  at  once  which  families  we  intend  to  include  in  the  super-family 
ALCEDINOIDE^E  the  following  table  has  been  prepared :  — 


1  carotid;  spinal  space Meropidce;  nude  oil-; 

sternal  notches 


open  Todidce ;  tufted  oil-gland 

sternal  notches 

converted  into 

foramina  Momotidce ;  aftershaft         ) 


caeca 
developed 


Sternum    I  f  muscular  for- 

4-notehed  1  I  mula  A  X  Y 

2  carotids ;  no  I 

-    spinal  space  | 

muscular    for-  <  no  C8eca- 

1  mula  A  X  Mcedinida    no  aftershaft  ) 

Sternum,  at  most,  2-notched Bucerotidat  ) 

We  have  already  mentioned  the  synpelmous  arrangement  of  the  plantar  tendons 
in  the  present  super-family,  and  it  is  interesting  to  remark  that,  while  a  similar  arrange- 
ment is  found  in  some  other  groups,  associated  with  bifurcation  of  the  spinal  feather- 


FiG.  195.—  Colins  macrounis,  long-tailed  coly. 

tract   between   the   shoulders,   it   is   combined   with   a  simple   tract  and  a  peculiar 
conformation  of  the  foot  in  the  present  division,  as  all  the  Alcedinoideae  are  syn 
dactylous,  that  is,  have  the  outer  and  middle  toes  firmly  united,  at  least  as  far  as  the 
N'cond  joint. 

We  shall  treat  of  the  families  nearly  in  the  sequence  indicated  by  the  above  table, 
consequently  beginning  with  the  Old  World  MEROPIDJE,  or  bee-eaters,  the  typical  species 
of  which  is  figured  in  the  accompanying  cut.  These  are  among  the  most  brightly- 
colored  Picarians,  and  inhabit  especially  the  Ethiopian  and  Oriental  regions,  sending 
a  few  species  northward  to  breed  in  the  warmer  portions  of  the  Palaaarctic  realm. 
Their  name  is  derived  from  the  fact  that  their  principal  food  is  bees,  wasps,  and  sim- 


396 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


ilar  insects,  which  are  seized  on  the  wing.  In  districts  with  a  flourishing  bee-culture 
they  become  exceedingly  injurious,  and  are  therefore  eagerly  persecuted,  the  more  so 
since  their  flesh  is  palatable,  and  their  gaudy  plumage  in  high  demand  by  both  civ- 
ilized and  savage  belles  for  ornament.  The  bees  are  mostly  swallowed  whole,  and  it 
is  very  remarkable  that  the  birds  do  not  seem  to  be  hurt  by  the  sting,  the  more  so 
since  we  know  instances  of  many  small  birds  having  been  killed  by  swallowing  such 
poisonous  insects ;  and  Naumann  states  that  experiments  with  ducks  had  a  similar 
fatal  end. 

The  breeding  habits  of  the  bee-eaters  are  peculiar.     They  nest  usually  in  colonies, 


FIG.  196.  —  Merops  apiaster,  bee-eater. 

digging  deep  tunnels  in  steep,  sandy  river-banks.  The  tunnel,  which  is  often  nine  to 
ten  feet  long,  opens  into  a  breeding-chamber,  where  the  bird  deposits  four  or  five  white 
eggs  on  the  bare  soil.  According  to  Colonel  Irby  the  beak  is  used  for  digging  the 
holes,  and  he  asserts  that  the  bills,  after  the  boring,  are  sometimes  worn  away  to  less 
than  half  their  ordinary  length.  Of  the  common  European  bee-eater  (Merops  apiaster) 
it  is  said  that  when,  in  winter,  it  goes  to  South  Africa,  it  rears  there  another  brood  of 
young  ones;  but  Mr.  Seebohm  suggests  that  there  exists  a  South  African  colony,  the 
breeding  range  of  which  is  overlapped  by  the  winter  range  of  the  northern  colony. 

Referring  to  the  wood-cut  for  the  form  of  a  typical  Merops,  a  fuller  impression  of 
the  beauty  of  these  birds  may  be  had  by  compai-ing  it  with  the  following  description 


MOT  MOTS. 


397 


of  the  colors:  Lower  parts  verdigris-blue,  and  forehead  pale  whitish-blue;  body  above 
chestnut,  passing  into  rufous  on  the  rump ;  a  black  stripe  through  the  eye  nearly 
meets  another  which  posteriorly  borders  the  yellow  throat. 

The  Meropinae  proper  form  a  group  of  hardly  more  than  thirty  species.  Nyctiornis 
and  its  allies,  which  have  a  more  arched  bill,  and  elongated  plumes  on  the  throat,  like 
the  motmot,  form  a  group  of  still  fewer  species.  The  latter  differ  also  somewhat  in 
their  habits,  being  less  active,  less  sociable,  and  preferring  the  dense  forests,  while 
J/<  i-ops  is  very  partial  to  the  open  country. 

During  the  sway  of  the  old  theory  that  the  peculiar  birds  of  one  hemisphere  were 
represented  in  the  other  hemisphere  by  corresponding  forms,  the  Meropidae  were 
regarded  as  represented  in  the  New  World  by  the  motmots,  or  MOMOTID^E,  —  a  family 
which  is  as  exclusively  American  as  the  bee-eaters  are  palaeogasan.  In  this  case  the 
theory  worked  tolerably  well,  for  not  only  is  there  a  certain  external  resemblance 
between  the  two  groups,  but  they  are  also  evidently  related,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  the  former  have  well-developed  caeca,  while  the  latter  have  lost  them.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  see  why  the  same  explanation  which  has  been  advanced  in  order  to  explain  the 
absence  of  feather-tufts  to  the  oil  gland  of  several  Momotidas,  viz.,  that  they  Avere 
lost  after  the  ancestral  stock  had  split  up  into  two  branches,  —  one  with  and  another 
without  colic  caeca, —  should  not  apply  just  as  well  to  the  presence  or  absence  of  caeca 
as  compared  with  the  synpelmous  and  syndactylous  arrangement  of  the  toes. 

The  Momotidae,  like  the  next  family,  have  the  edges  of  the  bill  serrated,  which 
has  caused  them  to  be  united  in  a  common  group,  called  by  some  authors  Serratiros- 
tres.  But  this  character  is  not  exclusive,  since  there  is  a  genus  of  kingfishers  (Syma), 
in  which  the  tomia  are  likewise  denticulated.  In  contradistinction  to  the  Todidae, 
however,  the  tail  is  graduated  and  elon- 
gated, the  middle  feathers  especially  so, 
except  in  the  small  species  composing  the 
genus  Hylomanes.  The  number  of  tail- 
t'eathers  varies  in  the  different  genera 
between  ten  and  twelve.  The  present 
family  is  not  rich  in  species,  and  the  cen- 
tre of  its  distribution  seems  to  be  Central 
America.  The  predominant  colors  are 
green  and  rusty,  with  bluish  or  beryl- 
green  ornamental  plumes. 

The  habits  of  these  birds  have  been 
summed  up  as  follows :  "  The  birds  are 
solitary,  or  live  in  pairs,  preferring  the 
shady  recesses  of  the  forest.  They  sit 
motionless  on  a  low  branch,  often  in 
nooks  near  rivulets,  wherefrom  they  dart 
on  their  prey.  Swainson  says  they  catch 
their  prey  on  the  wing,  but  Kirk  avers 
that  they  alight  to  seize  it.  Ordinarily 
their  food  is  insects,  reptiles,  and  fruits. 
In  captivity  a  bold,  mistrusting  bird,  the 
motmot  will  then  eat  bread,  raw  meat,  oranges,  watermelons,  small  birds,  mice, 
lizards,  snakes,  cockroaches,  etc.  On  pouncing  on  these  latter,  they  afterwards  strike 


Fir,.  197. —Central  tail-feathers  of  (A)  Mnmotnst  in  pro- 
gress of  denudation  ;  (B)  of  Eumomota,  and  (C)  of 
M'imotus  lessoni  from  above,  with  central  feathers 
half-grown,  but  yet  partially  denuded  ;  all  half  natu- 
ral size. 


398 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

them  violently  against  the 
ground  or  perch.  Songless, 
their  only  cry  is  '  houtoo.' 
They  breed  in  holes,  and  about 
May  lay  three  or  four  dusky 
cream-colored  eggs.  Sexes  un- 
distinguishable;  and  the  young 
scarcely  differ,  except  in  the 
more  downy  texture  of  their 
feathers.  Primaries  shed  at 
the  first  moult.  The  story  has 
found  credence  that  they  nil>- 
ble  off  the  occasionally  absent 
vanes  of  the  long  middle  tail- 
feathers;  but  this  notion  has 
been  contradicted." 

This  sentence,  which  refers 
to  the  racket-shaped  tail-feath- 
ers of  certain  species,  as  illus- 
trated in  its  perfection  by 
the  accompanying  figure  (Fig. 
197.#),  caused  an  article  by 
Mr.  O.  Salvin,  in  which  he  re- 
produced a  letter  from  Mr.  A. 
D.  Bartlett  in  regard  to  a  speci- 
men of  Momotus  subrufescens, 
which  for  several  years  lived  in 
the  Zoological  Society's  Gar- 
dens in  London,  to  the  effect 
that  he  had  seen  the  bird  in 
the  act  of  picking  off  the  webs 
of  the  central  feathers  of  its 
tail,  and  had  taken  from  the  bot- 
tom of  the  cage  the  fragments 
of  web  that  fell  from  the  bird's 
bill.  Mr.  Salvin,  in  addition, 
furnished  drawings  of  tail-feath- 
ers from  skins  in  his  collection 
illustrating  the  gradual  progress 
of  denudation,  from  the  newly 
grown  feathers  with  continuous 
webs  to  the  finished  racket. 
So  far  as  his  material  goes  it 
seems  to  corroborate  the  theory 
of  the  bird  voluntarily  and  pur- 
posely trimming  the  feather 
down.  But  it  will  hardly  ex- 
which  is  represented  in  Fig.  197  6T,  taken  from  a  specimen  in  the 


FIG.  198.  —  Moinotus  momota,  uiotmot. 

plain  the  case 


TODIES.  399 

IT.  S.  National  Museum.  The  shaded  parts  indicate  the  central  tail-feathers,  the 
bases  of  which  are  still  in  the  sheaths;  they  are  only  half  grown,  and  have  not  yet 
reached  the  end  of  the  next  pair;  still  they  are  perfectly  racket-shaped,  only  that  the 
discs  are  larger  than  usual,  so  that  it  may  be  presumed  that  any  future  denudation  would 
take'  place  from  the  nude  stem  down  towards  the  end  of  the  feather.  This  point  is  of 
some  importance,  since  we  find  that  the  denudation  of  the  full  grown  feather  upwards 
never  does  proceed  farther  than  the  tips  of  the  next  pair.  Fig.  197^4  represents  a 
feather  which  may  help  to  solve  the  question.  In  feathers  for  some  reason  or  other  not 
in  prime  condition,  or  part  of  which  are  destined  by  a  regularly  returning  process  to 
fall  off,  we  find  by  holding  them  up  towards  the  light,  fine  transparent  lines  running 
across  the  barbs  like  strings  of  minute  holes.  These  so-called  'hunger-marks'  indi- 
cate where  the  barbs  are  going  to  break.  In  the  figure,  drawn  from  a  specimen  in  the 
National  Museum  in  Washington,  such  a  line  is  visible,  and  the  tips  of  the  outer 
barbs  have  already  broken  off.  It  would  not  be  particularly  surprising  if  the  bird 
subsequently  purposely  removed  the  defective  barbs,  but  I  see  no  reason  why  it  may 
not  be  assumed,  that  these  already  broken  barbs  may  not  die  entirely  off  at  their  in- 
sertion, being  removed  by  the  serrated  beak  of  the  bird  when  preening  its  chief 
ornament.  This  would  account  for  Mr.  Bartlett's  having  seen  the  broken  barbs  fall- 
ing from  the  bird's  bill.  If  this  be  the  true  solution,  then  there  is  no  room  for  the 
theory  that  the  voluntary  trimming  through  several  generations  has  produced  the 
narrowness  of  the  webs  before  the  discs  even  in  the  untrimmed  feathers.  The  species 
figured  (Momotus  momota)  has  no  disc-like  expansion.  It  lives  in  tropical  South 
America,  and  is  the  oldest  known  of  the  group. 

Garrod  originally  referred  the  Momotidfe  to  the  Passeriformes  without  tufts  to  the 
oil  gland  and  with  caeca ;  but  afterwards  finding  by  actual  dissection  that  caeca  were 
absent,  and  that  some  species  had  minute  tufts,  he  removed  them  to  the  Piciformes. 
As  to  the  TODID.E  of  which  he  seems  to  have  dissected  none,  he  remarks,  however, 
that  they  almost  certainly  form  a  single  family  with  the  motmots,  adding  that  he  had 
been  able  from  a  skin  to  determine  that  they  are  synpehnous  in  exactly  the  same 
manner  as  the  motmot.  Forbes  has  since  ascertained  that  colic  caeca  are  present,  and 
that  simultaneously  the  oil-gland  is  strongly  tufted.  Osteologically  Momotidae  and 
Todidae  are  nearly  allied,  though  the  latter  have  no  voiner,  and  their  manubrium  sterni 
shows  tendency  to  bifurcation.  Here  are  a  few  of  Dr.  Murie's  remarks:  "It  would 
set-in  that  where  outward  appearance  has  swayed,  naturalists  judged  Tod-its  as  having 
alliance  with  the  fly-catchers  or  the  motmots ;  but  where  anatomical  evidence  has 
been  relied  on,  the  kingfishers  and  bee-eaters  are  the  groups  with  which  it  carried 
family  likeness.  It  results  from  my  investigation,  and  a  summing  up  of  the  labors  of 
others,  that  its  nearest  living  allies  undoubtedly  are  the  motmots  and  kingfishers ;  but 
it  presents  such  aberrance  that  it  ought  not  to  be  ranked  amongst  either,  but  in 
proximity  as  a  separate  division  —  the  Todida?  —  equivalent  to  the  Momotidae." 

The  Todidae  consist  only  of  a  single  genus  of  half  a  dozen  forms,  which  are  con- 
fined to  some  of  the  West  Indian  Islands.  The  typical  and  oldest  known  species, 
Todus  todus  (or  T.  viridis),  figured  in  the  accompanying  cut,  shows  them  to  be  small 
(the  figure  is  natural  size),  somewhat  kingfisher-like  birds,  with  syndactyle  feet,  long 
and  flattened  beak  with  minute  serrations  along  the  edge,  a  short  tail,  and  a  plumage 
which  above  is  bright  parrot  green,  below  whitish  tinged  with  faint  greenish  and 
yellow,  while  the  throat  is  of  a  brilliant  poppy  red.  Mr.  P.  H.  Gosse  describes  the 
bill  as  above  horny  red,  beneath  pale  crimson.  The  same  author  speaks  of  its  habits 


400 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


as  follows :  "  In  all  parts  of  Jamaica  that  I  have  visited,  the  tody  is  a  very  common 
bird.  It  will  allow  a  person  to  approach  very  near,  and,  if  disturbed,  alight  on  another 
twig  a  few  yards  distant.  We  have  often  captured  specimens  with  the  insect  net, 
and  struck  them  down  with  a  switch,  and  it  is  not  uncommon  for  the  little  boys  to 
creep  up  behind  one,  and  actually  to  clap  the  hand  over  it  as  it  sits,  and  thus  secure 
it.  It  is  a  general  favorite,  and  has  received  a  favorite  name,  that  of  robin  redbreast. 
Commonly  it  is  seen  sitting  patiently  on  a  twig,  with  the  head  drawn  in,  the  beak 


FiG.  199.  —  Todus  todus,  green  tody. 

pointing  upwards,  the  loose  plumage  puffed  out,  when  it  appears  much  larger  than  it 
is.  It  certainly  has  an  air  of  stupidity  Avhen  thus  seen.  But  this  abstraction  is  more 
apparent  than  real ;  if  we  watch  it,  we  shall  see  that  the  odd-looking  gray  eyes  are 
glancing  hither  and  thither,  and  that,  ever  and  anon,  the  bird  sallies  out  xipon  a  short 
feeble  flight,  snaps  at  something  in  the  air,  and  returns  to  his  twig  to  swallow  it." 

The  breeding  habits  of  the  todies  are  interesting  inasmuch  as  they,  like  the  bee- 
eaters  and  kingfishers,  dig  holes  in  earth-banks  of  ravines  and  ditches.     Dr.  Gundlach, 


KINGFISHERS.  401 

in  Cuba,  saw  a  tody  dig  with  its  bill.  Two  weeks  later  he  found  the  burrow  finished. 
It  consisted  of  a  horizontal  tunnel  about  four  inches  long,  ending  in  a  nest-chamber 
in  which  were  deposited  the  pure  white  eggs. 

Like  all  the  other  Picarian  families,  the  kingfishers,  or  ALCEDINID^E,  form  a  very 
well  circumscribed  group,  separated  from  all  the  others  by  gaps  which  future  paleon- 
tological  discoveries  may  bridge.  But  now,  since  the  internal  structure  of  all  these 
forms  has  become  better  known,  it  has  been  possible,  with  some  degree  of  certainty, 
to  decide  upon  the  mutual  relationships.  It  is  interesting  in  this  connection  to 
remark  that  various  authors,  looking  from  different  points  of  view,  some  from 
external  others  from  internal  characters,  came  to  the  same  conclusion:  viz.,  that 
the  kingfishers  are  most  nearly  allied  to  the  hornbills,  in  spite  of  the  enormous  super- 
ficial dissimilarity  in  structure,  habits,  and  food.  We  shall  return  to  this  point  later 
in  connection  with  the  latter  family. 

When,  in  1871,  Mr.  R.  B.  Sharpe  finished  his  monograph  of  the  present  family,  he 
considered  it  to  consist  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  species.  Since  then,  various 
new  species  have  been  described,  and  altogether  we  may  estimate  the  number  of  spe- 
cies to  be  about  one  hundred  and  fifty,  concerning  the  geographical  distribution  of  which 
Dr.  Wallace  remarks  as  follows  :  — 

"  The  kingfishers  are  distributed  universally,  but  very  unequally,  over  the  globe,  and 
in  this  respect  present  some  of  the  most  curious  anomalies  to  be  found  among  birds. 
They  have  their  metropolis  in  the  eastern  half  of  the  Malay  Archipelago,  from  Celebes 
to  New  Guinea,  in  which  district  no  less  than  thirteen  out  of  the  nineteen  genera 
occur,  eight  of  them  being  peculiar ;  and  it  is  probable  that  in  no  other  equally  varied 
group  of  universal  distribution  is  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  generic  forms  confined 
to  so  limited  a  district.  From  this  centre,  kingfishers  decrease  rapidly  in  every  direc- 
tion. In  Australia  itself  there  are  only  four  genera  with  thirteen  species ;  the  whole 
Oriental  region  has  only  six  genera,  one  being  peculiar ;  the  Ethiopian  also  six 
genera,  but  three  peculiar ;  and  each  of  these  has  less  than  half  the  number  of  spe- 
cies possessed  by  the  Australian  region.  The  Palaearctic  region  possesses  only  three 
genera,  all  derived  from  the  Oriental  region ;  but  the  most  extraordinary  deficiency  is 
shown  by  the  usually  rich  Neotropical  region,  which  possesses  but  a  single  genus, 
common  to  the  larger  part  of  the  eastern  hemisphere,  and  the  same  genus  is  alone 
found  in  the  Nearctic  region,  the  only  difference  being  that  the  former  possesses  eight, 
while  the  latter  has  but  a  single  species.  These  facts  almost  inevitably  lead  to  the 
conclusion  that  America  long  existed  without  kingfishers ;  and  that  in  comparatively 
recent  times  —  perhaps  during  the  miocene  or  pliocene  period  —  a  species  of  the  Old 
World  genus,  Ceryle,  found  its  way  into  North  America,  and,  spreading  rapidly  south- 
ward along  the  great  river-valleys,  has  become  differentiated  in  South  America  into  the 
few  closely  allied  forms  that  alone  inhabit  that  vast  country  —  the  richest  in  the  world 
in  fresh-water  fish,  and  apparently  the  best  fitted  to  sustain  a  varied  and  numerous 
body  of  kingfishers." 

We  have  in  our  plate  the  representatives  of  the  two  sub-families  into  which  the 
kingfishers  are  divisible,  viz.,  the  common  European  kingfisher  (Alcedo  ispidd),  type 
of  the  Alcedininae,  characterized  by  the  long  scapular  feathers  forming  a  kind  of 
mantle  covering  the  back,  and  the  white-headed  halcyon  (Halcyon  semicoendea)^  one 
of  the  Halcyoninae,  in  which  the  scapulars  are  short.  To  this  latter  group,  which 
embraces  the  omnivorous  and  reptilivorous  species,  belong  the  giants  of  the  family, 
among  others  the  giant  kinghunter  of  Australia.  The  latter  is  now  so  popular  a  bird 

VOL.  IV. —26 


402  NATURAL   HISTORY   OF  BIRDS. 

that  it  deserves  a  more  than  passing  notice,  hence  we  reprint  Mr.  H.  Wheelwright's 
graphic  account  of  its  habits :  — 

"  About  an  hour  before  sunrise  the  bushman  is  awakened  by  the  most  discordant 
sounds,  as  if  a  troop  of  fiends  were  shouting,  whooping  and  laughing  around  him  in 
one  wild  chorus.  This  is  the  morning  song  of  the  'laughing  jackass,'  warning  his 
feathered  mates  that  daybreak  is  at  hand.  At  noon  the  same  wild  laugh  is  heard,  and, 
as  the  sun  sinks  into  the  west,  it  again  rings  through  the  forest.  I  shall  never  forget 
the  first  night  I  slept  in  the  open  bush  in  this  country.  It  was  in  the  Black  Forest. 
I  awoke  about  daybreak,  after  a  confused  sleep,  and  for  some  minutes  I  could  not 
remember  where  I  was,  such  were  the  extraordinary  sounds  that  greeted  my  ears ;  the 
fiendish  laugh  of  the  'jackass,'  the  clear,  flute-like  note  of  the  magpie,  the  hoarse  cacks 
of  the  wattle-birds,  the  jargon  of  flocks  of  leather-heads,  and  the  screaming  of  thou- 
sands of  parrots  as  they  dashed  through  the  forest,  all  joining  chorus,  formed  one  of 
the  most  extraordinary  concerts  I  have  ever  heard,  and  seemed  at  the  moment  to 
have  been  got  up  for  the  purpose  of  welcoming  the  sti-anger  to  this  land  of  wonders 
on  that  eventful  morning.  I  have  heard  it  hundreds  of  times  since,  but  never  with 
the  same  feelings  that  I  listened  to  it  then.  The  laughing  jackass  is  the  bushman's 
clock,  and,  being  by  no  means  shy,  of  a  companionable  nature,  a  constant  attendant 
about  the  bush-tent,  and  a  destroyer  of  snakes,  is  regarded,  like  the  robin  at  home,  as 
a  sacred  bird  in  the  Australian  forests.  It  is  an  uncouth-looking  bird,  a  huge  species 
of  land  kingfisher,  nearly  the  size  of  a  crow,  of  a  rich  chestnut  brown  and  dirty  white 
color ;  the  wings  slightly  chequered  with  light  blue,  after  the  manner  of  the  British  jay ; 
the  tail-feathers  long,  rather  pointed,  and  barred  with  brown.  It  has  the  foot  of  a  king- 
fisher ;  a  very  formidable,  long,  pointed  beak,  and  a  large  mouth ;  it  has  also  a  kind 
of  crest,  which  it  erects  when  angry  or  frightened ;  and  this  gives  it  a  very  ferocious 
appearance.  It  is  a  common  bird  in  all  the  forests  throughout  the  year  ;  breeds  in  a 
hole  of  a  tree,  and  the  eggs  are  white ;  generally  seen  in  pairs,  and  by  no  means  shy. 

"  Their  principal  food  appears  be  to  small  reptiles,  grubs,  and  caterpillars.  As  I 
said  before,  it  destroys  snakes.  I  never  but  once  saw  them  at  this  game.  A  pair  of 
'jackasses'  had  disabled  a  carpet-snake  under  an  old  gum-tree,  and  they  sat  on  a  dead 
branch  above  it,  every  now  and  then  darting  down  and  pecking  it,  and  by  their  antics 
and  chattering  seemed  to  consider  it  a  capital  joke.  I  can't  say  whether  they  ate  the 
snake.  I  fancy  not ;  at  least,  the  only  reptiles  I  have  ever  found  in  their  stomachs 
have  been  small  lizards." 

The  racket-tailed  kingfishers  (  Tanysiptera)  belong  to  the  same  sub-family.  They 
are  peculiar  to  New  Guinea  and  surrounding  islands,  and  are  characterized  by  having 
the  middle  tail-feathers  lengthened  and  racket-shaped,  like  several  of  the  motmots. 
It  is  also  to  be  noted  that,  like  some  of  the  latter,  the  species  of  Tanysiptera  have 
only  ten  tail-feathers,  while  nearly  all  the  other  kingfishers  have  twelve.  Dr.  Wallace, 
in  a  letter  to  Mr.  R.  B.  Sharpe,  thus  describes  their  habits :  "  These  birds  are  all 
inhabitants  of  dense  thickets  or  forests,  where  there  is  soil  free  from  dense  vegetation, 
from  which  they  can  pick  up  insects,  small  molluscs,  or  Crustacea.  They  rest  on 
branches  three  to  five  feet  from  the  ground,  and  dart  down  on  their  prey,  often  with 
such  force  as  to  stick  their  bill  into  the  ground,  as  shown  by  its  being  often  covered 
with  mud.  They  are  said  to  nest  in  deserted  white-ants'  nests,  or  in  caves  or  holes  in 
banks.  In  Aru  T.  hylocharis  was  often  brought  me  by  the  native  boys  alive.  They 
caught  them  before  dawn  roosting  under  ledges  of  the  coralline  rocks  which  border 
the  forest  water-streams  in  those  islands." 


KINGFISHERS.  403 

The  true  Halcyons,  on  the  other  hand,  have  their  chief  development  in  the  Ethi- 
opian region.  Mr.  Jules  Verreaux  writes  to  Mr.  Sharpe  about  them  as  follows : 
"Wood  kingfishers  (Haley  ones)  generally  feed  on  insects  in  mimosa  trees  and  dry 
forests ;  but  when  the  supply  is  scanty,  they  turn  their  attention  to  lizards.  Should 
this  food  also  fail,  they  will  frequent  the  water,  and  fish  like  a  true  Alcedo.  Some- 
times they  will  hover,  as  if  to  inspect  the  water  beneath  them,  remaining  in  the  air 
for  some  time,  but  not  so  long  as  a  true  kingfisher,  and  then  returning  to  their  perch 
they  will  sit  for  hours,  scarcely  moving,  till  a  passing  fish  is  secured  by  an  active 
plunge.  A  curious  fact,  also,  is  that  when  they  are  in  the  bush  there  are  generally 
seven  or  eight  in  close  proximity ;  but  when  they  go  to  the  water  they  keep  separate, 
each  by  itself.  These  kingfishers,  when  they  frequent  the  water  or  the  seashore, 
eat  Crustacea,  or  small  shell-fish,  which  they  hold  between  their  feet,  and,  break- 
ing the  shell  by  repeated  blows  of  their  bill,  throw  the  latter  away  and  devour  the 
animal." 

We  now  come  to  the  true  kingfishers  (Alcedininae),  remarkable  for  their  fish-eating 
habits.  Our  American  species  belong  to  this  group,  and  being  in  fact  congeneric  with 
several  Old  World  forms,  present  no  peculiar  features  of  their  own.  Many,  or  in 
fact  most  of  the  Old  Woi-ld  members  of  this  family  are  remarkable  for  their  gorgeous 
coloration.  It  is  especially  the  silky  azure  and  bluish-green  tints  which  causes  the 
admiration  of  all  observers,  and  the  common  European  species  {A.  ispida)  forms  no 
exception  to  the  rule,  for  above,  the  head,  scapulars,  and  wing-coverts  are  dark  green 
with  light  greenish-blue  lunules  on  the  former,  and  similarly  colored  spots  on  the  last- 
mentioned  part ;  the  centre  of  the  back  is  shining  beryl-blue,  and  the  short  tail  azure- 
blue  ;  the  under  side  is  deep  cinnamon-colored,  except  the  white  throat. 

A  few  abstracts  from  Mr.  Seebohm's  latest  work  will  give  the  reader  an  excellent 
idea  of  the  habits  of  the  fish-eating  kingfishers  in  general :  "  Like  most  birds  of  bril- 
liant plumage  the  kingfisher  prefers  a  quiet  and  secluded  haunt.  It  loves  the  little 
trout  streams,  with  wooded  and  precipitous  banks,  the  still  ponds  and  small  lakes, 
ornamental  waters  in  parks,  where  it  is  not  molested,  and  the  sides  of  sluggish  rivers, 
drains,  and  mill-ponds.  Here,  in  such  a  haunt,  the  bird  often  flits  past  like  an  indis- 
tinct gleam  of  bluish  light.  Fortune  may  sometimes  favor  the  observer,  and  the  bird 
may  alight  on  some  twig  over  the  stream,  its  weight  causing  it  to  swing  gently  to  and 
fro.  It  eagerly  scans  the  shoal  of  young  trout  sporting  in  the  pool  below,  when  sud- 
denly it  will  drop  down  into  the  water/ and,  almost  before  the  spectator  is  aware  of 
the  fact,  is  back  again  to  its  perch  with  a  struggling  fish  in  its  beak.  A  few  blows  on 
the  branch  and  its  prey  is  ready  for  the  dexterous  movement  of  the  bill,  which  places 
it  in  a  position  for  swallowing.  Sometimes  the  captured  fish  is  adroitly  jerked  into 
the  air,  and  caught  as  it  falls.  The  kingfisher  may  often  be  seen  to  pause  in  its  rapid 
flight,  and  hover,  like  a  pigmy  kestrel,  above  the  pool  ere  plunging  down. 

"The  kingfisher  lives  principally  on  small  fish;  but  it  also  eats  various  kinds  of 
insects,  and  their  larva?.  It  also  captures  shrimps,  and  has  been  known  to  take  small 
crabs.  All  the  indigestible  portions  of  its  food  are  cast  up  in  pellets,  most  if  not  all 
of  them  in  the  roosting  or  breeding  place. 

"  The  kingfisher  rears  its  young  in  a  hole,  which  it  generally  makes  for  itself,  or 
less  frequently  adapts  for  its  purpose  one  ready  made.  This  hole  is  made  in  the  banks 
of  the  stream  it  frequents.  The  kingfisher,  in  spite  of  its  brilliant  dress,  is  a  slatternly 
bird.  It  may  fairly  be  called  an  '  ill-bird,'  since  it  fouls  its  own  nest  and  its  peerless 
eggs.  The  kingfisher  does  not  make  any  more  nest  than  that  which  the  ejected  fish- 


404  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

bones  supply.     The  hole  is  bored  rather  slowly,  and  takes  from  one  to  two  weeks  to 
complete. 

u  Few  birds  are  connected  with  more  fables  than  the  kingfisher.  The  superstition 
that  a  dead  kingfisher,  when  suspended  by  a  thread,  would  turn  its  beak  to  that  par- 
ticular point  of  the  compass  from  which  the  wind  blew,  is  now  fortunately  as  dead  as 
the  kingfishers  on  whom  the  experiment  was  tried.  The  classical  fable  that  the  breed- 
ing season  of  the  kingfisher  was  in  midwinter,  when  the  sea  remained  calm  and  undis- 
turbed by  tempests,  is  equally  as  inexplicable,  and  as  profoundly  forgotten."  But  still 
we  speak  of  'halcyon  days'! 

Our  North  American  belted  kingfisher  (  Ceryle  alcyon)  is  plainer  colored,  but  much 
larger  and  more  powerful,  so  as  to  enable  it  to  add  a  mouse  now  and  then  to  its  bill 
of  fare. 

Before  dismissing  the  kingfishers  we  must  mention  that  a  few  Old  World  species, 
belonging  to  two  genera,  —  Ceyx  and  Alcyone,  —  are  only  three-toed,  having  lost  the 
inner  (second)  toe.  Structurally  these  two  genera  are  very  closely  allied,  but  their 
habits  are  said  to  differ,  Alcyone  being  a  fish-eater,  while  the  small  multicolorous 
Ceyx  feeds  on  insects,  and  loves  the  dense  forest. 

We  have  already  on  a  previous  page  hinted  at  the  relationship  of  the  BUCEROTID^E, 
or  hornbills,  to  the  kingfishers,  promising  a  fuller  explanation  of  this  seemingly  extra- 
ordinary assertion.  We  may  then  at  first  remark,  that  there  is  now  pretty  universal 
agreement  among  ornithologists  that  the  hornbills  require  a  position  somewhat  inter- 
mediate between  the  kingfishers  and  the  hoopoes, — having  strong  affinities  to  both, — 
and  that  the  old  arrangements  either  among  the  crows,  on  account  of  their  size  and 
blackish  coloration,  or  next  to  the  toucans  on  account  of  the  enormous  large,  light, 
and  cellular  bills,  are  entirely  out  of  question  as  highly  superficial  and  artificial. 

Externally  the  hornbills  and  kingfishers  agree  nearly  exactly  in  the  shape  of  the 
syndactylous  foot,  and  Nitzsch,  on  pterylographical  grounds,  united  them  with  Upupa 
in  one  group,  which  he  called  Lipoglossas.  They  agree  in  having  tufted  oil  glands, 
and  in  lacking  aftershafts  and  colic  caaca.  Hornbills  and  kingfishers,  moreover,  are 
synpelmous,  as  shown  before,  and  the  deep  plantar  tendons  of  a  hornbill  has  been 
figured  (Fig.  171B).  As  to  the  affinities  to  the  hoopoes  we  may  be  allowed  to  quote 
Dr.  Murie :  "  Lastly,  what  in  exterior  appearance  can  be  more  opposed  to  each  other 
than  such  a  great,  unwieldly,  horned  bird  as  the  rhinoceros  hornbill  and  the  graceful 
hoopoe  ?  Yet  patient  inquiry  leads  apace  to  trace  the  steps  of  graduation.  Admit- 
ting that  exuberance  of  casque,  and  many  other  external  characteristics  of  the  above- 
mentioned  hornbill,  can  hardly  be  reconciled  with  the  idea  of  family  relationship  to 
the  hoopoes  and  Irrisors,  it  cannot  be  gainsaid  that  the  BucerotidaB  present  extremes. 
When  Tockus  is  reached,  size  and  outward  peculiarities  dwindle  till  we  have  a  form 
in  which  can  be  recognized  semblance  to  certain  of  the  Upupida3.  There  is  still  a 
gap ;  but  the  very  manifold  structural  agreements  and  adaptations  thereof  to  habits, 
etc.,  are  strong  evidence  of  congruity." 

The  gap  between  the  two  families  may  some  day  be  filled,  however,  and  a  fossil 
form,  found  in  the  tertiary  deposits  near  Paris  (Cryptornis  antiquus),  which  Laurillard 
has  referred  to  the  kingfishers,  but  which  Milne-Edwards  says  is  a  hornbill,  while 
Murie  points  to  certain  conformations  with  the  hoopoes,  may  not  have  been  so  very 
distantly  related  to  the  common  ancestor  of  the  Lipoglossae. 

As  it  is,  the  hornbills  form  a  very  sharply  defined  group  with  many  peculiar  fea- 
tures of  their  own.  First  is  to  be  noted  the  extraordinary  size  and  cellular  structure 


HORNBILLS.  405 

of  the  bill,  with  the  variously  shaped  '  horn '  or  '  casque '  at  the  base  of  the  culmen, 
though  not  present  in  all  the  species,  in  some  of  the  small  ones  being  only  indicated 
by  a  compressed  ridge.  The  distribution  of  the  feather  tracts  is  peculiar,  since  in  the 
large  species  there  is  a  tendency  to  obliterate  the  spaces  altogether,  but  the  feathers 
are  inserted  very  sparsely,  and  there  are  no  down  feathers  on  the  trunk.  The  strong 
hairy  eyelashes  are  another  peculiarity,  and  in  having  ten  tail-feathers  only,  the  horn- 
bills  disagree  with  most  of  the  kingfishers.  The  skeleton  is  bulky,  but  the  bones  are 
very  light,  being,  as  they  are,  permeated  by  air  to  an  unusual  degree.  The  sternum 
is  quite  peculiar,  being  very  broad  behind  with  only  two  shallow  incisions.  A  gall- 
bladder is  present. 

The  hornbills  are  not  very  numerous,  but,  as  Mr.  D.  G.  Elliot  remarks,  "  As  they 
exist  at  the  present  day,  they  exhibit  to  us  probably  but  a  remnant  of  the  great  family 
which  once  dwelt  amid  the  forests  of  that  mighty  eastern  continent,  of  which  a  large 
portion  is  now  beneath  the  waters.  So,  many  gaps  exist,  not  one  only  we  may 
presume ;  and  the  diversified  forms  that  would  supply  the  necessary  links  to  com- 
plete an  unbroken  chain  of  connected  species  throughout  the  family  have  long 
since  disappeared."  This  same  author,  in  1882,  when  finishing  his  great  mono- 
graph of  this  family,  recognized  sixty  species,  the  geographical  range  of  which  covers 
parts  of  three  of  the  zoo-geographical  divisions  of  the  globe,  viz.,  the  Ethiopian, 
Oriental,  and  Australian  regions,  though  in  the  latter  confined  to  its  Austro-Malayan 
province. 

Strange  as  is  the  aspect  of  the  hornbills,  their  manners  of  life  are  not  less  peculiar, 
and  some  are  even  completely  unique.  Dr.  A.  R.  Wallace  writes  thus  of  their  flight 
and  manner  of  feeding :  "  They  have  powerful  wings ;  but  their  heavy  bodies  oblige 
them  to  use  much  exertion  in  flight,  which  is  therefore  not  very  rapid,  though  often 
extended  to  considerable  distances.  They  are  (in  the  Indian  Archipelago  at  least) 
entirely  frugivorous ;  and  it  is  curious  to  observe  how  their  structure  modifies  their 
mode  of  feeding.  They  are  far  too  heavy  to  dart  after  the  fruit,  in  the  manner  of  the 
trogons ;  they  cannot  even  fly  quickly  from  branch  to  branch,  picking  a  fruit  here  and 
there ;  neither  have  they  strength  nor  agility  enough  to  venture  on  the  more  slender 
branches,  with  the  pigeons  and  barbets ;  but  they  alight  heavily  on  a  branch  of  con- 
siderable thickness,  and  then,  looking  cautiously  round  them,  pick  off  any  fruits  that 
may  be  within  their  reach,  and  jerk  them  down  their  throats  by  a  motion  similar  to 
that  used  by  the  toucans,  and  which  has  been  erroneously  described  as  throwing  the 
fruit  up  in  the  air  before  swallowing  it.  When  they  have  gathered  all  within  their 
reach,  they  move  sideways  along  the  branch  by  short  jumps,  or  rather,  a  kind  of 
shuffle,  and  the  smaller  species  even  hop  across  to  other  branches,  when  they  again 
gather  what  is  within  their  reach.  When  in  this  way  they  have  progressed  as  far  as 
the  bough  Avill  safely  carry  them,  they  take  a  flight  to  another  part  of  the  tree,  where 
they  pursue  the  same  course.  It  thus  happens  that  they  soon  exhaust  all  the  fruit 
within  their  reach,  and  long  after  they  have  left  a  tree  the  barbets  and  Eurylaimi 
find  abundance  of  food  on  the  slender  branches  and  extreme  twigs.  We  see  there- 
fore that  their  very  short  legs  and  syndactyle  feet  remove  them  completely  from  the 
vicinity  of  the  toucans,  in  which  the  legs  are  actively  employed  in  moving  about  after 
their  food.  Their  wings,  too,  are  as  powerful  as  those  of  the  toucans  are  weak ;  and 
it  is  only  the  great  weight  of  their  bodies  that  prevents  them  from  being  capable  of 
rapid  and  extensive  flight.  As  it  is,  their  strength  of  wing  is  shown,  too,  by  the 
great  force  with  which  they  beat  the  air,  producing  a  sound,  in  the  larger  species, 


406 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


which  can  be  distinctly  heard  a  mile  off,  and  is  even  louder  than  that  made  by  the 
flight  of  the  great  Muscovy  duck." 

A  curious  illustration  of  the  latter  fact  is  afforded  by  the  report  of  the  first  visitors 
to  the  southern  part  of  New  Guinea  that  they  had  met  a  gigantic  bird  measuring 
twenty-five  feet  between  the  tips  of  the  wings,  or  sixteen  as  others  said,  which  made  a 
noise  when  flying  off  like  a  locomotive.  Mr.  d'Albertis  solved  the  riddle  and  says :  "  I 
have  ascertained  that  it  was  a  Jiuceros  ruficollis,  which  makes  a  peculiar  noise  in  flying. 


FIG.  200.  —  Buceros  bicornis,  coucave-casqued  horublll. 

This  sound,  especially  when  several  birds  fly  together,  resembles  the  noise  of  a  steam- 
engine  ;  and  I  succeeded  in  convincing  two  or  three  discoverers  of  the  great  bird, 
who  ai%e  now  on  board  the  '  Ellangowan,'  of  the  fact." 

The  breeding  habits  of  the  hornbills  are  entirely  unique  among  birds,  and  I  feel, 
when  I  tell  the  general  reader  of  the  male  hornbill  confining  the  sitting  female  during 
incubation  by  closing  the  entrance  to  the  nest  hole  with  clay,  only  leaving  space 
enough  for  her  bill  to  receive  the  food  he  brings,  that  I  will  have  to  produce  the  most 


HOENBILLS.  407 

trustworthy  witnesses  in  order  to  be  believed.  Dr.  Livingstone  in  his  '  Missionary 
Travels  in  South  Africa '  relates  his  experience  as  follows :  "  The  first  time  I  saw  this 
bird  was  at  Kolobery,  where  I  had  gone  to  the  forest  for  some  timber.  Standing  by 
a  tree,  a  native  looked  behind  me  and  exclaimed,  '  There  is  the  nest  of  a  korwe.'  I 
sa\\-  a  slit  only  about  half  an  inch  wide  and  three  or  four  inches  long,  in  a  slight  hollow 
of  a  tree.  Thinking  the  word  korwe  denoted  some  small  animal,  I  waited  with  interest 
to  see  what  he  would  extract.  He  broke  the  clay  which  surrounded  the  slit,  put  his 
arm  into  the  hole,  and  brought  out  a  tockus,  or  red-beaked  hornbill,  which  he  killed. 
He  informed  me  that  when  the  female  enters  her  nest  she  submits  to  a  real  confine- 
ment. The  male  plasters  up  the  entrance,  leaving  only  a  narrow  slit  by  which  to  feed 
his  mate,  and  which  exactly  suits  the  form  of  his  beak." 

Lieutenant-Colonel  S.  R.  Tickell  gives  the  following  extract  of  his  notes  written 
down  at  the  time  and  place  of  observation,  which  relates  to  the  concave-casqued  horn- 
bill  (J3uceros  bicornis),  the  'homrai'  of  the  Nepalese,  represented  in  the  accompany- 
ing cut :  —  "  On  my  way  back  to  Moulmein  from  Moolegit  (a  celebrated  peak  in  the 
Tenasserim  range),  when  halting  at  Kyik,  I  heard  by  the  merest  chance  from  the 
Karen  villagers  that  a  large  hornbill  was  sitting  on  its  nest  in  a  tree  close  to  the  vil- 
lage, and  that  for  several  years  past  the  same  pair  of  birds  had  resorted  to  that  spot 
for  breeding.  I  lost  no  time,  accordingly,  in  going  to  the  place  next  morning,  and 
was  shown  a  hole  high  iip  in  the  trunk  of  a  moderately  large  straight  tree,  branchless 
for  about  fifty  feet  from  the  ground,  in  which  the  female,  I  was  told,  lay  concealed. 
The  hole  was_  covered  with  a  thick  layer  of  mud,  all  but  a  small  space,  through  which 
she  could  thrust  the  end  of  her  bill,  and  so  receive  food  from  the  male. 

"  One  of  the  villagers  at  length  ascended  with  great  labor,  by  means  of  bamboo- 
pegs  driven  into  the  trunk,  and  commenced  digging  out  the  clay  from  the  hole. 
While  so  employed,  the  female  kept  uttering  her  rattling  sonorous  cries,  and  the  male 
remained  perched  on  a  neighboring  tree,  sometimes  flying  to  and  fro  and  coming  close 
to  us.  Of  him  the  natives  appeared  to  entertain  great  dread,  saying  he  was  sure  to 
assault  them ;  and  it  was  with  some  difficulty  I  prevented  them  from  shooting  him 
before  they  continued  their  attack  on  the  nest.  When  the  hole  was  enlarged  suffi- 
ciently, the  man  who  ascended  thrust  in  his  arm,  but  was  so  soundly  bitten  by  the 
female,  whose  cries  had  become  perfectly  desperate,  that  he  quickly  withdrew,  nar- 
rowly escaping  a  tumble  from  his  frail  footing.  After  wrapping  his  hand  in  some 
folds  of  cloth,  he  succeeded  with  some  trouble  in  extracting  the  bird,  a  miserable- 
looking  object  enough,  wasted  and  dirty.  She  was  handed  down  and  let  loose  on  the 
ground,  where  she  hopped  about,  unable  to  fly,  and  menacing  the  bystanders  with  her 
bill ;  and  at  length  ascended  a  small  tree,  where  she  remained,  being  too  stiff  to  use 
her  wings  and  join  her  mate.  At  the  bottom  of  the  hole,  nearly  three  feet  from  the 
orifice,  was  a  solitary  egg,  resting  upon  mud,  fragments  of  bark,  and  feathers." 

Xot  less  interesting  is  the  account  of  Mr.  C.  Home  in  regard  to  the  same  species 
as  his  observation  indicates  that  it  is  the  female  herself  that  undertakes  the  plastering. 
The  nest  was  placed  in  a  hole  in  a  sissoo-tree  on  his  lawn,  opposite  the  veranda,  so  that 
he  could  watch  every  thing  through  a  glass :  "  On  the  29th  of  April  the  female  went 
into  the  hole,  and  did  not  again  come  out.  From  the  time  the  female  went  in,  the 
male  was  most  assiduous  in  feeding  her,  bringing  generally  the  small  peepul-fig.  On 
April  30th  I  observed  the  female  working  hard  at  closing  the  orifice  with  her  own 
ordure.  This  she  must  have  brought  up  from  the  bottom  of  the  hole ;  and  she  plas- 
tered it  right  and  left  with  the  flat  sides  of  her  beak,  as  with  a  trowel.  I  never  saw 


408  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

the  male  bring  anything  but  food ;  and  I  never  found  any  food  which  had  been 
rejected  under  the  tree,  and  but  very  little  ordure,  which  latter  had  apparently  been 
thrown  out  by  the  female  when  the  closing-work  was  finished.  The  male  bird  would 
alight  near,  then  fly  to  the  hole,  holding  on  to  the  bark  by  his  claws,  and  knock  with 
his  beak.  On  this  the  points  of  that  of  the  female  appeared,  and  received  the  fruit, 
when  the  male  flew  off.  The  hole  was  at  first,  perhaps,  six  inches  in  height,  and  three 
or  four  wide.  When  closed  up,  the  opening  at  the  widest  part  was  a  little  larger  than 
would  admit  the  finger.  It  should,  however,  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  bill  opened 
upwards,  and  thus  had  three  or  four  inches  play.  The  plastering  operation  took  two 
or  three  days,  after  which  the  ordure  was  thrown  out." 

We  might  continue  with  similar  testimony  from  Wallace,  Bernstein,  and  other 
travelers,  but  want  of  space  prevents  us  from  quoting  more,  inasmuch  as  the  above 
will  suffice  to  give  an  idea  of  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  nesting  habits  we  know 
of.  We  do  not  wonder  that  the  hornbills  play  a  great  role  in  the  imagination  of  the 
natives,  and  find  it  quite  natural  that  the  female  hornbill  is  regarded  by  the  Burmese 
as  a  model  of  virtue. 

The  hornbills  vary  in  size  from  that  of  a  raven  to  that  of  a  jay ;  and  there  is  au 
endless  variation  of  the  casque  from  a  nearly  obsolete  ridge  to  the  immense  upturned 
horn  of  the  rhinoceros  bird.  A  somewhat  more  aberrant  form  is  Hhinoplax  vigil, 
which  has  a  solid,  not  cellular,  casque,  bare  neck,  and  elongated  central  tail-feathers. 
It  lives  in  the  Malay  peninsula,  Sumatra,  and  Borneo. 

There  seems  to  be  good  reasons  for  regarding  the  ground-hornbills,  three  African 
species,  one  of  which  is  illustrated  in  our  cut,  as  constituting  a  special  sub-family. 
Their  casque  is  hollow,  and  open  in  front  in  the  species  figured  ;  the  tarsi  are  long 
and  the  tail  comparatively  short.  There  are  also  important  internal  differences  from 
the  other  hornbills,  for,  while  these  have  a  muscular  formula  of  AXY,  the  ground 
hornbills  have  only  XY.  The  difference  in  the  external  structure  of  the  feet  and  in 
the  myological  formula  is  concomitant  with  a  peculiarity  in  the  movements  of  these 
birds,  as  the  tree-hornbills  hop  with  both  feet  together,  while  the  ground-hornbills 
(Bucorvina?)  walk,  placing  one  foot  in  front  of  the  other.  A  unique  anatomical 
feature  has  been  described  by  Mr.  W.  Ottley.  Some  of  the  tree-hornbills  have  two 
carotids,  others  have  one ;  but  JBucorvus  has  no  functional  carotid  at  all.  The 
vessels  are  only  represented  by  two  imperforate  fibrous  chords,  and  their  function 
is  performed  by  the  greatly  enlarged  representatives  of  the  comes  nervi  vagi. 
Hence,  the  origin  of  the  arteries  for  the  supply  of  the  head  also  differs  from  the 
usual  arrangement,  a  superior  thyroid  artery  and  a  facial  artery  being  both  absent. 
As  might  be  expected,  the  habits  of  the  ground-hornbills  are  different  from  those 
of  their  tree-loving  relatives.  They  move  with  ease  over  the  ground,  on  which  they 
spend  much  of  their  time,  feeding  upon  insects,  reptiles,  and  occasionally  small 
mammals. 

Few  birds  can  better  illustrate  the  necessity  of  taking  into  account  all  the  char- 
acters in  determining  the  place  in  the  system  than  those  composing  the  present  super- 
family,  the  UPUPOIDE^E.  If  we  only  knew  their  skin,  the  posterior  part  of  their 
breastbone,  their  deep  plantar  tendons  and  carotids,  we  should  most  certainly  refer  the 
hoopoes  to  the  Passeres;  but  since,  also,  all  the  other  points  of  their  external  and 
internal  anatomy  are  well  known,  there  is  no  room  for  doubt  but  that  they  form  an 
isolated  group  belonging  to  the  Picarian  order,  the  nearest  allies  being  probably  the 
hornbills,  as  already  mentioned.  Still,  as  they  are  yet  classed  with  the  larks  or  with 


HOOPOES. 


409 


the  creepers  and  sun-birds  by  most  ornithologists  of  the  old  school,  a  short  review 
of  the  chief  points  in  both  directions  may  be  in  order. 

The  following  characters  are  apparently  passei'ine.  The  foot  with  its  long  hind 
toe  and  the  scutelli-plantar  tarsus  resembles  more  that  of  a  bird  of  the  next  order 
than  one  belonging  to  the  present,  the  more  so  since  the  arrangement  of  the  deep 
plantar  tendons  is  schizopelmous,  or  strictly  passerine.  The  posterior  margin  of  the 
breast-bone  is  deeply  two-notched,  unlike  most  Picarians,  though  not  unknown  in  this 


FIG.  201.  —  Bucorvus  abyssinicus,  ground-hornbill. 

order.  There  is  but  one  carotid,  a  feature  also  common  to  several  Picarians.  On 
the  whole,  the  characters  which  seem  to  be  passerine  are  in  the  general  line  of  special- 
ization, and  do  not  with  necessity  indicate  that  the  Passeres  have  sprung  from  an 
Upupoid  stem.  In  other  words,  it  seems  more  probable  to  us  that  the  hoopoes  are 
an  extreme  specialization  of  the  Picarian  type  rather  than  a  half-finished  Passerine. 
The  chief  Picarian  features  are  the  desmognathous  palate,  pointed  manubrial  pro- 
cess of  the  breast-bone,  bifurcation  of  dorsal  tract  between  the  shoulders,  tufted  oil 
gland,  absence  of  caeca,  syringeal  arrangement,  besides  a  number  of  other  characters, 


410 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


the  enumeration  of  which  would  involve  lengthy  explanations,  entirely  out  of  place 
here. 

Thus  defined  the  hoopoes  form  a  very  small  group,  since  several  forms  which,  on 
the  strength  of  some  external  resemblance  were  placed  in  their  immediate  neighbor- 
hood, as  for  instance,  Epimachus  and  Falculia,  had  to  be  left  with  the  Passeres  where 
they  truly  belong.  Formerly  the  hoopoe-like  birds  must  have  been  more  numerous, 


FIG.  202.  —  Upupa  epops,  hoopoe. 

for  A.  Milne-Edwards  has  discovered  in  the  tertiary  deposits  of  France  remains  of 
several  forms,  some  of  which  have  been  referred  to  Upupa  proper,  while  others,  as 
Limnatornis  paludicola  and  Laurillardia  longirostris,  are  considered  as  not  distantly 
related. 

The  present  super-family,  which  is  peculiar  to  the  Old  World,  may  be  divided  in 
two  groups,  to  be  given  family  rank.     In  order  to  be  brief  we  only  indicate  that  the 


HOOPOES. 


411 


hoopoes  proper  have  a  peculiar  erectile  crest  on  the  head,  a  square  short  tail ;  that 
they  possess  no  metallic  colors,  and  that  the  sternal  notches  are  open ;  their  habits  are 
terrestrial.  The  wood-hoopoes,  as  the  name  indicates,  are  arboreal,  have  no  crest,  a 
blackish  glossy  plumage  of  metallic  reflections,  and  a  very  long  graduated  tail;  the 
notches  of  the  breastbone  are  closed  behind  so  as  to  form  foramina. 

The  former  of  these  sub-divisions,  the  UPUPID^E,  is  composed  of  about  six  species 
belonging  to  the  genus  Upupa,  the  typical  species  of  which  is  figured  in  the  accompa- 
nying wood-cut,  which  gives  a  good  idea  of  this  striking  looking  bird ;  and  we  have 
only  to  imagine  the  highly-shaded  portions  of  the  upper  half  of  the  bird,  including  the 


FIG.  203.  —  Irrisor  erythrorhynclios,  wood-hoopoe. 

crest,  colored  with  a  rusty  buff  color,  which  is  paler  and  somewhat  pinkish  on  the 
breast,  in  order  to  have  a  picture  which  will  prevent  us  from  ever  mistaking  a  hoopoe, 
whether  met  with  in  nature  or  in  the  museum.  The  hoopoes  are  confined  to  the 
warmer  portions  of  the  Old  World :  but  the  species  figured,  If.  epops,  is  also  found 
in  the  southern  parts  of  the  Palaearctic  region,  including  Europe.  It  is  a  bird  of  ter- 
restrial habits,  feeding  on  worms  and  insects,  which  it  extracts  from  their  holes  in  the 
earth  by  means  of  its  long  pliable,  somewhat  snipe-like  bill.  That  such  a  striking  bird 
has  not  escaped  the  fate  of  playing  a  great  role  in  all  sorts  of  superstition  is  quite 
natural,  the  more  so  since  its  voice,  from  which  are  derived  its  different  names,  is 


412  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

very  remarkable.  Mr.  Robert  Swinhoe  has  described  well  the  peculiar  way  in  which 
the  hoopoe  produces  its  notes  by  puffing  out  the  sides  of  the  neck  and  hammering  on 
the  ground  at  the  production  of  each  note,  thereby  exhausting  the  air  at  the  end  of 
the  series  of  three,  which  make  up  its  song.  "  Before  it  repeats  its  call,"  he  continues, 
"  it  repeats  the  puffing  of  the  neck,  with  a  slight  gurgling  noise.  When  it  is  able  to 
strike  its  bill  the  sound  is  the  correct  '  hoo-hoo-hoo ; '  but  when  perched  on  a  rope 
and  only  jerking  out  the  song  with  nods  of  the  head,  the  notes  more  resemble  the  syl- 
lables <  hoh-hoh-hoh.*  Mr.  Darwin  makes  use  of  this  last  fact  to  show  that  some 
birds  have  instrumental  means  to  produce  their  music." 

Like  the  true  hoopoes,  the  wood-hoopoes,  IRRISOKID^E,  are  accused  of  emitting  a 
powerful  and  offensive  smell.  They  are  inhabitants  of  the  forests,  where  they  climb 
on  the  trunks  of  trees  much  in  the  manner  of  woodpeckers.  They  are  described  as 
very  noisy  and  restless  birds.  The  wood-hoopoes  are  restricted  to  the  tropical  and 
southern  parts  of  the  African  Continent.  The  species  here  figured,  Irrisor  erythro- 
rhynchos,  has  coral-red  feet  and  bill. 

The  three  words,  homalogonatous,  antiopelmous,  zygodactylous,  at  once  and  trench- 
antly distinguish  the  PICOIDEJS  from  all  the  other  Picarians ;  and  we  cannot  help 
thinking  that  this  super-family  is  an  eminently  natural  one  notwithstanding  the  many 
yet  unfilled  gaps  between  the  separate  families  composing  it.  These  may  be  tabulated 

synoptically  as  follows  :  — 

)Bucconid(K  ;  gonys  rounded  ;  ventral 
tract  without  gular 
branch 
Galbulidce  ;  gonys  angular  ;  ventral 
tract  with  an  inner 
gular  branch. 

vomer  truncate        Ramphastidw 


Oil  gland 

tufted ; 

no  caeca; 

1  carotid 


not  saurognathous ;  manu-  \  S 10  rectrices. 

brial  rostrum  pointed      )  __  Wft_ata    j  Megalaimida  ) 

Indicated*  1 12  rectrices. 
saurognathous ;  manubrial  rostrum  bifurcate       Picidce 


vomer  bifurcate 


It  will  be  seen  that  the  super-family  is  divisible  in  two  groups  :  one  with  nude  oil 
gland  and  well  developed  caeca,  the  other  with  no  caeca,  but  a  tufted  oil  gland ;  hence 
Garrod  referred  the  former  to  his  order  Passeriformes,  the  latter  being  his  typical 
Piciformes. 

He  seems  to  have  been  in  some  doubt,  however,  concerning  the  BUCCONID^E,  as  to 
whether  they  possess  caeca  or  not,  having  had  no  specimen  of  this  family  for  dissec- 
tion ;  but  I  find  that  Professor  Burmeister  has  noted  two  long  caeca  in  this  family,  thus 
confirming  Garrod's  supposition.  This  family  has  been  almost  inextricably  confused 
by  older  authors  with  the  Megalaimidae,  from  which  they  are  distinguished  by  many 
important  characters  besides  those  mentioned  in  the  table  above.  One  of  these 
deserves  to  be  treated  of  a  little  more  in  detail  since,  though  being  an  external  one,  it 
is  usually  overlooked.  It  deserves  our  attention  the  more,  as  it  is  a  character,  the 
development  of  which  can  be  traced  from  the  young  to  the  adult  plumage,  thus  afford- 
ing us  a  means  of  telling  which  condition  is  generalized  and  which  one  specialized. 

Professor  Sundevall  was  the  first  author  to  draw  attention  to  the  difference  of  the 
upper  wing-coverts  in  Passeres  and  some  Picarians  as  compared  with  the  rest  of  the 
birds,  showing  not  only  that  the  large  secondary  coverts  in  the  former  are  shorter, 
not  covering  more  than  the  basal  half  of  the  secondaries,  while  in  the  latter  more 
than  the  half  is  concealed  by  them,  but  also  that  in  the  former  the  small  coverts  are 


PUFF-BIRDS. 


413 


much  less  numerous,  forming  fewer  series  than  in  the  latter.  He  furthermore  demon- 
strated the  '  perverse '  situation  of  the  middle  coverts  in  the  Passeres.  But  even 
more  interesting  is  his  observation  that  the  young  bii'ds  in  the  first  plumage  show 
more  or  less  trace  of  the  more  common  arrangement,  thus  enabling  us  to  decide  that 
the  latter  is  the  generalized  stage,  while  the  '  oscinine  '  arrangement  is  a  specialization 
of  it.  The  oscinine  or  non-oscinine  arrangement  of  the  wing-coverts,  therefore,  can- 
not be  expected  to  be  always  trenchently  differentiated,  and  intermediate  forms  may 
occur,  which  he  has  termed  sub-oscinine,  and  in  fact  our  present  super-family  presents 
all  three  stages.  The  Bucconidas  have  non-oscinine  wing-coverts,  these  being  larger 


FIG.  204.  —  Lypomix  torquata,  double-banded  puff-bird. 

and  numerous  ;  in  the  Galbulidae  they  are  smaller  and  fewer,  but  not  so  much  reduced 
as  in  the  Oscines,  consequently  sub-oscinine  ;  while  in  Ramphastida?,  MegalaimidaB,  etc., 
they  are  quite  oscinine  in  size  and  number. 

The  Bucconidas,  or  puff-birds,  as  they  are  called  from  their  loose  and  puffy 
plumage,  are  also  otherwise  distinguishable  from  the  Megalaimidae,  or  barbets,  by 
having  twelve  tail-feathers,  while  the  latter  have  only  ten,  and  by  their  dull  and 
sombre  coloration,  as  compared  with  the  many  and  gaudy  colors  of  the  barbets. 
Some  of  the  puff-birds  (the  genus  Monasa)  are  nearly  uniform  blackish  slate,  while 
others  are  of  a  mottled  rusty  and  dusky,  with  whitish  markings,  as,  for  instance,  in  the 
species  here  illustrated,  the  double-banded  puff-bird  (JLypornix  torquata).  They  are 
small  birds,  the  largest  species  hardly  so  large  as  a  robin,  with  a  rather  short,  conical 


414 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


and  slightly  arched  bill,  which  in  several  species  has  the  end  of  the  upper  mandible 
decidedly  hooked.  Their  food  consists  of  insects,  and  travelers  describe  them  as  dull 
and  stupid  birds  which  inhabit  the  densest  forests.  They  are  said  to  deposit  two  white 
eggs  in  a  deep  hole  dug  into  the  sandy  bank  of  a  ravine  or  a  river.  There  are  known 
about  half  a  hundred  species  of  puff-birds,  which  exclusively  inhabit  tropical  America 
as  far  north  as  Guatemala. 

Closely  allied  to  the  foregoing  family  are  the  jacamars,  GALBULID^E,  of  similar 
geographical  distribution,  though  entirely  confined  to  the  regions  east  of  the  Andes. 
A  very  characteristic  and  entirely  unique  feature  of  their  pterylosis  is  the  inner 
branch  which  is  given  off  from  the  inferior  tract  at  the  lower  end  of  its  gular  portion, 

as  represented  in  Fig.  205.  Their  bill  is  long,  usually  straight 
and  angular  both  above  and  below  ;  their  feet  are  very  short 
and  feeble,  and  the  anterior  toes  are  united  for  a  consider- 
able distance,  giving  the  feet  the  appearance  of  a  kind  of 
zygodactylous  kingfisher's  foot.  The  plumage  is  character- 
ized by  brilliant  metallic  reflections  on  the  upper  surface  of 
the  body. 

The  jacamars  are  of  the  same  dull  and  stupid  nature  as 
the  puff-birds,  and  are  therefore  called  by  the  Brazilians 
'  Joao  doido,'  or  *  foolish  John,'  and  altogether  their  habits 
are  quite  similar.  Thus,  for  instance,  they  build  in  holes  in 
sandy  banks,  and  lay  two  white  eggs.  Hardly  two  dozen 
species  are  known,  most  of  them  agreeing  in  shape  and 
colors  more  or  less  with  the  type,  Galbula  galbula.  The 
upper  side  and  breast  are  of  a  most  brilliant  metallic  golden 
green,  like  that  of  trogons  or  humming-birds ;  hence  it  is  also 
called  in  South  America  '  Bejaflor  grande.'  The  throat  is 
whitish,  rest  of  under  surface  rusty.  Jacamerops  grandis 
is  the  largest  of  the  group,  somewhat  similarly  colored, 
but  with  a  shorter,  though  broader  and  stouter,  curved  bill. 
Jacamaralcyon  tridactylus  is  notable  for  having  lost  the 
first  toe,  like  the  three-toed  woodpeckers,  thus  differing 
considerably  from  the  three-toed  kingfishers,  in  which  it 
is  the  second  digit  that  has  become  rudimentary.  The 
species  of  the  genus  Urogalba  are  blackish  with  steel-blue  reflections,  and  have  the 
two  central  tail-feathers  greatly  elongated. 

Every  well-defined  '  family '  has  its  peculiarity  which  deserves  a  rather  detailed 
treatment ;  and  the  RAMPHASTID^E,  or  toucans,  form  no  exception.  The  first  thing 
which  strikes  the  observer,  when  looking  at  one  of  the  large  toucans,  is  the  enormous 
size  of  the  bill.  It  is  not  only  as  long  as  the  bird  itself,  but  it  does  not  lack  much  of 
equalling  the  body  in  bulk ;  and  the  observer  will  most  likely  make  the  remark  that 
such  an  enormous  bill  must  be  very  heavy.  The  fact  is,  however,  that  the  bill  is 
extremely  light  in  comparison  with  its  size,  being  very  thin,  and  filled  with  a  light, 
cellular  bony  tissue.  Professor  Owen,  in  his  observations  on  the  anatomy  of  Itar»- 
phastos,  thus  describes  the  bill :  "  The  osseous  portions  of  the  mandibles  of  the  toucan 
are  disposed  in  a  manner  adapted  to  combine  with  the  great  bulk  of  those  parts  a  due 
degree  of  strength  and  remarkable  lightness  ;  and  the  bony  structure  is  consequently 
of  a  most  beautiful  and  delicate  kind.  The  external  parietes  are  extremely  thin, 


FIG.  205.  —  Ventral  pterylosis 
of  Galbula. 


TOUCANS. 


415 


especially  in  the  upper  beak ;  they  are  elastic,  and  yield  in  a  slight  degree  to  mode- 
rate pressure,  but  present  considerable  resistance  if  a  force  is  applied  for  the  purpose 
of  crushing  the  beak.  At  the  points  of  the  mandibles  the  outer  walls  are  nearly  a 
line  in  thickness ;  at  other  parts,  in  the  upper  beak,  they  are  much  thinner,  varying 
from  one-thirtieth  to  one-fiftieth  part  of  an  inch,  and  in  the  lower  beak  are  from 
one-twentieth  to  one-thirtieth  of  an  inch  in  thickness.  On  making  a  longitudinal 

O  O 

section  of  the  upper  mandible,  its  base  is  seen  to  be  a  conical  cavity.  The  walls  of 
this  cone  consist  of  a  most  beautiful  osseous  network,  intercepting  irregular  angular 
spaces  varying  in  diameter  from  half  a  line  to  two  lines.  From  the  parietes  of  this 
cone,  a  network  of  bony  fibres  is  continued  to  the  outer  parietes  of  the  mandible,  the 
fibres  which  immediately  support  the  latter  being  almost  invariably  implanted  at 
right  angles  to  the  part  in  which  they  are  inserted.  The  whole  of  the  mandible 
anterior  to  the  cone  is  occupied  with  a  similar  network.  The  air  is  admitted  to  the 
interior  of  the  upper  mandible  from  a  cavity  situated  anterior  to  the  orbit.  The 
nasal  cavity  has  no  communication  with  the  interior  of  the  mandible." 


t,- 


FIG.  206.  —  Vertical  longitudinal  section  of  the  bill  of  Ramphastos  toco,  to  show  the  cellular  structure  of  the  bill. 
b.  cavity  at  the  base  ;  d,  external  nares ;  i,  cerebrum  ;  k,  cerebellum ;  I,  tongue ;  m,  orifice  of  larynx,  n  of 
pharynx  ;  r,  beginning  of  spinal  cord  ;  s,  nasal  septum ;  tr,  trachea ;  u,  air  cell,  anterior  to  orbit  from  which 
the  air  enters  the  maxilla. 

To  facilitate  the  understanding  of  the  above,  we  have  introduced  Fig.  206,  in 
which  is  also  shown  the  long  and  peculiar  tongue  of  these  birds,  which,  looked  at 
from  above,  presents  the  appearance  of  a  feather,  the  margin  on  both  sides  being 
obliquely  notched,  and  the  notches  toward  the  extremity  becoming  deeper  and  closer 
together,  so  as  to  occasion  a  bristled  appearance  of  the  edges.  There  are  many  other 
peculiarities ;  but  we  only  mention  the  fact  that  the  clavicles  do  not  unite  at  the  lower 
end  into  a  furculum,  each  one  being  separately  connected  with  the  sternum. 

The  toucans  have  a  remarkable  habit  of  turning  their  tails  upon  their  backs.  This 
is  performed  with  a  jerk,  "  as  if  on  a  hinge  that  was  operated  on  by  a  spring."  In 
examining  the  caudal  vertebrae,  it  will  be  found  that  the  six  basal  ones  are  articulated 
by  ball-and-socket  joints  and  connected  with  the  last  ones,  which  are  anchylosed,  by  a 
synovial  joint,  and  can  be  bent  dorsad  till  their  superior  spines  touch  the  sacrum, 
while  the  broad  and  large  transverse  processes  almost  wholly  prevent  lateral  motion. 
The  muscles,  therefore,  which  in  other  birds  turn  the  tail  sideways,  in  the  toucans 
become  assistants  to  the  true  elevators  of  the  tail ;  for  when  the  latter  have  bent  it 
upwards  sufficiently,  the  former  become  dorsad  of  the  centre  of  motion,  causing  the 


416 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


jerk  of  the  tail  by  suddenly  combining  with  the  elevator  muscles.  The  peculiar 
structure  of  the  tail  is  also  manifested  by  its  unusual  elongation,  as  is  evident  from  an 
inspection  of  Fig.  172  (p.  370). 

The  toucans  are  confined  to  the  warmer  portions  of  the  Neotropical  region,  and 
do  not  occur  in  the  West  Indies.  They  are  equally  characteristic  of  the  tropical 
parts  of  America  as  are  the  two  foregoing  families,  and  have  no  near  relatives  among 
the  Old  World  birds,  though  their  enormous  large  and  serrated  bills  offer  an  analogy 


FIG.  207.  —  Pleroglossus  wledii,  Maximilian's  aragari. 

to  the  hornbills,  with  which  they  are  often  confounded  in  the  popular  mind.  There 
are  a  little  more  than  fifty  species,  varying  in  size  from  that  of  a  robin  to  that  of  a 
crow,  the  smaller  forms  having  proportionately  smaller  bills  than  the  larger  ones.  The 
former  are  usually  more  or  less  greenish,  with  brown  and  yellow ;  while  the  latter  have 
the  greater  part  of  the  plumage  black,  relieved  by  the  gorgeous  coloration  of  the 
foreneck,  upper  and  under  tail-coverts  in  red,  yellow,  and  white.  The  naked  eye-space 
and  the  huge  bill  are  also  painted  most  vividly  and  characteristically.  The 


TOUCANS. 


417 


(Pteroglossus)  are  intermediate  in  size  and  coloration.  Thus,  the  species  figured, 
P.  wiedii)  has  a  black  head  and  neck,  mantle  green,  under  surface  yellow,  with  the 
rump  and  a  broad  band  across  the  lower  breast  beautiful  red.  The  bill  is  pale  buff 
and  black.  This  species  inhabits  Brazil,  and  is  replaced  in  the  regions  to  the  north  of 
that  empire  with  a  closely  allied  form,  P.  aracari.  Our  next  illustration  represents 
the  type  of  the  restricted  genus  Ramphastos,  the  toco  toucan  (72.  picatus),  the  giant 
of  the  family.  It  is  black,  foreneck  and  rump  white,  under  tailcoverts  red,  bill 


FIG.  208.  —  Ramphastos  picatus,  toco  toucan. 

orange  and  black,  feet  blue.  Restricted  to  the  slopes  of  the  Andes  is  a  small  genus, 
called  Andigena^  of  half  a  dozen  species,  characterized  by  a  uniform  wash  of  color  on 
ihc  under  surface,  instead  of  the  bars  of  rich  red  and  black  so  conspicuous  in  the  true 
Pteroylossi.  The  most  remarkable  species  is  A.  laminirostris,  the  laminated  hill- 
toucan,  the  native  habitat  of  which  is  the  forests  at  the  base  of  Pichincha,  a  high 
mountain  of  Ecuador.  Upper  side  of  head  and  neck  are  black,  back  golden  broAvn, 
rump  pale  sulphur  yellow,  under  surface  ashy  blue  with  a  yellow  patch  on  the  flanks, 
under  tail-coverts  blood-red.  Most  curious  and  unique  is  the  laminated  appendage  of 
VOL.  iv.  —  27 


418  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

the  bill.  On  either  side  of  the  upper  mandible,  immediately  in  front  of  the  blood-red 
basal  band,  is  a  buff-colored  plate  or  lamina,  continuous  with  the  structure  of  the  bill 
at  its  base,  but  separate  and  detached  in  front,  thin  on  its  upper  edge,  but  thicker  and 
projecting  beyond  the  edge  of  the  mandible  below. 

We  will  not  tax  the  patience  of  the  reader  further  by  enumerating  the  names  of 
the  various  species,  preferring  to  introduce  some  notes  on  their  habits  by  travelers 
who  have  watched  these  beautiful  and  interesting  birds  in  their  native  haunts.  The 
following  is  from  Edward's  '  Voyage  up  the  Amazon  ' :  — 

"  Most  noticeable  of  all  these  birds,  both  for  size  and  peculiarity  of  form,  are  the 
toucans.  There  are  many  varieties  at  different  seasons,  but  the  red-billed  (R.  erythro- 
rhynchus)  and  the  ariel  (R.  ariel)  are  the  largest  and  most  abundant,  seen  at  every 
season,  but  towards  autumn  particularly,  in  vast  numbers  throughout  the  forest. 
Their  large  beaks  give  them  a  very  awkward  appearance,  more  especially  when  fly- 
ing ;  yet,  in  the  trees,  they  use  them  with  as  much  apparent  ease  as  though  they  were, 
to  our  eyes,  of  a  more  convenient  form.  Alighted  on  a  tree,  one  usually  acts  the  part 
of  sentinel,  uttering  constantly  the  loud  cry  tucano,  whence  they  derive  their  name. 
The  others  disperse  over  the  branches  in  search  of  fruit. 

"  We  had  been  told  that  these  birds  were  in  the  habit  of  tossing  up  their  food  to 
a  considerable  distance,  and  catching  it  as  it  fell ;  but,  as  far  as  we  could  observe, 
they  merely  threw  back  the  head,  allowing  the  fruit  to  fall  down  the  throat.  We  saw, 
at  different  times,  tamed  toucans,  and  they  were  never  seen  to  toss  their  food,  although 
almost  irivariably  throwing  back  the  head.  The  habit  is  rendered  necessary  by  the 
length  of  the  bill  and  the  stiffness  of  the  tongue,  which  prevent  their  eating  as  do 
other  birds.  All  the  time  when  feeding  a  hoarse  chattering  is  kept  up,  and  at  inter- 
vals they  unite  with  the  noisy  sentry,  and  scream  a  concert  that  may  be  heard  a  mile. 
Having  appeased  their  appetites,  they  fly  towards  the  deeper  forest,  and  quietly  doze 
away  the  noon.  Often  in  the  very  early  morning  a  few  of  them  may  be  seen  sitting 
silently  upon  the  branches  of  some  dead  tree,  apparently  awaiting  the  coming  sunlight 
before  stai'ting  for  their  feeding-trees.  When  roosting,  they  have  a  habit  of  elevating 
their  tails  over  their  backs." 

Azara  reports  that  the  toco  "buMs  in  the  holes  of  trees,  and  hatches  two  young 
ones,  closely  resembling  the  adults,  which  feed  them  until  they  are  able  to  fly." 

Toucans  are  easily  kept  in  captivity,  and  become  very  tame,  making  most  interest- 
ing pets.  They  are  now  rather  common  in  the  zoological  gardens,  where  their  singular 
aspects  and  glorious  colors  are  among  the  greatest  attractions.  In  captivity  they  are 
completely  omnivorous,  and  some  authorities  assert  that  they  are  equally  so  in  the 
wild  state,  but  the  bulk  of  evidence  goes  to  show  that  in  their  native  forests  they  feed 
chiefly  on  fruit. 

Though  usually  confounded  with  the  puff-birds  by  earlier  writers,  and  during  the 
first  days  of  ornithology  even  united  with  them  in  the  same  genus,  the  MEGALAIMID^E, 
or  barbets,  are  only  distantly  related  to  them,  approaching,  in  fact,  in  such  a  way  the 
toucans  and  the  woodpeckers,  that  their  position  in  the  linear  system  between  these 
two  families  seems  to  be  indisputable.  The  characters  separating  them  from  the  puff- 
birds  have  already  been  given,  and  their  chief  distinctions  from  the  families  mentioned 
are  apparent  from  the  table  heading  the  super-family. 

Both  in  the  texture  of  the  feathers  and  in  the  arrangement  of  the  feather-tracts, 
the  barbets  agree  well  with  the  toucans,  and,  except  in  the  bill,  their  anatomy  is  not 
very  different.  It  may  be  mentioned  especially  that  also  in  the  barbets  the  two  clavi- 


BARBETS. 


419 


cles  remain  separate,  nofr  anchylosing  into  a  single  furculum.  Their  bills  are  small 
compared  with  those  of  the  toucans,  but  are  stout,  somewhat  conic,  broad  at  the  base, 
and  more  or  less  compressed  towards  the  tip.  In  some  of  the  larger  species  the  bill 
shows  some  tendency  towards  the  toucans,  in  being  large  and  serrated  along  the  edges. 
The  tongue  is  usually  long  and  thin,  but  simple,  though  in  some  large  species  it  is 
slightly  barbed.  The  name  barbet  is  derived  from  the  large  and  strong  bristles  which 
in  most  forms  are  inserted  at  the  base  of  the  bill,  and  often  are  so  long  as  to  reach  con- 
siderably beyond  the  tip.  They  are,  on  the  whole,  small  birds,  ranging  in  size  from 


FIG.  209.  —  Megalaima  hcemacephala,  crimson-breasted  barbet. 

that  of  a  flicker  to  that  of  a  sparrow.  They  are  of  a  rather  stout  and  clumsy  build, 
with  big  heads,  and  few  of  them  present  any  graceful  appearance.  The  coloration  is 
in  most  cases  very  gorgeous,  but  the  juxtaposition  of  the  colors  is  often  such  as  to 
produce  a  tasteless  effect.  Sky-blue,  light  green,  and  yellow  are  sometimes  found  com- 
bined with  red  and  other  colors  in  such  a  manner  as  to  annoy  an  eye  accustomed  to 
harmony  in  colors. 

The  geographical  distribution  of  the  barbets  has  given  rise  to  much  speculation. 
They  inhabit  the  tropical  forest  zone  of  both  hemispheres,  though  wanting  entirely  in 
Australia.  They  are  represented  most  poorly  in  the  Neotropical  region,  notwithstand- 


420  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

ing  their  relationship  to  the  toucans,  while  in  Asia  and  Africa  together  there  are  nearly 
six  times  as  many  species  as  in  South  America,  the  number  of  species  known  amount- 
ing to  some  eighty.  Miocene  remains  of  barbets  have  not  yet  been  identified,  but 
little  doubt  is  entertained  but  that  the  explanation  of  the  curious  distribution  of  the 
barbets  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  trogons  (p.  371). 

The  species  figured  in  the  accompanying  cut  is  the  crimson-breasted  barbet  (Me- 
galaima  Jicemacephala)  from  the  Philippine  Islands,  but  represented  by  closely  allied 
races  all  over  the  Indian  region.  It  is  green  above,  yellowish  beneath,  streaked  with 
green ;  forehead  and  a  pectoral  gorget  glistening  crimson,  the  latter  edged  behind 
with  golden  yellow ;  throat  and  eye-region  pale  sulphur  yellow ;  rest  of  head  black, 
except  occiput,  which,  together  with  the  sides  of  the  neck,  has  a  bluish  tinge.  This 
form  is  representative  of  the  central  and  most  numerous  group  of  the  family.  In 
India  it  is  known  as  the  tartibagut,  or  *  coppersmith,'  a  name  originating  in  its  cry, 
which  is  a  monotonous  and  deliberate  took,  took,  took,  accompanied  by  a  peculiar  nod- 
ding of  the  head  at  each  call.  M.  rafflesii,  from  the  Malay  peninsula,  is  still  more 
gaudily  colored,  and  deserves  mentioning,  being  one  of  the  commonest  species  in  col- 
lections from  the  tropical  east.  Mr.  R.  Swinhoe  writes  as  follows  of  the  habits  of 
M.  faber,  from  the  Island  of  Hainan :  "  From  its  loud,  peculiar  call,  the  Hainan 
species  has  earned  among  the  natives  of  the  island  the  appellation  of  '  ironsmith,' 
whence  I  have  derived  its  specific  name.  It  is  a  stupid,  heavy  species,  keeping  much 
to  the  upper  boughs  of  umbrageous  trees,  especially  those  of  the  fig  group,  of  which 
there  are  a  good  many  kinds  in  Hainan.  It  sits  still  among  the  leaves,  munching  the 
figs,  and  you  may  be  under  a  tree  a  long  time  without  knowing  that  a  party  of  bar- 
bets  are  overhead,  except  from  the  constant  falling  of  berries.  In  flying,  they  hold 
the  head  with  the  heavy  bill  well  up,  the  body  and  tail  inclining  downward,  while 
the  wings  keep  on  a  continued  fluttering,  and  propel  the  bird  in  a  straight  direction." 

The  pearl-spotted  barbet  ( Trachyphonus  margaritatus)  from  northeastern  Africa 
represents  another  style  of  coloration,  being  umber  brown  with  white  spots  above ; 
sulphur  yellow  underneath ;  upper  and  under  tail-coverts,  deep  scarlet.  The  species 
of  this  group  are  also  characterized  by  longer  tail  and  tarsus.  Their  habits  have 
been  described  by  the  celebrated  traveler  and  ornithologist  Theodor  von  Heuglin 
as  follows :  — 

"  The  note  of  the  Trachyphoni  is  loud  and  very  melodious ;  they  run  (though  in  a 
different  manner  from  woodpeckers)  up  and  down  the  trunks  of  trees,  feeding  upon 
insects,  berries,  and  fruits,  as  they  hop  from  branch  to  branch.  Their  flight  is  short, 
but  rapid ;  their  course  consisting  of  a  series  of  numerous  undulations.  I  never  saw 
any  of  the  species  of  this  group  on  the  ground.  I  am  not  acquainted  with  the  mode 
of  propagation  of  these  birds,  except  that  T.  margaritatus  builds  in  holes  of  trees, 
and  lays  white  eggs,  usually  from  four  to  six  in  number."  Another  African  form  is 
Pogonorhynchus  dubius,  the  bearded  barbet,  with  a  large,  deeply  sulcated  and  don- 
tated  beak,  guarded  underneath  by  long  and  strong  bristles,  and  with  a  large  naked 
space  round  the  eyes.  Its  coloration  is  very  peculiar,  in  some  respects  reminding  one  of 
some  species  of  toucans,  being  glossy  black  above,  across  the  breast,  and  underneath 
behind  the  legs.  The  throat  and  sides  of  neck,  together  with  the  middle  part  of  the 
abdomen,  are  glossy  deep  blood-red ;  flanks,  white. 

Nearly  all  the  South  American  species  belong  to  the  genus  Capito,  and  resemble 
in  their  general  aspect  the  true  Megalaimas,  but  have  the  bristles  at  the  base  of  the 
bill  much  less  developed.  Peculiar  are  the  two  species  forming  the  genus  Tetragon- 


HONEY-GUIDES.  421 

ops,  since  they  seem  to  exhibit  characters,  both  in  structure  and  coloration,  which 
make  them  nearly  intermediate  between  the  barbets  proper  and  the  toucans.  One 
feature  of  their  bill  is  quite  unique,  however,  the  lower  mandible  being  distinctly  bi- 
furcated at  its  extremity,  and  the  point  of  the  upper  fitting  into  the  groove  thus  made. 
On  each  side  the  point  of  the  lower  mandible  overlaps  that  of  the  upper  one,  and,  seen 
in  profile,  the  bill,  from  either  side,  reminds  one  of  that  of  the  cross-bill.  In  coloration 
the  two  species  are  very  different.  T.  ramphastinus,  from  Ecuador,  is  golden  brown 
above,  orange  red  underneath,  with  ashy  throat,  and  a  scarlet  breast-band,  head  with 
a  small  medial  crest,  and  neck  above  black,  with  a  white  postocular  streak ;  while  T. 
frantzii)  from  Costa  Rica,  is  more  uniform  olivaceous  and  ochraceous,  but  in  both 
cases  is  a  certain  similarity  to  the  style  of  the  toucan  genus  Andigena  not  to  be 
mistaken.  The  first  mentioned  species  is  the  largest,  or  one  of  the  largest,  of  the 
family. 

That  we  place  the  INDICATOEIDJE,  or  honey-guides,  near  the  barbets  and  the  wood- 
peckers no  longer  needs  special  defence ;  but  as  many  authors  still  persist  in  keeping 
them  among  the  Cuculidae,  a  few  words  on  their  diagnostic  structures 
may  be  in  order.  As  shown  in  the  accompanying  cut  (fig.  210), 
the  palate  is  schizognathous,  and  the  vomer  is  bifurcated  in  front ; 
the  dorsal  tract  is  simple  between  the  shoulders ;  the  ambiens  muscle 
is  absent ;  the  oil-gland  is  tufted  and  the  caeca  are  absent ;  the  deep 
plantar  tendons  are  antiopelmous ;  only  one  carotid  is  present ;  "  the 
tensor  patagii  brevis  muscle  of  the  wing  is  inserted  into  the  extensor 
metacarpi  radialis  longus,  exactly  as  in  the  Megalaimida?,  Ramphas- 
tida?,  and  Picidaa,  and  as  in  no  other  birds."  In  all  these  respects 
and  many  more  the  honey-guides  differ  from  the  cuckoos,  but  agree, 
on  the  other  hand,  with  one  or  more  of  the  families  just  mentioned. 
The  above  suffices  to  prove  their  near  relationship,  and  Garrod  even 
went  so  far  as  to  include  the  toucans,  barbets,  and  honey-guides  as  FIG.  210.— Palate  of 

Indicator;  mxp ,max- 

sub-families  in  the  same  family.     The  latter  present  several  peculi-     iiio-paiatmes ;     pi, 

J  IF      palatines ;  v,  vomer. 

anties,  however,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  that  the  number  of 

primaries  is  only  nine.     The  tail  has  twelve  rectrices,  the  outer  pair  being  small,  as  in 

the  woodpeckers. 

The  Indicatoridas  form  a  small  family  of  about  a  •  dozen  species,  three-fourths  of 
which  inhabit  the  African  continent,  while  the  remainder  are  found  in  the  Oriental 
region ;  viz.,  one,  Indicator  xanthonotits,  in  India,  malayanus  in  Malacca,  and  archipe- 
lagicus  in  Borneo.  They  are  small  birds,  of  rather  dull  colors — the  African  species 
illustrated  in  our  cut  (7.  indicator)  being  brownish  gray,  lighter  underneath,  with  white 
ear-tufts,  and  a  small  yellow  patch  on  the  inner  minute  wing-coverts ;  tail,  brown  and 
white. 

The  names  honey-guide  and  indicator  bestowed  upon  these  birds  refer  to  a  pecu- 
liarity in  their  habits,  so  astonishing  that  it  was  generally  believed  to  be  a  fable,  until 
the  unanimous  statements  of  trustworthy  observers  seem  to  have  put  it  beyond  doubt. 
One  of  the  latest  accounts  is  found  in  Mr.  E.  F.  Sandeman's  '  Eight  Months  in  an 
Ox-Wagon,'  in  which  he  graphically  relates  his  experience  with  this  curious  bird,  in 
1878,  in  Transvaal,  as  follows  :  — 

"  A  small  gray  bird  with  a  reddish  beak,  the  size  of  a  sparrow,  had  flown  along- 
side and  round  the  wagon  for  the  last  mile  of  our  trek,  making  a  shrill,  hissing  cry, 
and  sometimes  almost  flying  in  the  faces  of  the  drivers ;  and  I  noticed  that  the  boys 


422 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


were  regarding  it  with  peculiar  attention,  and  talking  among  themselves  in  reference 
to  it.  On  asking  what  caused  the  unusual  interest  of  the  boys  in,  to  all  appearance, 
a  very  commonplace  bird,  it  was  explained  that  this  little  insignificant  visitor  was  the 
far-famed  honey-bird.  As  soon  as  the  oxen  were  outspanned  and  the  boys  at  liberty, 
three  of  them,  armed  with  buckets,  spades  and  hatchets,  set  off  towards  the  bird, 
which  had  flown  to  a  neighboring  tree  as  soon  as  it  perceived  that  our  attention  was 
successfully  attracted.  A.  and  myself,  to  whom  it  was  as  strange  an  adventure  as  it 
was  novel,  accompanied  the  boys.  As  soon  as  we  reached  the  tree  the  little  fellow 
had  perched  on,  it  flitted  to  the  next,  and  then  on  again  when  we  came  up.  For 


FIG.  211. — Indicator  indicator,  honey-guide. 

nearly  a  mile  this  was  kept  up,  and  as  the  way  grew  more  difficult  and  the  bushes 
more  dense,  our  own  faith  in  the  bird  was  rapidly  giving  place  to  irritation  at  what 
began  to  look  very  like  a  trick  of  the  others  at  the  expense  of  our  inexperience. 
However,  the  boys  seemed  so  genuinely  astonished  at  our  doubts,  that  we  still  fol- 
lowed on. 

"At  last  the  bird  stopped  altogether  in  a  small  clump  of  some  dozen  mimosa-trees, 
all  growing  within  a  few  feet  of  one  another.  When  we  came  up  to  it,  instead  of,  as 
heretofore,  flying  off  in  a  straight  line,  it  just  flitted  on  to  an  opposite  tree,  remained 
there  a  few  moments,  and  then  back  to  its  previous  position.  This  wras  its  signal  that 
the  nest  was  close  at  hand.  The  boys  examined  the  trunks  of  the  trees  round  most 
carefully,  but  could  find  no  opening  where  the  nest  could  by  any  possibility  be  situ- 
ated. The  bird  grew  more  and  more  angry  and  indignant  at  what  it  evidently  con- 


WOODPECKERS.  423 

siclered  our  extreme  stupidity,  and  flapped  its  little  wings  and  redoubled  the  shrill 
cries  which  it  had  ceased  to  utter  while  leading  us  to  the  spot.  At  last,  losing  all 
patience,  it  actually  settled  on  a  piece  of  the  stem  of  one  of  the  trees  it  had  been 
persistently  flitting  backwards  and  forwards  in  front  of.  The  boys,  now  paying  more 
attention  to  this  particular  tree,  perceived  just  above  where  the  bird  had  perched  a 
small  hole,  and  round  it  a  kind  of  cement.  While  we  were  watching,  a  bee  flew  out, 
which  made  it  certain  that  the  nest  was' within  the  trunk.  The  driver  of  Woodward's 
wagon,  who  was  an  old  hand  at  the  work,  at  once  climbed  up  the  tree  with  a  hatchet, 
and  under  his  direction  the  others  collected  armfuls  of  dried  grass.  Taking  a  large 
handful  of  this,  he  lighted  it,  and  then  struck  with  the  hatchet  at  the  mouth  of  the 
narrow  hole.  At  the  first  blow  a  quantity  of  mud,  wax,  and  decayed  wood  fell  to  the 
ground,  with  which  the  bees  had  skilfully  walled  up  a  large  portion  of  the  decayed 
wood.  Out  swarmed  a  cloud  of  bees,  and  now  his  burning  grass  carne  into  operation. 
As  quickly  as  they  flew  out  their  wings  were  singed  in  the  flames,  and  they  dropped 
helpless  to  the  ground.  A.  and  myself  had  retreated  to  a  safe  distance  from  the  tree ; 
but  the  boys  stood  close  up,  hardly  caring  if  they  were  stung  or  not.  In  a  very  few 
minutes,  all  the  occupants  of  the  nest  were  destroyed ;  but  new  comers  were  con- 
stantly arriving,  which  made  close  quarters  anything  but  pleasant.  Not  much  cutting 
was  necessary  to  lay  bare  a  large  portion  of  the  combs,  which  were  laid  horizontally 
across  the  entire  width  of  the  hollow  portion  of  the  tree. 

"  Before  leaving  we  carefully  fixed  a  comb  filled  with  honey  on  the  nearest  bush, 
and  our  late  guide  flew  down  and  commenced  his  well-earned  repast  as  soon  as  we 
had  turned  our  backs  on  the  spot.  The  Kafirs  would  much  prefer  not  to  take  any 
honey  at  all,  than  depart  with  their  spoil  and  not  leave  a  portion  for  the  bird.  They 
firmly  believe  that  if  they  thus  defraud  the  bird  of  its  just  rights,  it  will  follow  them 
up,  and  at  a  future  time,  instead  of  leading  them  to  honey,  will  entice  them  into  the 
lair  of  a  lion,  or  to  a  nest  in  which  some  deadly  snake  lies  concealed." 

The  honey-guides  lay  white  eggs,  and  it  is  stated,  of  some  of  the  species  at  least, 
that  they  are  parasitic,  like  the  cuckoos. 

"  Considering  the  method  adopted  by  the  woodpeckers  for  obtaining  their  food,  it 
is  hardly  surprising  that  they  possess  cranial  features  peculiar  to  themselves ;  for  it 
is  scarcely  conceivable  that  the  head,  the  most  delicately  constructed  portion  of  the 
body,  should  be  employed  as  a  powerful  hammer  or  axe,  whose  strokes  can  be  heard 
at  a  considerable  distance,  without  some  modifications  in  structure  which  would  assist 
in  increasing  its  efficacy  for  the  purpose." 

To  these  words  of  Professor  Garrod,  as  an  introduction  to  the  family  PICID^E,  we 
wish  to  append  certain  statements  of  Professor  W.  K.  Parker,  the  result  of  his  studies 
cf  the  embryological  development  of  the  '  saurognathous '  palate.  Huxley  had  already 
characterized  the  palate  of  the  woodpeckers,  or  Celeomorphre,  according  to  his 
nomenclature,  as  "  exhibiting  rather  a  degradation  and  simplification  of  the  aegitho- 
gnathous  structure."  This  Professor  Parker  corroborates  from  an  embryological 
standpoint,  saying:  "The  view  there  expressed,  that  these  birds  have  a  passerine 
foundation,  but  that  they  are  somewhat  abortively  developed,  arrested  one  way  and 
wonderfully  specializod  in  another,  will  be  seen  to  be  the  exact  truth  of  the  matter. 
The  fact  is,  they  are  like  early  embryos  of  the  Passerinae,  in  their  palatal  region 
arrested  at  a  most  simple  and  lacertinn  stage,  whilst  in  other  respects  they  are  meta- 
morphosed and  specialized  beyond  any  other  kind  of  birds." 

The  above  quotations  supplement  each  other  in  a  manner  which  affords  us  the 


424 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


mxp- 


clew  to  the  peculiarities  of  the  present  family.  The  special  use  of  the  bill  as  a 
hammer  prevented  its  specialization  in  the  same  direction  as  in  the  aegithognathous 
birds. 

Parker  has  briefly  stated  the  chief  saurognathous  character  to  be  "  the  want  of 
fusion  of  the  parts  of  the  palate  at  the  mid  line."  This  is  especially  the  case  with  the 
vomer,  the  two  halves  of  which  remain  separate  even  in  the  adult  state.  They  will 
be  seen  as  two  thin  styles  along  the  inner  margins  of  the  palatines.  The  abortive 
development  of  the  maxillo-palatines  is  also  very  notable.  Another  feature  is  the 
feeble  development  of  the  posterior  part  of  the  palatines,  the  external  posterior  angle 
being  usually  absent.  These  peculiar- 
ities 'are  well  shown  in  Fig.  212  A 
and  B,  which,  besides,  demonstrates 
the  great  general  resemblance  of  the 
woodpecker's  palate  and  that  of  the 
wryneck. 

There  are  other  features  in  the 
organization  of  the  woodpecker  which 
indicate  an  approach  to  the  Passeres 
besides  the  palate,  for,  as  we  have 
already  remarked,  the  manubrial  pro- 
cess of  the  breastbone  is  bifurcate,  and 
the  pterylosis  is  quite  '  oscinine,'  the 
wing-coverts  being  small  and  few. 
Another  character  of  the  wing,  which 
is  isomorphic  with  the  corresponding 
one  in  the  more  specialized  Passeres, 
is  the  reduction  in  size  of  the  first  (or, 
as  would  be  more  correct  to  say,  the 
tenth)  primary. 

It  would  take  more  space  than  has 
been  allotted  to  the  present  family  were  we  to  describe  in  detail  all  the  structural 
peculiarities  of  the  group,  and,  consequently,  we  are  forced  to  content  ourselves  with 
mentioning  the  curious  machinery  of  the  tongue. 

The  woodpecker's  tongue  consists  of  the  same  bones  as  in  most  other  birds, 
except  that  the  urohyal  is  entirely  absent.  The  ceratohyals  are  only  slightly  devel- 
oped, and  early  fused  together.  On  the  other  hand,  the  basihyal  and  both  pieces  of 
the  horns  (thyrohyals)  are  unusually  slender  and  extremely  elongated,  often  so  long 
that  their  ends  reach  forward  over  the  top  of  the  skull  nearly  to  the  tip  of  the  bill,  in 
which  case  the  whole  apparatus  slides  forward  in  the  sheath  encasing  the  bones  and 
their  muscles,  when  the  tongue  is  thrust  forward;  or  the  ends  of  the  hoi-ns  are  fastened 
to  the  upper  side  of  the  skull,  and  their  curvature  hangs  down  along  the  sides  of  the 
neck,  as  seen  in  the  diagrams,  Fig.  213  A  and  B.  The  extensor  muscles  which  are 
attached  to  the  concave  curvature  of  the  horns  and  to  the  mandible,  when  contracted, 
force  the  tongue  forward  a  distance  corresponding  to  the  flattening  of  the  loop  of 
the  horns.  By  this  means  the  cylindrical  and  worm-like  tongue,  which  at  the  end  is 
provided  with  a  pointed  horny  tip  and  barbed  with  sharp  bristles,  can  be  shot  out  far 
beyond  the  tip  of  the  bill,  its  flexibility  enabling  it  to  penetrate  the  winding  tunnels 
of  the  boring  insects  or  the  corridors  of  the  industrious  ants,  on  which  most  wood- 


FIG.  212.  —  Palate  of  (A)  Dryobates  and  (B)  Jimx ;  mxp,  max- 
illo-palatines  ;  pi,  palatines  ;  pt,  pterygoids  ;  v,  vomer. 


WOODPECKERS. 


425 


peckers  feed.  Large  salivary  glands  (also  indicated  in  the  diagram)  serve  for  lubri- 
cating the  sliding  tongue,  and  it  has  been  demonstrated  that  the  shortening  of  the 
extensor  muscles  simultaneously  exerts  the  necessary  pressure  upon  the  glands. 

The  woodpeckers  form  a  very  isolated  group  of  at  least  three  hundred  and  fifty 
species,  the  geographical  distribution  of  which  is  -very  interesting.  They  are  most 
numerous  in  South  America  and  the  Oriental  region,  less  abundant  in  Africa,  the 
PalaBarctic,  and  North  America.  It  is  a  very  significant  fact  that  they  are  entirely 
absent  from  Madagascar  and  the  whole  Australian  region,  except  in  Celebes  and 
Flores,  both  of  which  were,  probably,  never  connected  with  the  Papu-Australian  main- 
land, and  which  are  situated  so  close  to  the  Indo-Malayan  islands  that  it  is  safe  to 
conclude  that  their  woodpeckers  are  comparatively  recent  immigrations  from  the  latter. 

We  recognize  three  sub-families,  the  most  generalized  of  which  is  that  of  the 
Picumnina3,  a  not  numerous  group  of  soft-tailed  woodpeckers  from  the  tropical  zones 


'•"Chy 


FIG.  213.  —  Diagrams  showing  (A)  the  extensile  tongue  of  Picus  from  below;  em,  extensor  muscles;  /,  base  of 
tongue  ;  sg,  salivary  glands ;  tk,  thyrohyals  ;  and  (B)  the  tongue  bones  of  Picus  from  the  side  ;  chy,  ceratohyal  ; 
bhy,  basihyal ;  br*  and  br2,  thyrohyals. 

of  both  hemispheres.  Parker  regards  their  palate  as  the  "  most  embryonic  and  least 
specialized,"  comparing  it  with  that  of  the  rhynchosaurian  lizards  and  the  passerine 
Cotingidae.  The  inner  edges  of  the  hind  part  of  the  palatines  are  greatly  expanded 
posteriorly  and  bent  over  so  as  to  form  two  post-palatal  flanges,  as  in  the  Cotingidae 
and  allies,  as  well  as  in  the  lyre-bird  (Menura).  Of  Picummts,  Professor  Parker 
finally  says:  "Altogether,  this  small,  far-western  type  is  extremely  instructive,  and 
helps  to  lead  the  imagination  down  to  extinct  types  in  which  the  characters  of  the 
hemipod,  the  low  passerine,  and  the  woodpecker  were  existent  in  one  generalized 
form,  —  a  form  and  a  type  only  a  step  or  two  above  the  raft-breasted  ostrich  tribe." 

The  great  antiquity  of  the  piculets,  as  the  Picumninse  are  sometimes  called,  is  also 
indicated  by  their  geographical  distribution.  South  America  possesses  by  far  the 
greater  number  of  species,  perhaps  a  score ;  four  or  five  belong  to  the  Oriental  region, 
and  one,  Verreauxia  africana,  hails  from  western  Africa. 

Externally  these  birds  differ  from  the  other  woodpeckers  chiefly  in  their  diminu- 
tive size,  and  the  structure  of  the  tail,  which  is  short  and  composed  of  normal,  that  is, 


426  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

not  stiffened  and  acuminated,  rectrices.  A  good  idea  of  the  habitus  of  the  piculets 
may  be  formed  from  the  accompanying  plate,  which  represents,  in  natural  size, 
Picumnus  lepidotus  from  Guiana.  It  is  brownish  gray  on  the  back  and  abdomen,  the 
rest  of  the  under  surface  being  whitish,  squamulated  with  dusky ;  nasal  tufts  whitish ; 
head  above  black,  in  the  male  with  red  anteriorly,  and  white  pearl  spots  on  the 
posterior  half,  while  the  female  lacks  the  red,  the  spots  dotting  the  whole  head  above; 
the  tail  is  black  and  white.  The  East  Indian  genus,  /Sasia,  comprises  a  few  three- 
toed  species,  the  first  toe  being  aborted.  In  the  same  region  is  also  found  a  four- 
toed  form,  Vivid  innominata,  which  is  nearer  allied  to  the  Neotropical  species. 

The  habits  of  these  pygmy  woodpeckers  are  very  little  known.  Burmeister  says 
that  their  habits  are  entirely  similar  to  those  of  our  kinglets  (Regulus).  Reinhardt, 
on  the  other  hand,  asserts  that  they  differ  in  no  way  from  the  other  woodpeckers ; 
that,  like  these,  they  hammer  on  the  trees  with  their  bills,  and  climb  on  the  trunks 
and  even  on  the  under  side  of  the  branches,  notwithstanding  their  soft  tails.  Prob- 
ably their  habits  are  most  like  those  of  the  nuthatches,  with  which  they  also  agree 
in  size.  Euler  states  that  they  breed  in  holes  in  trees,  which  ttey  bore  themselves, 
and  from  two  to  four  glossy  white  eggs  have  been  found  in  the  nests. 

The  PicinaB,  or  woodpeckers  proper,  are  easily  distinguished  by  their  stiffened, 
elastic,  pointed,  and  graduated  tail-feathers,  which  are  used  as  a  support  in  climbing, 
their  ends  being  pressed  against  the  bark,  preventing  a  slipping  backwards.  The 
bill  is  angular  and  wedge-shaped,  forming  a  powei'ful  hammer  or  axe,  with  which  to 
cut  off  chips  of  bark  or  wood  in  search  of  insects,  or  to  dig  holes  into  the  wood  in 
order  to  build  nesting-holes. 

The  woodpeckers  are  usually  solitary  birds,  that  is,  they  do  not  often  associate 
with  others  of  their  own  kind.  Some  of  the  smaller  species,  however,  seem  to  be 
fond  of  the  society  of  nuthatches,  chickadees,  kinglets,  etc.,  during  their  rambles  through 
the  woods  in  autumn  and  winter.  During  the  breeding  season  some  species  are 
known  to  produce  a  remarkable  whirring  sound,  the  so-called  '  drumming,'  by  rapidly 
striking  a  dry  branch,  which  can  be  heard  to  a  great  distance.  This  seems  to  be  the 
male's  love-song. 

The  flight  of  the  woodpeckers  is  generally  powerful,  but  undulating  if  kept  up  for 
some  distance.  During  their  search  for  food,  they  proceed  through  the  forests  from 
trunk  to  trunk,  ascending  them  by  starts  from  the  lower  part  until  they  reach  the  top, 
whence,  in  a  single  curve,  they  descend  to  the  base  of  the  next  one.  They  lay  their 
glossy  white  eggs  in  some  hole  dug  by  themselves  in  a  more  or  less  decayed  tree,  and 
both  sexes  attend  to  the  incubation.  The  young  ones  are  more  or  less  like  the  adults 
in  color,  though  in  many  of  the  most  familiar  species  they  are  even  more  highly  orna- 
mented than  their  parents.  Thus  in  most  of  our  species  of  the  genus  Dryobates,  the 
young  ones  have  the  whole  top  of  the  head  red,  while  in  the  adult  male  it  usually 
becomes  restricted  to  the  occiput,  and  disappears  altogether  in  the  adult  female.  In 
this  case  the  difference  in  the  two  sexes  can  hardly  be  attributed  to  'sexual  selection,' 
for  it  seems  most  probable  that  the  original  stock  from  which  these  species  have  devel- 
oped originally  had  a  red  head,  and  the  disappearance  of  this  color  may  therefore 
be  regarded  as  protective.  That  it  in  most  cases  has  also  been  partly  lost  by  the  male 
is  no  objection,  since  he  is  known  to  partake  in  the  incubation. 

The  Picinae  form  a  very  homogeneous  group,  the  structural  characters  being  only 
slightly  varied,  and  such  extravagant  ornaments  as  racket-tails,  wattles,  excrescences 
in  form  of  horns,  etc.,  are  entirely  unknown.  The  only  sort  of  ornamental  plumes  are 


Picumnus  lepidotus,  piculet. 


Picoides  trldactylus,  three-toed  woodpecker. 


WOODPECKERS. 


427 


the  highly-developed  nuchal  crests  in  many  tropical  species.  A  noteworthy  structural 
specialization  in  several  forms,  otherwise  not  intimately  related,  is  the  abortion  of  the 
first  toe,  so  that  only  one  hind  toe  remains  —  the  fourth.  Nevertheless,  there  are  sev- 
eral pretty  well  defined  groups,  or  super-genera,  under  which  the  numerous  species  may 
be  advantageously  classified. 

Most  woodpeckers  have  the  nostrils  concealed  by  tufts  of  bristly  feathers  directed 
forward.  In  many  museum  specimens  from  the  tropics  these  may  have  disappeared, 
as  the  putrefaction  which  in  those  countries  rapidly  sets  in  first  affects  the  feathers 
around  the  bill.  But  a  small  group  of  species,  about  equally  numerous  in  the  tropical 




^ 


FIG.  2J4.  —  Picus  virldis,  green  woodpecker,  yaffle. 

regions  of  both  hemispheres,  have  no  bristles  where  the  bill  joins  the  forehead,  and 
the  nostrils  are  consequently  fully  exposed.  Noteworthy  among  these  forms  is  the 
South  American  genus  Celeus,  the  members  of  which  have  a  very  long  occipital  crest. 
Some  of  the  Indian  species  have  only  three  toes,  for  instance  the  genus  Tiga.  The 
absence  or  presence  of  the  nasal  bristles  seems,  however,  to  be  of  little  account,  since 
Nesocelem  fernandince,  which  is  confined  to  the  island  of  Cuba,  has  the  nostrils  entirely 
nude,  though'  apparently  closely  related  to  the  following  group. 

Our  flicker  ( Colaptes  auratus)  and  its  many  allies  belong  to  another  group,  which 
are  distinguished  by  having  a  less  typical  wedge-shaped  woodpecker  bill,  the  angles 
being  more  rounded,  and  the  whole  bill  slightly  arched.  In  regard  to  the  remarkable 


428  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

polychroic  state  of  the  yellow-shafted  flicker  and  the  red-shafted  species,  we  refer  to 
the  introduction  to  this  volume  (p.  8),  where  this  question  has  been  treated  of  in 
detail,  and  where  the  Cape  flicker  (  C.  chrysoides),  with  red  moustache,  like  C.  cafer  (or 
mexicanus),  but  with  yellow  shafts  and  without  red  nuchal  crescent,  like  C.  auratus,  was 
also  mentioned.  Closely  allied  to  the  flickers  are  the  South  American  ground  flickers 
(Soroplex).  The  habits  of  the  typical  species,  S.  campestris,  are  described  by  Bur- 
meister  as  follows:  "  This  flicker  is  one  of  the  first  peculiar  objects  to  attract  one's 
attention  when  entering  the  open  campos  districts  of  the  interior  of  Brazil.  They  are 
soon  discovered  hopping  about  on  the  lower  trees  in  small  companies,  and  the  observer 
is  greatly  astonished  to  see  one  or  the  other  once  in  a  while  jump  down  and  walk 
about  on  the  ground.  This  bird  is  especially  engaged  in  search  of  the  termites,  and 
destroys  the  covered  passages  which  these  insects  construct  in  the  grooves  of  the  bark 
in  order  to  reach  their  nests  undisturbed.  But  even  these  structures,  strongly  made 
of  clay,  the  ground  flicker  knows  how  to  open,  and  how  to  catch  their  inhabitants." 
The  South  African  Geocolaptes  olivaceus  is  still  more  partial  to  the  ground,  for,  accord- 
ing to  Layard,  "  it  never  pecks  wood,  but  bores  its  way  into  the  banks  of  rivers,  sides 
of  hills,  or  the  walls  of  mud  buildings,  in  search  of  its  prey  and  for  a  home  for  its 
young." 

The  green  woodpeckers,  as  the  name  indicates,  are  very  conspicuous  for  their 
more  or  less  green  •  colors,  ornamented,  as  in  most  woodpeckers,  with  red.  A  well- 
known  representative  of  this  group,  which,  as  shown  in  the  accompanying  wood-cut, 
also  spends  part  of  its  life  on  the  ground,  spearing  unfortunate  ants  by  its  worm- 
like  barbed  tongue,  is  the  yaffle  (Picus  viridis),  the  common  green  woodpecker  of 
Europe,  celebrated  for  its  laughing  voice,  which  it  is  said  to  produce  especially  at  the 
approach  of  rain,  and  many  a  farmer  on  the  other  side  of  the  ocean  pays  more  atten- 
tion to  the  'indications'  and  'probabilities'  of  this  sagacious  bird  than  to  those  of  the 
meteorological  stations.  The  three-toed  Indian  genus,  Gecinulus,  seems  to  be  related 
to  this  group. 

Before  mentioning  the  typical  pied  woodpeckers  we  will  have  to  say  a  few  words 
of  a  somewhat  peculiar  form  from  India,  as  by  some  ornithologists  it  has  been  regarded 
as  foi-ming  a  '  sub-family '  of  its  own.  The  short-tailed  woodpeckers  (Hemiclrcus)  are 
especially  remarkable  for  their  short  and  rounded  tails,  the  feathers  of  which  are 
scarcely  rigid  at  all.  They  are  small  birds,  without  red  in  their  plumage,  and  but  little 
is  known  of  their  habits.  Mr.  Jerdon  says  of  H.  canente  that  it  has  "  on  the  centre  of 
the  back  a  brush  of  dark  sap-green  bristly  feathers,  smeared  with  a  viscid  secretion 
from  a  gland  beneath." 

A  sort  of  transition  from  the  foregoing  to  the  pied  woodpeckers  (Dry abates)  is 
formed  by  the  oriental  sub-genus  Yungipicus,  in  which  the  lateral  tail-feathers  are 
less  rigid  than  the  central  ones.  Dryobates  proper  contains  a  great  number  of  small 
or  medium-sized  species  in  the  more  noi-thern  parts  of  the  two  hemispheres.  They 
are  parti-colored,  white  and  black,  with  red  markings  on  the  head  and  also  often  on 
the  under  side.  Three  European  species  are  represented  in  the  accompanying  cut, 
from  which,  in  a  general  way,  our  North  American  species  differ  but  little  except  in 
not  having  the  white  tail-feathers  barred  with  black.  This  difference  is  very  curious, 
inasmuch  as  the  Siberian  representatives  of  the  European  species,  and  still  more  those 
which  inhabit  Kamtschatka,  show  a  tendency  towards  losing  the  dark  cross-bars ;  but 
this  is  followed  by  a  general  increase  of  the  white  all  over  the  body,  while  in 
the  Nearctic  species  the  greater  amount  of  white  on  the  tail  is  independent  of  the  dis- 


WOODPECKERS. 


429 


tribution  of  the  two  colors  elsewhere.  A  similar  distribution  of  the  colors  is  observable 
in  Picoides,  a  circumboreal  genus  of  three-toed  pied  woodpeckers,  with  a  yellow  crown 
in  the  male.  The  European  species,  P.  tridactylus,  is  figured  on  the  plate  opposite 
p.  4:26,  in  order  to  give  an  idea  of  this  interesting  genus,  which  inhabits  the  north-' 
ernmost  forests  in  both  hemispheres,  but  which  also  has  a  representative  in  the  moun- 
tains of  Chinese  Tibet,  the  sombre-colored  P.  funebris. 


FIG.  215.  —Dryobates  mcdius,  major,  and  minor,  European  middle,  greater  and  lesser  woodpeckers. 

Finally,  we  have  to  consider  the  thin-necked  woodpeckers,  a  group  of  large  forms, 
which  have  the  feathers  of  the  neck  peculiarly  short,  thereby  increasing  the  appear- 
ance of  slenderness  of  the  neck.  That  the  neck  of  the  woodpecker  is  usually  smaller 
than  the  head,  most  collectors  have  discovered  when  skinning  specimens,  but  exter- 
nally this  feature  is  most  apparent  in  the  present  group.  Most  of  the  species  are  very 
large  and  powerful  birds,  with  a  considerable  amount  of  black  in  their  plumage,  while 
the  head,  as  usual,  is  adorned  with  more  or  less  red.  Here  belongs  the  well-known 
great  black  woodpecker  (Dryocopus  martins),  which  inhabits  the  Palaearctic  region 


430  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

from  Europe  to  northern  Japan,  —  black  all  over,  with  a  crimson  cap.  Linnasus,  indeed, 
dedicated  this  bird  to  Mars,  the  Roman  god  of  warfare ;  but  the  evidence  seems  to  show 
that  this  was  not  the  woodpecker  which  the  old  augurs  regarded  as  Picus,  of  whom 
the  Roman  mythology  fabled  that  he  was  changed  into  a  woodpecker  by  Circe  when  she 
found  that  her  love  for  him  was  not  requited,  but  was  possessed  by  Pomona.  In  the 


FIG.  216. —  Campephilus  principalis,  ivory -billed  woodpecker. 

Oriental  region  are  found  'several  nearly  allied  forms ;  for  instance,  D.  leucogaster 
from  Java,  which  has  the  abdomen  white  and  the  sides  of  head  and  throat  striped 
with  the  same  color.  Messrs.  Motley  and  Dillwyn  give  the  following  interesting 
account  of  its  habits:  — 

"  These  birds  are  not  uncommon  in  Labuan,  and  frequently  fly  in  small  parties  of 
six  or  eight.     They  much  frequent  dead  trees  whose  bark  is  just  beginning  to  fall, 


WOODPECKERS.  431 

and  are  very  amusing  to  watch,  being  always  in  motion,  and  very  noisy.  They  begin 
rather  low  down  on  a  tree,  moving  upwards  by  jumps,  with  a  cry  like  the  chatter  of 
a  magpie  to  the  time  of  our  green  woodpecker's  laugh.  Perhaps  two  or  three  will  be 
ascending  one  tree  at  the  same  time,  trying  the  bark  with  incessant  taps,  and  wrench- 
ing open  every  likely  crack  with  their  powerful  chisel-beaks.  When  they  reach  the 
branches,  they  hold  a  sort  of  discussion  of  tremendous  chatter ;  and  then  each  takes 
his  own  branch,  and  the  bark  here,  being  usually  more  decayed  than  on  the  stem,  comes 
down  in  showers.  If  you  make  any  loud  noise,  or  show  yourself  suddenly,  all  disap- 
pear in  a  moment.  Perhaps  one  or  two  may  fly  off,  with  a  swift  but  laborious  action 
of  the  wings ;  but  the  majority  hide  behind  branches.  In  a  minute  or  so,  if  all  is 
quiet,  you  will  see  a  head  peer  out  from  behind  some  snag,  and,  after  looking  around 
and  seeing  nothing,  a  croak  of  satisfaction  brings  out  two  or  three  more  heads ;  but 
not  a  body  is  seen  till  all  the  heads  are  perfectly  satisfied  of  their  safety.  At  last 
they  all  come  out,  and  chatter  together  most  vociferously  for  a  minute  or  two  before 
they  go  on  feeding.  Though  apparently  so  wary,  they  rarely  leave  the  tree  they  are 
examining,  even  if  fired  at." 

To  this  group  also  belong  our  pileated  woodpecker,  or  log-cock  (  Ceophlceus  pilea^ 
tus\  and  the  '  prince '  among  the  woodpeckers,  as  Linnaeus  called  the  magnificent  ivory- 
billed  woodpecker  (Campephilus  principalis).  This  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most 
striking  looking  birds  of  the  whole  family.  It  is  found  in  the  heavily  timbered 
portions  of  our  Southern  States,  especially  those  bordering  the  Mexican  Gulf,  but 
being  a  solitary  and  extremely  wary  bird,  and  not  numerous  even  in  those  regions  which 
may  be  regarded  as  its  headquarters,  it  is  rare  in  collections,  and  its  habits  are  but 
little  known.  A  nearly  allied  species,  named  C.  bairdi  in  honor  of  Prof.  S.  F. 
Baird,  is  a  native  of  Cuba ;  and  another  related  species,  C.  imperialis,  the  '  empe- 
ror '  woodpecker,  is  found  in  the  mountain-forests  of  Mexico  and  Guatemala. 

There  has  been  great  difference  among  authors  as  to  the  question  whether  the 
woodpeckers  are  to  be  regarded  as  injurious  or  not,  as  both  sides  have  had,  and  still 
have,  vigorous,  and,  as  is  too  often  the  case,  even  fanatical  advocates.  The  fact,  is, 
that  the  question  cannot  be  affirmed  or  denied  in  its  generality ;  for  while  one  kind  of 
woodpecker  may  be  injurious,  another  may  be  beneficial,  and  even  the  same  species 
maybe  injurious  during  one  part  of  the  year  and  beneficial  during  the  rest,  or  injurious 
in  one  country  and  beneficial  in  another.  Consequently,  an  author  can  scarcely  adduce 
a  fact  to  prove  one  side,  without  his  opponent  producing  equally  incontestible  evidence 
for  the  opposite.  The  woodpeckers'  digging  holes  in  the  trees  is  excused  by  their 
friends,  who  say  that  they  never  attack  a  sound  tree,  and  that  by  hastening  the 
destruction  of  already  more  or  less  rotten  trees,  they  are  decidedly  beneficial ;  but 
there  are  undoubted  cases  where  perfectly  sound  trees  have  been  injured,  though  this, 
is  the  exception.  Other  species  are  charged  with  stealing  berries;  and  some  might 
fancy  that  Mdanerpes  formicivorus,  which  is  famous  for  its  acorn-storing  propensities, 
may  do  harm  by  depriving  the  hogs  of  their  food,  as  in  some  parts  of  Europe  they 
are  prosecuted  on  the  plea  that  by  eating  the  seeds  of  the  forest  trees  they  prevent  the 
forest  from  renewing  itself.  But  these  accusations  are '  evidently  insignificant  com- 
pared with  the  enormous  number  of  insects  which  the  woodpeckers  destroy;  for 
insects,  no  doubt,  are  nearly  in  all  cases  their  chief  food.  But  not  even  this  fact  can  be 
scored  unconditionally  to  their  credit ;  for  they  are  justly  charged  with  making  no 
discrimination  between  injurious  and  beneficial  insects,  as  some  species  of  wood- 
peckers largely  subsist  upon  ants,  those  great  benefactors  of  the  woods.  We  shall 


432 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


not  stop  to  consider  the  trifling  injury  they  may  cause  by,  in  a  few  exceptional  cases, 
boring  holes  in  the  weather-boarding  of  houses  in  order  to  store  their  acorns  away, 
or  digging  breeding-holes  in  wooden  church-steeples ;  but  there  is  one  small  group  of 
woodpeckers  which,  on  account  of  their  organization  and  their  chief  food,  may  be 
regarded  as  perhaps  mostly  injurious  —  viz.,  the  so-called  sap-suckers  (Sphyrapicus). 
In  these,  the  hyoid  bones  are  not  so  excessively  elongated,  and  the  tongue  conse- 
quently is  protrusible  only  in  a  very  slight  degree.  The  tip  is  also  differently  armed, 
being  simply  brushed  and  not  barbed,  —  features  which  indicate  that  the  food  of 
these  birds  is  different  from  the  rest  of  the  woodpeckers,  consisting  as  it  chiefly  does 
of  the  sap  of  the  trees.  The  late  Dr.  Alfred  E.  Brehm  was  an  enthusiastic  defender  of 


: : 


FIG.  217.  —  Jynx  torquilla,  wryneck. 

the  woodpeckers.  When,  two  years  ago,  shortly  before  his  death,  he  visited  this 
country,  as  we  were  standing  at  the  entrance  to  the  Smithsonian  Institution,  nearly 
driven  to  despair  by  the  incessant  din  of  the  English  sparrows  which  tried  to  drown 
our  voices,  he  asked  me  to  show  him  a  characteristic  American  bird.  Just  at  that 
moment  a  bird  alighted  on  the  trunk  of  the  nearest  tree,  and  I  had  the  satisfaction  of 
pointing  out  to  him  our  common  yellow-bellied  sap-sucker  (/&  variits).  As  the  bird 
reached  the  first  branch,  it  thrust  its  bill  into  the  smooth  bark,  leaving  a  square  hole, 
easily  visible  from  the  moist  sap  which  made  it  look  dark  against  the  dusty  surface ; 
and  tap-tap-tap-tap,  with  an  astonishing  regularity  and  in  a  most  business-like  manner, 
the  little  fellow  punctured  the  trunk  horizontally  and  vertically  until  the  tree  looked 
as  if  it  had  suffered  from  small-pox,  and  '  Bird '  Brehm,  who  had  watched  the  per- 


TROGONS.  433 

formance  with  extreme  interest,  admitted  that  the  sap-sucker,  under  circumstances, 
may  become  an  extremely  injurious  bird.  Nevertheless,  even  this  great  offender  is  not 
entirely  without  his  good  sides ;  for  we  have  Mr.  William  Brewster's  word  for  it  that 
"  after  the  young  have  hatched  it  rises  to  the  proud  independence  of  a  fly-catcher, 
taking  its  prey  on  wing  as  unerringly  as  the  best  marksman  of  them  all.  From  its 
perch  on  the  spire  of  some  tall  stub  it  'makes  a  succession  of  rapid  sorties  after  its 
abundant  victims,  and*  then  flies  off  to  its  nest  with  bill  and  mouth  crammed  f«ull  of 
insects,  principally  large  Diptera." 

The  wrynecks  (Jynginae)  constitute  a  single  genus  (Jynx)  of  half  a  dozen  species, 
which  all  belong  to  the  Old  World,  especially  Africa,  while  they  are  entirely  wanting 
in  Australia  and  America.  They  are  rather  small  birds,  with  a  wedge-shaped  but  not 
angular  bill,  and  the  tongue  extensile.  The  tail  is  rather  long,  slightly  rounded, 
consisting  of  twelve  soft  and  rounded  rectrices ;  the  outer  one  on  each  side  is  very 
short,  however,  as  in  the  woodpecker,  and  completely  hidden  by  the  under  tail- 
coverts  ;  the  first  primary  is  also  very  short,  exceedingly  so  in  the  Palaaarctic  species. 
The  tarsus  is  scutellated  both  in  front  and  behind.  The  coloration  is  a  beautiful  and 
intricate  mixture  of  gray,  buff,  rusty  black,  and  white,  very  difficult  to  describe,  with 
a  dark  longitudinal  band  along  the  middle  of  the  back  and  adjoining  part  of  the 
neck,  the  African  species  with  a  large  chestnut-brown  patch  on  the  throat  and  foreneck. 

The  wryneck  or  snake-bird  (Jynx  torquilla),  the  species  depicted  in  our  illustra- 
tion, is  a  migratory  bird,  which  in  England  arrives  at  the  same  time  as  the  cuckoo ; 
hence,  it  is  also  called  the  '  cuckoo's  maid,'  or  *  cuckoo's  mate.'  The  two  first  men- 
tioned names  are  derived  from  a  peculiar  habit  of  twisting  the  neck  with  a  slow, 
undulatory  movement,  like  that  of  a  snake,  turning  the  head  back  and  closing  its 
eyes  as  in  a  fit,  evidently  with  the  intention  of  frightening  its  enemies.  A  captive 
held  in  the  hand  will  usually  perform  this  trick,  and,  taking  advantage  of  the  specta- 
tor's surprise  at  its  strange  behavior,  suddenly  escape.  The  wryneck's  food  consists 
of  insects,  especially  ants.  It  breeds  in  hollow  trees,  and  lays  white  polished  eggs. 
Its  cry  is  very  much  like  that  of  the-kestrel. 

The  trogons  (TROGONOIDE^E)  are  heterodactylous,  that  is,  have  the  first  and 
second  toes  turned  backwards ;  no  other  birds  are.  The  trogons  are  also  heteropel- 
mous  (see  fig.  171  D) ;  no  other  birds  are.  These  features  alone  are,  consequently, 
sufficient  to  distinguish  the  trogons  from  the  other  Picarians,  but  the  chief  characters 
may  be  briefly  summed  up  in  order  to  indicate  the  relationship  of  these  birds.  Their 
palate  is  schizognathous,  and  basipterygoids  are  present ;  the  sternum  is  four-notched 
behind ;  the  myological  formula  is  A  X ;  only  the  left  carotid  is  developed ;  ca3ca  are 
present,  and  the  oil-gland  is  nude.  The  pterylosis  is  also  in  other  respects  very 
passerine,  especially  in  the  distribution  and  form  of  the  feather-tract,  but  the  after- 
shafts  of  the  contour-feathers  are  very  large ;  the  long  tail  consists  of  twelve  rectrices, 
the  outer  ones  being  graduated;  the  first  primary  is  short.  Altogether  the  trogons 
are  rather  peculiar,  showing  no  special  relationship  to  any  other  group  of  the  present 
order,  a  circumstance  which  explains  the  fact  that  by  the  different  systematists  they 
have  been  associated  with  nearly  all  the  groups  of  the  Picaria?. 

The  trogons  form  a  very  well  circumscribed  family,  TROGONID^E,  consisting  of 
about  fifty  species,  inhabiting  the  tropical  regions.  They  are  rather  numerous  in  the 
Neotropical,  less  so  in  the  Oriental  region,  and  rare  in  Africa,  and  are,  during  the 
present  geological  epoch,  entirely  unknown  in  the  Nearctic,  Palsearctic,  and  Aus- 
tralian regions.  This  was  quite  otherwise  during  a  previous  period ;  for,  as  Dr. 
VOL.  iv. — 28 


434  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

Wallace  remarks :  "  Remains  of  Trogon  have  been  found  in  the  miocene  deposits  of 
France ;  and  we  are  thus  able  to  understand  the  existing  distribution  of  the  family. 
At  that  exceptionally  mild  period  in  the  northern  hemisphere,  these  birds  may  have 
ranged  over  all  Europe  and  North  America ;  but,  as  the  climate  became  more  severe, 
they  gradually  became  restricted  to  the  tropical  regions,  where  alone  a  sufficiency  of 
fruit  and  insect  food  is  found  all  the  year  round." 

We  are  not  aware  that  there  is  any  important  structural  character  by  which  the 
trogons  inhabiting  the  eastern  hemisphere  can  be  separated  from  those  living  in  the 
western  half  of  the  globe.  A  considerable  difference  in  their  habits,  however,  is 
reported,  inasmuch  as  the  American  species  are  said  to  be  chiefly  fruit-eaters,  while 
Wallace  informs  us  that  the  Old  World  forms  subsist  almost  exclusively  on  insects. 
Very  remarkable  is  the  way  by  which  the  former  are  known  to  obtain  the  fruits. 
Their  feet  are  comparatively  small  and  weak,  and,  although  in  a  measure  '  yoke- 
toed,'  they  are  entirely  unfit  for  climbing ;  the  trogon,  therefore,  darts  from  its  perch 
after  the  fruit,  like  a  flycatcher  after  an  insect,  seizes  it  while  on  the  wing,  and 
returns  again  to  its  perch.  Such  is  also  the  habit  of  the  most  brilliant,  most  exquisite> 
and  most  celebrated  of  all  the  trogons,  the  quesal,  according  to  Mr.  Osbert  Salvin's. 
account.  The  quesal  is  only  to  be  found  in  Central  America,  where  it  is  represented 
by  two  but  slightly  differentiated  forms,  one  in  Costa  Rica,  the  other,  the  more  bril- 
liant one  of  the  two,  in  Guatemala,  where  it  has  been  chosen  for  the  national  emblem. 
Imagine  a  bird  of  the  size  of  a  magpie,  and  with  the  splendor  of  a  humming-bird  or  a 
sun-bird,  and  you  may  have  an  idea  of  the  magnificent  Pharomacrus  mocinno.  The 
whole  upper  surface,  breast,  neck,  and  head,  including  the  curious  rounded  and  com- 
pressed crest,  are  rich  golden  green,  and  so  are  the  smaller  wing-coverts,  some  of 
which  are  lengthened  into  gracefully  drooping  plumes,  overhanging  the  wing ;  four 
upper  tail-coverts,  of  a  similarly  brilliant  green,  are  enormously  lengthened,  especially 
the  two  central  ones,  which  in  perfect  specimens  may  reach  a  length  of  nearly  three 
feet ;  the  true  tail-feathers  are  black  and  white,  and  the  posterior  part  of  the  under 
side  is  rich  vermilion  inclining  to  crimson.  Only  the  males  are  adorned  with  the  long 
floating  train,  the  females,  as  in  most  trogons,  being  much  plainer. 

Regretting  that  want  of  space  forbids  us  to  reprint  the  whole  of  Mr.  Salvin's 
account  of  his  '  quesal-shooting  in  Vera  Paz,'  we  take  the  liberty  to  make  a  few  extracts 
bearing  directly  on  the  habits  of  this  remarkable  bird :  — 

"  My  companions  are  ahead,  and  I  am  just  balancing  myself  along  the  last  trunk, 
when  Filipe  comes  back  to  say  that  they  have  heard  a  quesal.  Of  course,  being 
especially  anxious  to  watch  as  well  as  to  shoot  one  of  these  birds  myself,  I  immedi- 
ately hurry  to  the  spot.  I  have  not  to  wait  long.  A  distant  clattering  note  indicates 
that  the  bird  is  on  the  wing.  He  settles  —  a  splendid  male  —  on  a  bough  of  a  tree 
not  seventy  yards  from  where  we  are  hidden.  It  sits  almost  motionless  on  its  perch, 
the  body  remaining  in  the  same  position,  the  head  only  moving  slowly  from  side  to 
side.  The  tail  does  not  hang  quite  perpendicularly,  the  angle  between  the  true  tail 
and  the  vertical  being  perhaps  as  much  as  fifteen  or  twenty  degrees.  The  tail  is 
occasionally  jerked  open  and  closed  again,  and  now  and  then  slightly  raised,  causing 
the  long  tail-coverts  to  vibrate  gracefully.  I  have  not  seen  all.  A  ripe  fruit  catches 
the  quesal's  eye,  and  he  darts  from  his  perch,  hovers  for  a  moment,  plucks  the  berry, 
and  returns  to  his  former  position.  This  is  done  with  a  degree  of  elegance  that  defies 
description.  A  low  whistle  from  Cipriano  calls  the  bird  nearer,  and  a  moment  after- 
wards it  is  in  my  hand,  —  the  first  quesal  I  have  seen  and  shot. 


TROGONS.  435 

"  The  cries  of  the  quesal  are  various.  They  consist  principally  of  a  low  double 
note,  lwhe-oo,  whe-ooj  which  the  bird  repeats,  whistling  it  softly  at  first,  and  then 
gradually  swelling  it  into  a  loud  but  not  unmelodious  cry.  This  is  often  succeeded 
by  a  long  note,  which  begins  low,  and,  after  swelling,  dies  away  as  it  began.  Both 
these  notes  can  be  easily  imitated  by  the  human  voice.  The  bird's  other  cries  are 
harsh  and  discordant.  The  flight  of  the  quesal  is  rapid  and  straight ;  the  long  tail- 
feathers,  which  never  seern  to  be  in  his  way,  stream  after  him.  The  bird  is  never 
found  except  in  forests  composed  of  the  highest  trees,  the  lower  branches  of  which 
(i.  e.,  those  at  about  two-thirds  of  the  height  of  the  tree  from  the  ground)  seem  to  be 
its  favorite  resort.  Its  food  consists  principally  of  fruit,  but  occasionally  a  caterpillar 
may  be  found  in  its  stomach." 

In  most  of  the  American  species  of  the  true  trogons  a  certain  uniform  distribution 
of  colors  is  apparent,  since  the  back  and  breast  are  either  metallic  green  or  brown- 
ish, and  the  abdomen  red  or  yellow,  separated  from  the  breast  by  a  white  band. 
It  may  be  remarked  that  this  red  or  yellow  of  the  lower  parts  in  the  trogons  is  very 
evanescent,  fading  entirely  out  in  museum  specimens  exposed  to  the  light.  In  the 
two  West  Indian  genera,  each  consisting  of  one  species,  Priotelus  and  Temnotroffon^ 
the  former  restricted  to  Cuba,  the  latter  to  the  island  of  Haiti,  the  upper  parts  are 
metallic  green,  posterior  half  of  under  parts  brilliant  red,  while  the  anterior  half  is 
delicately  gray.  While  in  most  trogons  the  tail-feathers  are  somewhat  square  at  the 
end,  this  peculiarity  is  rather  exaggerated  in  the  West  Indian  forms,  especially  in  the 
Cuban  Priotelus  temnurus,  in  which  the  corners  are  produced  into  points,  thereby 
making  the  end  concave,  and  forming  a  most  remarkable  tail.  This  latter  form  is 
known  to  the  Cubans  as  the  'tocororo,'  a  name  derived  from  its  cry.  Dr.  Gundlach 
reports  that  it  breeds  in  abandoned  woodpecker  holes,  and  deposits  three  to  four  white 
eggs  which  have  a  slight  bluish  tinge.  This,  like  some  other  American  forms,  has  the 
edges  of  the  mandibles  strongly  serrated.  The  African  genus,  Apaloderma,  has  only 
the  lower  mandible  serrated,  while  the  Indian  Harpactes  only  have  a  notch  before  the 
tip  of  the  upper  one.  These,  according  to  Jerdon,  seize  insects  on  the  wing,  much  in 
the  same  manner  as  the  American  species  secure  the  fruits. 

Figure  218  represents  the  African  species,  Apaloderma  narina,  which  is  metallic 
green  on  the  back,  head,  and  breast,  while  the  rest  of  the  under  parts  are  brilliant 
carmine,  the  bill  yellow;  it  is,  consequently,  very  similar  to  the  American  species  in 
coloration.  Layard  says  that  when  apprehensive  of  discovery  it  sits  motionless  on  its 
branch  until  alarmed  at  some  act  of  the  fowler,  when  it  precipitates  itself  headlong 
into  the  bush,  and  is  instantly  lost  to  view.  It  feeds,  he  further  states,  on  fruits  and 
insects,  and  utters  a  loud  moaning  note,  or,  perhaps,  more  correctly  speaking,  a 
hoot.  A  nearly  allied  species  from  Western  Africa  was  described  in  1872  as  A.  con- 
ttanrta. 

The  last  super-family  of  the  Picariae,  the  MICROPODOIDE^E,  was  originally 
founded  by  Nitzsch,  who  in  his  '  Macrochires '  only  included  the  swifts  and  the  hum- 
ming-birds. It  is  also  synonymous  with  Garrod's  '  Cypseliformes,'  the  former  basing 
his  conclusions  chiefly  upon  osteology  and  pterylography,  while  the  latter  also  em- 
ployed the  anatomy  of  the  soft  parts.  Huxley  united  them  with  the  goatsuckers  in 
the  group  '  Cypselomorphae,'  taking  chiefly  the  palatal  bones  into  account ;  but  Parker 
has  shown  that  this  structure  is  so  different  in  the  three  families  that  it  offers  no 
character  which  would  bind  them  together  to  the  exclusion  of  other  birds.  In  this 
place  we  shall  only  call  attention  to  those  characters  which  at  once  separate  the 


436 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


present  super-family  from  the'Caprimulgida3.     Osteologically  the  swifts  and  humming- 
birds resemble  each  other  closely  in  all  respects  except  in  the  shape  of  the  bones  of 

the  face.  The  breastbone 
is  highly  characteristic, 
having  a  high  keel,  and 
an  entire,  unnotched  pos- 
ter for  margin.  The  pro- 
portions of  the  different 
sections  of  the  wings  are 
also  noteworthy,  the  hu- 
merus  being  very  short, 
the  forearm  longer,  and 
the  hand  extremely  long, 
whence  Nitzsch's  name 
of  the  group.  The  myo- 
logical  formula  is  A -5-, 
unique  amongst  Picarian 
and  Passerine  birds,  and 
only  shared  by  the  owls. 
The  tensor  patagii  brevis 
is  quite  peculiar,  no  ten- 
don being  developed,  and 
the  fleshy  belly  running 
on  to  a  special  tendon 
which  springs  from  the 

lower  end  of  the  outer  surface  of  the  humerus,  and  is 
continued,  parallel  to  the  forearm,  along  the  radial 
margin  to  the  hand  (Fig.  219).  As  to  the  visceral  an- 
atomy we  only  mention  the  absence  of  caeca,  concom- 
itant with  the  absence  of  tuft  to  the  oil-gland,  a 
feature  which  leads  us  to  the  pterylography,  in  regard 
to  which  we  point  to  the  uniquely  small  number  of 
secondaries,  six  to  seven. 

From  all  this  it  is  evident  that  the  swifts  and  hum- 
ming-birds are  very  closely  allied,  notwithstanding  the 
extreme  specialization  of  the  facial  part  of  the  head 
in  two  opposite  directions.  The  swifts  have  the 
mouth  split  to  beneath  the  eyes,  and  the  bill  is  ex- 
tremely short,  broad  at  base,  and  the  gape  extraordi- 
narily wide ;  the  palate  is  built  on  the  principle  of 
complete  aegithognathism,  "the  vomerine  bones  being 
grafted  upon  the  nasal  wall."  In  the  humming-birds, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  bill  is  long  and  narrow,  the 
mouth  not  split,  consequently  the  gape  also  narrow, 
and  the  palate  is,  according  to  Parker,  schizognathous, 
the  vomer  being  pointed  anteriorly,  and  only  tied  to  the  alinasal  wall  by  a  fibrous  liga- 
ment, but  not  grafted  upon  it.  But  even  in  the  palatal  structure  the  relationship 
between  swifts  and  humming-birds  is  manifested  by  the  development  of  the  maxillo- 


8.  —  Apaloderma  narina,  African 
trogon. 


SWIFTS. 


437 


palatines  of  the  young,  as  pointed  out  by  Parker,  who  says  that  in  the  young  hum- 
ming-birds they  agree  in  general  with  young  Passeres,  "  but  in  particular  with  both 
young  and  adult  of  that  family  of  birds  which  has  most  similarity  to  them  in  general 
bodily  structure,  namely,  swifts." 

In  view  of  the  extreme  external  '  isomorphism '  of  the  swifts  and  the  swallows, 
and  the  remarkable  tenacity  with  which  ornithologists  have  stuck  to  arrangements 
based  chiefly  upon  the  external  appearance,  the  comparatively  early  recognition 
of  their  being  totally  different  on  account  of  their  internal  structure  would  be  some- 
what surprising  but  for  the  fact  that  there  are  also  a  number  of  easy  external  charac- 
ters by  which  they  are  at  once  separated.  The  swifts,  or  MICROPODID^E,  and  the  swal- 
lows are,  indeed,  "  only  '  second  cousins,'  and  more  alike 
in  their  habits  and  mode  of  dress  than  in  their  real  nature," 
as  will  be  apparent  by  the  following  juxtaposition  of  then- 
differences.  Externally  they  may  be  easily  distinguished ; 
the  swifts  by  having  ten  primaries,  not  more  than  seven 
secondaries,  and  only  ten  tail-feathers,  while  the  swallows 
have  but  nine  primaries,  at  least  nine  secondaries,  and 
twelve  tail-feathers.  The  swifts  have  also  the  dorsal  tract 
bifurcate  between  the  shoulders,  while  in  the  swallows  it 
Internally  they  differ  in  a  great  number  of 


is  simple. 

points,  but  we  shall  only  mention  that  the  swifts  have  a  FlG  219< ^l"Diagram  of  the  elbow. 

pointed  manubrial  process  and  no  posterior  notches  to  the     muscles  in  a  humming-bird  (ratar 

gonaf/ifjas);  muscles  with  longitudi- 

sternum,  while  the  swallows  have  the  manubrium  bifur- 
cate, and  the  posterior  border  deeply  two-notched;  the 
former  have  amyological  formula  A-s-,  the  latter  AXY-r-; 
the  former  are  synpelmous,  the  latter  are  schizopelmous ; 
the  former  have  a  peculiar  arrangement  of  the  tensor  patagii  brevis,  the  latter  have 
the  general  arrangement  of  the  Passeres,  to  be  explained  in  the  introduction  to  that 
order ;  the  former  have  a  simple  syrinx  without  intrinsic  muscles,  the  latter  have  a 
very  specialized  syrinx ;  the  former  are  without  ca3ca,  the  swallows  possess  them,  etc., 
the  total  effect-being  that  the  swifts  are  Picarians,  and  the  swallows  are  Passeres. 

The  swifts  are  found  all  over  the  globe,  except  in  the  extreme  cold  regions  and  in 
New  Zealand,  being  most  abundant  in  the  tropics  of  America  and  the  Oriental  region, 
considerably  over  fifty  species  being  known  altogether.  The  peculiar  structure  of  the 
feet  furnishes  excellent  characters  for  subdividing  the  family  in  two  minor  groups  or 
sub-families,  the  Micropodina?  and  the  Cha3turina3.  The  latter  have  the  feet  nor- 
mally constructed  with  the  usual  number  of  phalanges,  viz.,  2,  3,  4  and  5,  while  the 
true  swifts  have  the  number  of  phalanges  of  the  third  and  fourth  toes  reduced  to 
three,  the  formula,  consequently,  being  2,  3,  3,  3.  At  the  same  time  the  first  toe  is 
directed  more  or  less  forwards  or  inwards;  in  other  words,  the  true  swifts  are  pampro- 
dactylous.  Another  feature  is  that  their  tarsi  are  feathered,  while  the  ChaeturinaB  have 
them  bare. 

Regarding  the  Chaeturina3  as  the  more  generalized  type,  we  are  at  once  confronted 
with  the  pretty  tree-swifts  (Dendrochelidoti)  from  India  and  the  Malay  Archipelago, 
which  are  provided  with  a  feather-crest  on  the  head,  and  very  lengthened  outer  tail- 
feathers.  In  the  same  regions,  and  also  in  many  of  the  Polynesian  islands  (one  species 
even  in  Madagascar),  are  found  the  pigmies  of  the  family,  the  so-called  swiftlets  (Col- 
localia),  inconspicuous  looking,  dusky-colored  birds,  but  famous  as  the  manufacturers 


rial,  tendons  with  transverse  lines  ; 
emrl,  extensor  metacarpi  radialis 
longus  ;  h,  humerus  ;  sr,  secondary 
remiges ;  t,  triceps ;  tpb,  tensor 
patagii  brevis  ;  tpl,  tensor  patagii 
longus. 


438  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

of  the  '  edible  bird's-nests.'  They  breed  in  deep  caves,  fastening  their  gelatinous  nests 
to  the  rocky  walls.  It  was  formerly  the  belief  that  the  substance  which  composed 
the  nests  was  digested  algae  growing  on  the  sea-beach  or  on  the  walls  of  the  caves, 
mixed  with  the  excretion  of  the  salivary  glands,  but  it  seems  now  certain  that  it 
consists  solely  of  mucus.  Mr.  H.  Pryer,  who  recently  made  a  visit  to  the  caves  of 
Gomanton,  northern  Borneo,  situated  in  a  high  limestone  cliff  twelve  miles  inland 
from  the  head  of  Sandakan  Bay,  last  year  published  an  interesting  account  of  the 
breeding  there  of  Cottocalia  fuciphaga,  from  which  we  select  the  following:  — 

"  After  a  rest,  I  ascended  the  cliff  about  four  hundred  feet ;  the  ascent  is  quite  per- 
pendicular :  in  many  places  ladders  are  erected,  and  in  others  the  water- worn  surface 
of  the  limestone  gives  a  foothold.  At  this  point  I  found  myself  at  the  mouth  of  a 
cave  named  Simud  Putih,  i.  e.,  the  White  Cave ;  the  entrance  is  about  forty  feet  high, 
by  sixty  feet  wide,  and  descends  very  steeply,  widening  out  to  a  great  size,  and  having 
a  perpendicular  unexplored  abyss  at  its  furthest  point.  This  cave  is  used  by  the  nest- 
gatherers  as  their  dwelling-place,  and  at  the  entrance  are  their  platforms  of  sticks, 
one  of  which  was  placed  at  my  disposal  by  the  head  man ;  it  is  also  the  cave  by  which 
the  great  body  of  the  swifts  entei*. 

"  At  a  quarter  to  six  (p.  M.)  the  swifts  began  to  come  in  to  Simud  Putih ;  a  few 
had  been  flying  in  and  out  all  day  long,  but  now  they  began  to  pour  in,  at  first  in 
tens  and  then  in  hundreds,  until  the  sound  of  their  wings  was  like  a  strong  gale  of 
wind  whistling  through  the  rigging  of  a  ship.  They  continued  flying  in  until  after 
midnight,  as  I  could  still  see  them  flashing  by  over  my  head  when  I  went  to  sleep. 
As  long  as  it  remained  light  I  found  it  impossible  to  catch  any  with  my  butterfly-net, 
but  after  dark  it  was  only  necessary  to  wave  the  net  in  the  air  to  secure  as  many  as  I 
wanted.  Nevertheless,  they  must  undoubtedly  possess  wonderful  powers  of  sight  to 
fly  about  in  the  dark  in  the  darkest  recesses  of  their  caves,  and  to  return  to  their 
nests,  often  built  in  places  where  no  light  ever  penetrates. 

"  Arising  before  daylight,  I  witnessed  a  reversal  of  the  proceedings  of  the  previous 
night,  the  swifts  now  going  out  of  Simud  Putih. 

"  In  this  cave  I  saw  the  nest-gatherers  at  work  getting  in  their  crop.  A  thin 
rattan  ladder  was  fixed  to  the  end  of  a  long  pole  and  wedged  against  the  rock ;  two 
men  were  on  the  ladder,  one  carried  a  long  four-pronged  spear,  a  lighted  candle  being 
fixed  to  it  a  few  inches  below  the  prongs.  By  the  aid  of  this  light  a  suitable  nest  is 
found,  and  transfixed  with  the  prongs ;  a  slight  twist  detaches  the  nest  unbroken  from 
the  rock;  the  spear  is  then  withdrawn  until  the  head  is  within  reach  of  the  second 
man,  who  takes  the  nest  off  the  prongs  and  places  it  in  a  pouch  carried  at  the  waist. 
The  nests  of  best  quality  are  bound  up  into  packets  with  strips  of  rattan,  the  inferior 
being  simply  threaded  together;  the  best  packets  generally  weigh  one  catty  (1^-lbs.), 
averaging  forty  nests,  and  are  sold  at  $9  each,  the  annual  value  of  the  nests  gathered 
being  about  $25,000.  These  caves  have  been  worked  for  seven  generations  without 
any  diminution  in  the  quantity ;  three  crops  are  taken  during  the  year." 

Mr.  J.  R.  Green,  of  the  Physiological  Laboratory,  Cambridge,  Eng.,  reported  on 
the  nests  collected  as  follows :  — 

"  The  specimen  gave  no  evidence  under  the  microscope  of  any  distinct  vegetable 
structures,  and  similarly  gave  no  chemical  evidence  of  either  cellulose  or  any  other 
distinctly  vegetable  product.  All  the  relations  went  to  prove  that  the  great  mass  of 
the  substance  was  mucin,  and  such  microscopic  features  as  were  apparent  confirmed 
the  view  that  the  nest  was  formed  of  strings  of  mucus  plastered  together.  The 


SWIFTS. 


439 


mucus,  when  separated  out,  gave  some  reactions  different  to  a  certain  extent  from 
those  which  are  given  by  ordinary  mucin;  but  these  differences  were  not  great 
enough  to  weaken  the  conclusion  that  the  nest  is  really  composed  of  mucus  secreted 
by  the  peculiar  glands  superficially  described  by  Sir  Everard  Home  as  present  in  the 
bird  which  builds  the  nest." 

Another  group  of  this  same  sub-family  have  the  tail-feathers  rigid  ;  and  in  some, 
as,  for  instance,  our  common  chimney-swift  (Chcetura  pelagicd),  the  ends  of  the 
shafts  protrude  beyond  the  end  of  the  rectrices  as  so  many  spines.  I  need  not  dwell 
on  the  well-known  facts  of  the  change  of  habits  in  these  birds  since  the  white  man 
took  possession  of  this  continent :  how  they  in  a  great  measure  gave  up  the  hollow 
trees  as  roosting  and  nesting  places,  choosing  his  sooty  chimneys  as  more  accessible 
and  possibly  more  convenient,  though  to  me  personally  it  was  a  novel  sight  when  a 
few  years  ago  a  good  friend  of  mine  on  a  pleasant  evening  took  me  out  in  the  country 
to  an  old  brick-yard,  where  hundreds  of  swifts  circled  around  the  high  chimney,  one 
after  the  other  dropping  into  the  opening,  as  may-flies  into  an  electric  lamp.  The 
chimney-swift,  or  chimney-swallow,  as  it  is  often,  but  erroneously,  called,  is,  like  all 
swifts  in  temperate  climates,  a  regular  migrant,  which  passes  the  winter  in  Mexico. 
There  is,  therefore,  no  necessity  for  supposing  "  that  it  hibernates  in  hollow  trees,"  or 
in  the  mud  beneath  ponds,  as  is  often  asserted.  Swallows  and  swifts  may  occasionally 
be  found  in  a  torpid  state,  but  the  same  is  the  case  with  all  other  kinds  of  birds,  and 
even  with  man,  for  that  matter;  but  from  such  an  occasional,  exceptional,  and  proba- 
bly pathological  case  to  conclude  that  the  swiftest  birds  on  the  wing,  which  with  the 
greatest  ease  in  a  few  days  can  travel  from  the  Arctic  circle  to  a  tropical  climate, 
regularly  hibernate  in  hollow  trees  "  is  preposterous,"  as  an  esteemed  contemporary 
has  put  it.  Juridical  evidence  may  perhaps  be  adduced  to  the  effect  that  swallows 
hibernate  in  the  mud  or  on  the  bottom  of  lakes ;  but  how  many  hundred  old  women 
have  not  been  burned  to  death  as  witches  on  jui'idical  evidence ! 
Nor  has  anybody  yet  succeeded  in  inti-oducing  the  ghost  into  the 
zoological  system,  although  we  might  produce  juridical  evidence  in 
confirmation  of  his  existence. 

Remarkable  as  is  the  nidification  of  the  swiftlets  and  the  chim- 
ney-swifts, that  of  some  of  the  true  swifts  (Micropodinae)  is  not 
less  wonderful.  Messrs.  Godman  and  Salvin  describe  the  nest  of 
Panyptila  sancti-hieronymi,  which  they  discovered  in  Guatemala, 
as  composed  entirely  of  the  seeds  of  a  plant,  secured  together  and 
hung  from  the  under  surface  of  an  overhanging  rock  by  the  saliva 
of  the  bird.  The  whole  forms  a  tube  two  feet  and  two  inches 
long  by  about  six  inches  in  diameter.  The  entrance  is  through  the 
lower  end  of  the  tube,  and  the  eggs  are  placed  on  a  kind  of  shelf 
at  the  top.  About  the  middle  of  the  tube,  on  the  external  side,  is 
a  protruding  eave,  as  if  overvaulting  an  entrance ;  but  there  is  no 
hole,  and  it  has  the  appearance  as  if  it  was  placed  there  on  purpose  in  order  to  deceive 
some  enemy,  such  as  a  snake  or  lizard,  to  the  attacks  of  which  the  parent  bird  or  its 
offspring  would,  during  the  time  of  incubation,  be  more  exposed.  A  section  of  the 
nest  is  given  in  the  accompanying  cut. 

The  genus  to  which  the  foregoing  species  belongs  have  the  first  (hind)  toe  turned 
inwards.  In  the  typical,  or,  rather,  most  specialized  swifts,  Micropus  (or  Cypselus),  it 
is  directed  forwards  like  the  other  toes.  Both  birds  represented  in  the  accompany- 


FiG.  220.  —  Section  of 
the  nest  of  Panyptila 
sancti-hieronymi. 


440  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

ing  cut  belong  here,  and  are  two  well-known  European  species,  the  Alpine  swift 
(Hf.  melbd),  larger,  brownish  gray,  whitish  beneath  with  a  dusky  gorget,  from  the 
southern  parts,  and  the  common  swift  (J\L  apus),  sooty  black  all  over,  except  the 
whitish  throat,  of  more  general  distribution.  It  nests  under  the  tiles  of  the  roofs  or 
in  church-steeples,  and  makes  itself  very  conspicuous  in  the  evening  by  circling  and 
hawking  around  the  building  in  small  troops,  keeping  up  an  incessant  and  penetrating 
scream  as  they  pass  by  with  incredible  rapidity  of  flight.  The  North  American  white- 
throated  swift  (M.  melanoleucus)  is  nearly  allied. 


FIG.  221.  — Micropus  melba,  Alpine  swift  (upper  figure);  M.  apus,  common  European  swift  (lower  figure). 

There  is  found  in  tropical  America  a  group  of  small  swifts,  outwardly  resembling 
the  swiftlets  very  much,  but  so  closely  allied  to  the  above  that  a  separate  generic 
name  (  Tachornis)  is  now  thought  to  be  superfluous.  A  member  of  this  group  is  the 
Jamaican  palm-swift  (Micropus  phcenicobia),  which  we  mention  specially  for  its 
interesting  nest-building.  Gosse  describes  namely  two  entirely  different  nests  of  this 
bird  according  to  whether  they  build  in  a  cocoanut  palm  or  a  palmetto.  In  the 
former  case  they  were  formed  chiefly  in  the  hollow  spathes  of  the  leaves,  and  were 


HUMMING-BIRDS.  441 

placed  in  a  series  of  three  or  four  in  a  spathe,  one  above  another,  and  agglutinated 
together,  but  with  a  kind  of  gallery  along  the  side,  communicating  with  each.  The 
material  seemed  only  feathers  and  silk-cotton  (the  down  of  the  Bonibax) ;  the  former 
very  largely  used,  the  most  downy  placed  within,  the  cotton  principally  without,  the 
whole  felted  so  strongly  as  to  be  almost  as  tenacious  as  cloth.  On  the  palmetto  leaf, 
instead  of  the  hollow  of  a  spathe,  they  were  attached  to  the  plaited  surface  of  the 
fronds.  They  were  composed  almost  exclusively  of  the  silk-cotton,  and  in  the  form 
of  those  watch-fobs  which  are  hung  at  the  head  of  the  bed,  the  backs  being  firmly  glued 
by  saliva  to  the  under  surface  of  the  fronds.  LEONHAKD  STEJNEGER. 

The  humming-birds,  solely  found  in  the  New  World,  are  most  abundant  in  South 
and  Central  America,  with  a  few  species  extending  into  North  America  as  far  as 
Nootka  Sound  and  Canada.  The  family  TROCHILID^E  cannot  be  divided  into  any  sub- 
families, as  no  genera  are  so  essentially  different  from  all  the  rest  as  to  require  them  to 
be  separated  in  such  a  radical  manner.  '  Hummers,'  as  they  are  often  called,  are  Pica- 
rian  birds,  having  but  one  carotid  artery,  —  the  left,  —  a  naked  oil-gland,  and  no  caeca. 
They  have  small,  sometimes  minute,  bodies,  with  bills  varying  from  feeble  to  stout, 
usually  longer  than  the  head,  in  one  instance  exceeding  the  body  in  length,  usually 
straight,  but  in  one  group  it  is  curved  to  a  third  of  a  circle,  with  a  short  gape,  and  no 
bristles.  Nostrils  are  placed  near  the  base  of  the  maxilla,  and  are  covered  by  a  scale, 
though  sometimes  they  are  hidden  in  the  frontal  feathers.  The  tongue,  which  is  very 
slender,  and  capable  of  great  extension,  curves  around  and  over  the  back  of  the  skull, 
similarly  to  a  wood-pecker's,  and  consists  of  two  minute  parallel  tubes,  through  which 
the  sweetened  juices  of  flowers  are  drawn  into  the  throat.  The  wings  are  narrow  and 
pointed  ;  the  primaries,  always  ten  in  number,  are  stiff  and  lengthened,  the  second- 
aries very  short.  The  manus  is  very  long,  and  the  humerus  extremely  short,  which 
enables  the  bird  to  move  the  wing  with  great  rapidity.  Sternum  large  with  a  very 
deep  keel,  pectoral  muscles  in  consequence  very  powerful  for  the  size  of  the  bird. 
The  tail  always  possesses  ten  rectrices,  except  in  Loddigesia  mirabilis  which  has  but 
four.  The  tarsi  are  short,  either  naked,  partly  clothed,  or  hidden  in  tufts  of  feathers. 
The  feet  are  small  with  short  toes,  and  curved  sharp  claws.  The  plumage  varies  from 
plain  sombre  tints  to  the  most  brilliant  metallic  hues  that  it  is  possible  to  conceive. 
In  all  cases  the  male  is  the  one  most  attractively  adorned. 

The  food  was  at  one  time  supposed  to  consist  solely  of  the  nectar  obtained  from 
flowers,  and  at  times,  or  during  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  this  may  be  the  case,  but 
it  has  been  fully  ascertained  that  various  kinds  of  insects  also  form  a  large  propor- 
tion of  their  sustenance,  and  some  genera  feed  almost  entirely  upon  insects.  The 
probability  is  that  these  fairy  creatures  require  both  insect  food  and  the  juices  of 
flowers,  and  these  are  partaken  of  equally  whenever  the  opportunity  to  obtain  them 
presents  itself.  The  flight  of  these  birds  is  usually  of  great  swiftness;  the  wings 
move  with  such  rapidity  that  they  are  invisible,  each  wing  working  a  half  circle. 
Some  species,  like  Patagona  giyas  and  Pterophanes  temmindkti,  move  their  wings, 
when  hovering  over  a  flower,  with  a  slow  motion,  evincing  considerable  power.  At 
this  time  the  tail  is  closed  and  expanded  with  a  motion  like  a  fan.  They  are  capable 
of  making  most  astonishing  aerial  evolutions,  darting  in  every  direction  with  the  speed 
of  light,  arresting  their  course  instantaneously  at  will. 

Nearly  all  humming-birds  are  exceedingly  quarrelsome  in  disposition,  both  during 
the  breeding  season  and  other  times  as  well.  Some  will  not  permit  others  to  remain 


442  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

in  the  same  vicinity,  nor  touch  a  flower  on  the  tree  on  which  they  are  perched,  and 
the  smallest  species  does  not  hesitate  to  attack  those  of  the  largest  size,  hawks  even 
having  been  driven  quite  away  by  the  furious  attacks  of  one  of  these  irascible  little 
creatures.  The  general  sound  emitted  by  humming-birds  is  a  sharp  shrill  twit  or 
cry,  but  some  species  possess  a  few  notes  almost  attaining  to  the  dignity  of  a  song. 
The  little  Mellisuga  minima  is  stated  to  sing  very  sweetly,  and  a  diminutive  Phce- 
thornis  is  also  said  to  have  the  same  accomplishment.  These  birds,  in  certain  districts 
of  South  America,  have  regular  migrations  from  north  to  south,  and  vice  versa,  also 
from  higher  to  lower  altitudes,  caused  mainly  by  the  blooming  and  fading  of  the 
flowers,  as  it  is  apparently  necessary  for  their  existence  that  they  should  live  always 
in  the  midst  of  blossoming  plants.  In  the  early  spring  the  species  inhabiting  high 
latitudes  descend  to  meet  the  blooming  of  the  plants,  returning  to  their  more  lofty 
abodes  as  summer  advances.  As  a  rule  humming-birds  appear  to  be  devoid  of  fear. 
They  will  fly  within  a  few  inches  of  a  person's  face,  stop  and  peer  at  him,  approaching 
so  close  as  to  fan  one  with  their  wings.  Frequently  they  will  enter  a  house  through  the 
open  window,  and  after  flying  around  until  wearied  will  alight  on  any  convenient 
perch,  and  prune  their  feathers ;  or  if  taken  in  the  hand  will  immediately  feed  upon 
any  sweet  that  may  be  offered  them,  without  exhibiting  the  slightest  fear.  In  this 
respect  they  in  no  way  resemble  birds,  acting  more  like  insects. 

The  nests  of  these  beautiful  creatures  are  wonderful  structures,  and  exhibit  great 
variety  of  form  and  of  the  matei'ials  used  in  building.  Some  are  not  larger  than 
walnut  shells.  They  are  generally  shaped  like  a  cup,  lined  with  some  soft  material 
such  as  hair  or  wool,  and  much  diversity  of  taste  is  shown  in  the  mode  of  decoration 
placed  upon  the  exterior ;  these  ornaments,  consisting  of  lichens,  bark,  moss,  etc., 
being  usually  attached  by  means  of  cobwebs.  These  nests  are  placed  in  all  manner 
of  situations,  on  slender  twigs,  or  on  the  bifurcation  of  a  branch ;  some  attached  to 
the  side  of  a  drooping  leaf ;  while  others  again  suspend  themselves  to  the  sides  of  rocks. 
The  members  of  the  genus  Oreotrochilus  build  quite  large  nests,  composed  of  wool, 
hair,  moss  and  feathers,  and  make  in  the  top  of  this  a  small  depression  in  which  the 
eggs  are  laid.  One  of  these  great  nests  was  found  by  Professor  Jameson  of  Quito 
in  a  room  of  a  deserted  house,  attached  to  a  rope  suspended  from  the  roof.  A  curious 
evidence  of  instinct  shown  by  these  birds,  is  witnessed  in  these  nests,  where  one  side 
having  proved  to  be  lighter  than  the  other,  it  was  weighted  by  a  small  stone  or  piece 
of  earth,  until  the  equilibrium  was  restored  and  all  danger  of  the  eggs  falling  out 
was  removed. 

In  our  limits  it  is  quite  impossible  to  give  more  than  the  most  cursory  review  of 
the  more  prominent  birds  composing  this  family.  About  four  hundred  species  are 
acknowledged  at  the  present  time,  contained  in  one  hundred  and  twenty  genera.  The 
classification  of  these,  is,  of  necessity,  largely  artificial. 

Beginning  at  the  bottom,  or  with  those  species  usually  assigned  to  that  place,  we 
commence  our  review  of  the  family  with  the  minute  species  generally  known  as  the 
'green  hummers.'  In  this  group  is  comprised  the  genera  JPanychlora,  Chlorostilbon, 
Sporadimis  and  Cyanophaia.  The  species  inhabit  Mexico,  Central  America,  various 
portions  of  South  America,  and  some  islands  of  the  West  Indies  such  as  Haiti  and 
Puerto  Rico.  They  are  very  small,  being  from  two  and  three  quarters  to  four  and  a 
half  inches  in  extreme  length.  Their  plumage  is  shining,  brilliant  green,  in  some 
species,  with  golden-bronze  reflections,  the  tail  short  and  usually  even,  except  in 
Chlorostilbon  auriceps  and  the  species  of  Sporadinus  and  Cyanophaia  which  have 


HUMMING-BIRDS.  443 

forked  tails.  Cyanophaia  cceruleigularis  differs  somewhat  from  others  in  this  group 
of  genera  by  having  a  violet-blue  throat  and  cheek.  About  eighteen  species  are 
included  in  the  four  genera  named. 

The  next  four  genera  are  composed  of  species  clothed  in  blue  and  metallic  green. 
They  are  Hylocharis^  lacke,  Damophila  and  Juliamyia,  and  are  represented  in 
Mexico,  Central  America,  and  portions  of  South  America.  Hylocharis  cyanea  from 
Brazil,  with  the  head,  throat,  and  breast  shining  dark  blue  with  violet  reflections, 
builds  a  most  beautiful  nest,  which  is  attached  to  a  tendril  of  some  vine,  and  is  cup- 
shaped  and  composed  of  a  white,  cottony,  substance,  intermingled  with  seeds  of 
thistle-down,  coated  with  dried  leaves  and  bound  together  with  cobwebs,  all  decorated 
with  woody  fibres,  inner  coating  of  bark  of  trees,  and  other  materials.  These  nests, 
however,  are  not  always  alike,  seemingly  the  fancy  of  each  individual  builder  having 
much  to  do  with  the  choice  of  materials  for  the  construction  and  adornment  of  these 
fairy  dwellings.  The  eggs  are  always  two,  and  pure  white,  as  is  the  case  with  all 
species  of  humming-birds.  Another  allied  species,  If.  sapphirina  has  a  remarkable 
red-colored  fleshy  bill  much  dilated  at  the  base. 

Three  genera,  Timolia,  Eucephala,  and  Basilinna,  with  twelve  species,  have 
metallic  green  and  blue  plumage,  the  females  very  differently  clothed  from  the  males, 
as  is  indeed  the  case  with  those  of  most  of  the  species  belonging  to  the  genera  thus  far 
enumerated.  Perhaps  the  finest  species  of  the  three  genera  mentioned  is  Eucephala 
grayi,  with  the  whole  head  and  chin  shining  deep  blue,  rest  of  body  golden  green. 
It  comes  from  Ecuador.  Amazilia  has  twenty-five  species,  birds  of  various  styles  of 
plumage.  Some  have  breast  of  metallic  hues,  others  have  this  part  plain  rufous  ; 
some  have  red  backs,  while  others  again  have  the  abdomen  pure  white.  They  are 
natives  of  Mexico,  Central  America,  Tres  Marias  Island,  Colombia,  Ecuador  and  Peru, 
one  species,  A.  niveiventris,  having  been  procured  in  Panama.  Two  species  from 
Guatemala,  Costa  Rica,  and  the  islands  of  Tres  Marias,  A.  cinnamomea  and  A.  graysoni 
differ  from  all  the  rest  by  having  the  entire  under  surface  bright  cinnamon  color. 

The  genus  Polytmus^  with  three  species,  stands  somewhat  isolated  among  the  Tro- 
chilidas.  Their  tails  are  rounded,  with  narrow,  somewhat  pointed,  rectrices ;  entirely 
metallic  green  in  two  species ;  in  the  other,  with  basal  portion  white.  They  are  scat- 
tered throughout  South  America.  The  two  species  of  Elvira  have  the  greater  portion 
of  the  tail  white,  —  a  very  unusual  feature  among  the  Trochilida3.  Argytria  is  one 
of  the  most  extensive  genera,  as  regards  the  number  of  species,  in  the  family.  They 
are  birds  of  moderate  size  and  of  a  pleasing  plumage,  the  chief  colors  of  which  are 
green  and  white.  Uranomitra  has  some  species  with  very  brilliant  metallic  green  and 
blue  hues  upon  the  head  and  upper  surface,  and  also  certain  ones  possess  bright  red 
bills.  The  genus  Panterpe  contains  one  very  beautiful  species,  P.  insignis,  from 
Costa  Rica  and  Chiriqui.  With  the  crown  and  breast  rich  blue,  the  throat  is  metallic 
scarlet,  bordered  with  luminous  yellowish  green.  It  is  one  of  the  most  brilliant  birds 
of  this  portion  of  the  family. 

The  genus  Eriocnemis,  with  about  eighteen  species,  is  remarkable  for  the  color- 
ing of  the  lower  part  of  the  back  in  the  different  species,  and  the  downy  puffs  which 
cover  and  completely  conceal  the  tarsi,  sometimes  the  entire  feet.  The  metallic  colors 
are  golden-green,  blue,  bronze,  and  others  of  similar  brilliancy,  while  the  general  hues 
of  the  species  are  dark  gray,  green,  coppery-red,  and  purplish-black.  The  downy 
puffs  on  the  legs  are  black,  white,  pale  buff,  or  brown  and  white.  The  species  are  of 
moderate  size,  rather  robust  form,  with  straight,  strong  bills,  and  long  wings.  A  very 


444  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

curious  group  is  contained  in  the  genus  Aglceactis.  Of  rather  large  size,  these  birds 
have  a  coloration  similarly  distributed  to  that  of  the  species  of  Eriocnemis,  but  the 
manner  of  exhibiting  this  is  different.  The  feathers  of  the  rump  are  highly  luminous, 
but  in  order  to  see  the  full  beauty  of  these  hues,  it  is  necessary  to  look  against  the 
feathers,  or  towards  the  head,  when  the  brilliancy  of  the  metallic  sheen  is  seen  to  the 
best  advantage.  There  are  four  species  from  the  western  part  of  South  America, 
from  Colombia  to  Bolivia.  The  females  resemble  the  males,  as  do  those  of  the  genus 
Eriocnemis,  but  have  very  much  less  brilliancy  on  their  plumage. 

Cephalolepis  and  Bellona  contain  species  with  more  or  less  lengthened  crests,  to 
which  the  metallic  hues  of  the  plumage  are  confined,  there  being  none  upon  the  lower 
part  of  the  body.  The  crests  of  the  two  genera  differ  much  in  shape,  that  of  the  spe- 
cies of  Cephalolepis  being  long,  rather  loose,  and  terminating  in  from  one  to  three  nai- 
row  feathers  extending  beyond  the  rest.  That  of  Bellona  is  broad  and  pointed,  of 
moderate  length,  and  the  feathers  of  the  forehead  project  forward  and  cover  one  half 
the  length  of  the  culrnen.  The  species  of  this  genus  are  natives  of  the  West  Indies. 
Chrysolampis  moschitus  is  the  ruby  and  topaz  humming-bird,  so  called  from  the  bril- 
liant metallic  hues  of  the  top  of  the  head  and  throat.  Like  the  species  of  Bellona,  the 
feathers  of  the  forehead  project  over  the  culmen,  and  the  male  possesses  all  the  beauty 
of  plumage,  the  female  being  a  plainly  dressed,  quiet-looking  little  bird.  The  species 
is  of  considerable  commercial  importance,  thousands  being  shipped  to  Europe  and 
other  countries  every  year,  giving  employment  to  numbers  of  the  inhabitants  of  its 
native  land.  It  makes  a  round,  cup-shaped  nest,  of  some  cottony  materials,  and  dec- 
orated with  leaves  and  lichens.  It  perches  occasionally  on  the  flowering  shrubs  it 
frequents,  and  spreads  its  rounded,  chestnut-colored  tail  to  its  fullest  extent,  and  then 
appears  to  the  greatest  advantage. 

Three  species  of  humming-birds,  of  rather  large  size  and  most  graceful  form,  are 
included  in  the  genus  Heliothrix,  distinguished  by  their  slender,  wedge-shaped  bills, 
plumage  of  green  and  white  hues,  and  metallic-blue  tufts  on  the  sides  of  the  neck. 
There  is  not  much  difference  in  the  coloring  of  the  sexes,  but  when  any  does  exist,  it 
consists  in  the  absence  of  metallic  coloring  on  the  female's  throat.  The  rectrices, 
which  are  rounded,  are  quite  long,  always  shortest,  however,  in  the  male.  The 
species  dwell  in  Central  and  South  America  generally.  Heliothrix  aurlculatus,  from 
southern  Brazil,  and  a  bird  of  a  powerful  and  rapid  flight,  evinces  a  preference 
for  the  flowers  of  the  orange-trees,  which  doubtless  furnish  it  with  its  insect  food. 
The  nest,  which  is  of  an  elongated  shape,  is  built  of  fine  vegetable  fibres,  and  coated 
externally  with  small  pieces  of  various  colored  barks,  and  attached  by  one  side  to  some 
twig.  Like  in  other  species,  the  materials  composing  the  nest  are  not  always  of  the 
same  kind,  the  bii'd  apparently  taking  that  which  is  most  convenient  and  adapted  for 
the  purpose. 

The  genera  Schistes,  Plilogophilus,  Augastes,  Chrysuronia,  Metallura,  and  Avocet- 
tula  contain  about  twenty-one  species,  resembling  each  other  in  the  bright  metallic 
coloration  of  their  rectrices,  though  differing  in  other  important  respects.  Schistes 
contains  but  two  species,  confined  to  Ecuador,  one  (/&  personatus)  having  been  pro- 
cured upon  the  sides  of  Mount  Pichincha,  six  thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  It  has  the 
forehead,  face,  and  throat  metallic  green,  with  lilac-blue  tufts  on  either  side  of  the 
breast.  The  members  of  Augastes  are  more  brilliant  birds  than  are  those  of  the  last 
genus,  A.  lumachellns  being  particularly  beautiful.  It  has  the  top  of  head,  ear-coverts, 
and  a  line  outside  of  throat  velvety  black ;  forehead,  face  and  throat  luminous  golden 


HUMMING-BIRDS.  445 

green,  bounded  beneath  by  greenish  blue,  below  which  is  a  tuft  of  metallic  reddish  or- 
ange, each  side  of  which  is  a  white  bar ;  tail,  metallic  bronze-red,  very  brilliant.  The 
members  of  Metallura  are  dispersed  over  the  mountains  of  the  great  Andean  range, 
from  Colombia  to  Bolivia.  One  of  the  commonest  and  best  known,  M.  tyrianthina,  is 
scattered  over  the  mountains  and  valleys  of  New  Grenada  and  Ecuador,  and  feeds  upon 
the  insects  found  in  all  the  different  flowers  and  plants  of  those  countries.  It  bears 
the  cold  well,  is  not  sociable,  has  a  rapid  flight,  and  makes  its  nest  in  ravines  and  spots 
shaded  from  the  sun  and  rain.  The  sexes  differ  much  in  hue  of  plumage.  The 
male  is  not  of  very  generally  brilliant  plumage,  though  it  has  a  luminous  throat,  but 
the  tail  shines  with  metallic  purple-bronze ;  this  is  also  possessed  by  the  female,  though 
lighter  in  hue.  Avocettula  has  but  one  species,  a  native  of  Guiana,  but  remarkable 
for  the  bill,  which  is  turned  upward  at  the  point,  like  an  avocet's.  In  this  respect  it 
agrees  with  Avocettinus,  but  it  also  possesses  a  tail  of  fiery  copper-red,  resembling  in 
this  character  the  members  of  those  genera  with  which  it  is  grouped.  Not  much  is 
known  of  this  curious  bird,  but  it  is  said  to  live  isolated  in  the  great  forests.  Swainson 
suggested  as  a  cause  for  the  curiously  formed  bill  that  the  bird's  principal  sustenance 
may  be  drawn  from  the  pendant  Siffnonics  and  similar  plants,  whose  corollas  are  long 
and  generally  bent  in  their  tubes ;  the  nectar,  being  at  the  bottom,  could  not  be  read- 
ily reached  either  by  a  straight  or  incurved  bill,  though  very  easily  by  one  cor- 
responding to  the  shape  of  the  flower.  It  is  not  a  common  species,  and  but  few 
examples  comparatively  have  been  procured. 

Hhamphomicron  and  Oreonympha  comprise  a  group  of  humming-birds  remarkable 
for  the  pendant  metallic  feathers,  denominated  '  beards,'  beneath  the  throat.  They 
are  birds  of  rather  large  size,  without  crests,  with  short  and  feeble  bills  in  most  of  the 
species,  and  constitute  a  well-marked  section  of  the  Trochilida3.  They  are  found  from 
Colombia  to  Bolivia,  one  species,  R.  stanleyl,  dwelling  (among  other  localities)  in  the 
crater  of  Pichincha,  where  it  rifles  the  flowers  of  the  Chiquiraga  insignis,  and  con- 
tinually battles  with  its  far  more  attractive  rival,  Oreotrochilus  pichincha.  It  is  a 
very  sombre  -  plumaged  bird,  with  the  upper  surface  bluish  violet;  beneath,  sooty 
brown,  and  tail,  bluish  green ;  throat,  metallic  green,  terminating  in  lengthened  ame- 
thyst-colored feathers.  A  far  more  beautiful  species  is  R.  herrani,  a  native  of  Colorn- 
bi;i  and  Ecuador.  It  remains  motionless  usually  during  the  day,  flying  in  the  early 
mornings  and  evenings,  is  peacefully  inclined,  but  is  frequently  pursued  and  attacked 
by  other  species  of  humming-birds  that  are  in  its  vicinity.  It  makes  short  flights  from 
branch  to  branch,  and  explores  the  flowers  to  obtain  its  insect  food.  This  beautiful  bird 
has  the  crown  rusty-red ;  chin,  luminous  metallic-green  ;  beneath  this  are  elongated  me- 
tallic-red feathers,  bounded  on  either  side  with  black.  The  upper  surface  is  bronzy 
green  ;  rump,  bronzy  rufous ;  tail,  purplish  black ;  lateral  feathers  tipped  with  white. 
Oreonympha  nobilis  is  a  magnificent  species,  about  seven  inches  in  length,  with  a  long, 
somewhat  stout  bill.  It  has  forehead  and  centre  of  crown  black ;  top  of  head  dark 
blue;  cheeks  and  sides  of  throat  black;  throat  colored  similarly  to  the  species  of 
Rliamphomicron,  but  the  pendant  feathers  are  longer.  The  upper  surface  is  bronzy 
brown;  under  surface,  grayish  white ;  the  tail,  bronze,  except  the  external  feathers, 
which  are  white.  This  species  was  first  obtained  at  Tinta  in  Peru,  at  an  elevation  of 
11,500  feet.  The  flight  of  this  beautiful  bird  is  stated  to  be  very  peculiar.  It  starts 
from  one  flower  in  the  direction  of  another  some  two  or  three  hundred  yards  away, 
when  suddenly  it  comes  to  a  stop,  throws  up  the  body  vertically,  the  tail  being  spread 
out,  and  exhibits  the  metallic  crown  and  beard  glistening  in  the  sun's  rays.  This 


446 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


action,  which  is  often  repeated,  is  probably  effected  for  the  purpose  of  taking  insects 
in  the  air. 

The  genus  Sappho  contains  species  the  magnificence  of  whose  plumage  cannot  be 
described  by  words  and  is  very  inadequately  exhibited  by  the  best  colored  represen- 
tation. They  are  known  by  the  common  name  of  '  fire-tails,'  and  are  natives  of  Peru, 
Bolivia,  and  the  Argentine  Republic.  The  tails  of  the  males  blaze  with  the  radiance 
of  flashes  of  flame,  and  their  ruby  backs,  luminous  green  throats,  and  under  surface 


FIG.  222.  —Sappho  sparganura,  fire-tail. 

present  a  tout  ensemble  unparalleled  in  the  range  of  Ornithology,  not  even  excepting 
the  gorgeously  attired  species  of  the  birds-of-paradise.  /S.  sparganura,  the  longest 
known  species,  is  a  denizen  of  Bolivia  and  the  Argentine  Republic.  It  appears  when 
the  fruit  trees  are  in  blossom,  and  particularly  resorts  to  the  Capuli,  a  kind  of  cherry. 
It  frequents  the  fields  of  maize,  pulse,  and  other  leguminous  plants,  and  the  rich 
flowers  of  the  cacti  which  afford  them  abundant  food.  It  is  by  no  means  shy,  and  the 
males  are  constantly  warring  with  and  chasing  each  other,  uttering  sharp  cries.  It  is 
a  very  pugnacious  species,  and  each  individual  resents  the  intrusion  of  another  within 


HUMMING-BIRDS.  447 

its  chosen  territory.  The  nest  is  about  two  and  a  half  to  three  inches  in  length,  com- 
posed outwardly  of  interlaced  vegetable  fibres,  twigs,  moss,  etc.,  and  lined  with  soft 
hair,  etc.  It  is  placed  in  some  gully,  and  attached  to  any  hanging  root  or  twig  that 
will  afford  it  support.  The  eggs  are  oblong  in  shape,  and  pure  white.  When  on  the 
wing,  this  bird  makes  extraordinary  turns  and  rapid  evolutions,  at  one  moment  darting 
headlong  into  a  flower,  at  another  describing  circles  in  the  air  with  such  rapidity  that 
the  eye  is  unable  to  follow  it.  The  female  is  less  brilliant  in  plumage,  but  has  a  tail 
of  metallic  colors,  save  the  external  feather  which  is  white  on  the  outer  web.  Total 
length  of  males  six  and  three  quarters  inches. 

Next  to  /Sappho  comes  Cynanthus,  with  two  species,  also  having  lengthened  tails 
adorned  with  metallic  hues,  but  less  showy,  for  the  colors  are  blue  and  green  instead 
of  brilliant  red  and  black. 

Lesbia  possesses  four  species,  with  very  long  rectrices  of  rather  narrow  but  even 
width  for  their  entire  length,  and  having  generally  a  luminous  tip.  All  the  species 
have  metallic  green  throats,  and  differ  from  each  other  in  size  and  in  the  length  and 
coloration  of  their  tails.  The  females  are  very  different  in  appearance,  having  white 
breasts  spangled  with  green,  and  comparatively  short  tails.  The  best  and  longest 
known  species  is  L.  amaryllis,  from  Colombia  and  Ecuador.  It  frequents  the  gar- 
dens in  the  city  of  Quito,  and  is  familiar  to  every  one,  and  is  equally  common  at 
Bogota.  When  poised  in  the  air,  with  tail  outspread  over  a  flower  it  makes  a  loud 
humming  noise.  The  males  are  very  pugnacious  and  frequent  combats  take  place 
between  them,  and  these  are  persisted  in  with  great  energy  until  one  is  driven  away. 

One  of  the  most  extraordinary  birds  known  to  naturalists,  the  wonderful  Loddlge- 
sia  mirabilis,  is  remarkable  for  having  only  four  rectrices,  the  two  median  ones  very 
short,  and  entirely  hidden  by  the  coverts.  The  outer  ones  are  greatly  lengthened, 
some  three  or  four  times  the  extent  of  the  body  without  the  bill,  the  shafts  destitute 
of  webs  until  the  tips  are  reached,  when  they  terminate  in  large  indigo-colored  spat- 
ules.  These  rectrices  are  curved  throughout  their  entire  length  into  a  semi-circle,  so 
that  in  the  natural  position  of  the  tail  they  cross  each  other  twice ;  at  first  near  their 
base,  and  then,  at  about  a  third  of  their  length,  the  remaining  portion  takes  a  direction 
directly  across  the  axis  of  the  bird's  body.  The  under  tail-coverts  are  long,  but  the 
two  middle  feathers  are  much  longer  than  the  body  of  the  bird,  gradually  diminish  in 
width,  and  terminate  in  a  point.  This  structure  of  the  tail  is  absolutely  unique  among 
birds.  This  species  was  first  procured  by  an  English  botanist,  Andrew  Matthews, 
fifty  years  ago  at  Chachapoyas  in  Peru,  and  the  specimen  remained  unique  until  the 
year  1881,  when  M.  Stolzmann  procured  a  series  of  examples  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
same  place  from  which  the  type  originally  came,  but  the  birds  appeared  to  be  localized 
in  the  basin  of  the  TJtcubamba,  a  little  river  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Maranon.  It  is 
found  only  at  an  altitude  between  7500  and  9000  feet  above  the  ocean.  The  country 
inhabited  by  this  extraordinary  bird  is  covered  with  cultivated  fields,  small  valleys 
with  more  or  less  vegetation,  and  here  and  there  large  trees,  the  probable  remnants  of 
ancient  forests.  A  beautiful  red-colored  Alstromeria  is  the  favorite  flower  of  this 
bird,  and  wherever  this  is  met  with  the  Loddigesia  is  sure  to  be  found,  and  as  the 
Lesbia  gracilis,  its  chief  persecutor,  does  not  visit  this  flower,  the  present  species  can 
rest  unmolested.  Even  in  the  localities  it  frequents  this  bird  is  not  common,  the 
adult  males  rather  rare.  From  morning  to  night  it  is  in  constant  motion  ;  its  flight  is 
inconceivably  rapid,  and  it  is  remarkable  with  what  unerring  precision  it  traverses  the 
thickets  where  it  is  obliged  to  change  its  course  almost  every  second  to  escape  from 


448  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

the  obstacles  in  its  route.  When  it  flies,  the  lateral  tail-feathers  are  raised,  and  the 
two  spatules  are  brought  together.  A  curious  habit  of  this  species  is  the  following. 
Two  young  males  arrest  themselves  in  the  air  facing  each  other  with  their  bodies  sus- 
pended vertically,  opening  their  tails  from  side  to  side,  so  that  the  lengthened  rec- 
trices  form  a  straight  line  to  the  axis  of  the  body,  and  throw  themselves  from  one  side 
to  the  other.  Every  time  the  birds  open  their  tails  a  low  sound  is  heard  similar  to 
that  caused  by  striking  two  finger-nails  together,  or  the  snap  produced  by  shutting 
the  lid  of  a  watch.  The  two  lengthened  under  tail-coverts  always  remain  in  their 
normal  position.  This  manoeuvre  is  kept  up  for  about  twenty  seconds.  Ordinarily 
only  two  young  males  engage  in  these  actions,  but  when  they  make  much  noise  sev- 
eral take  part,  and  always  the  voice  of  the  female  can  be  heard  in  the  vicinity. 
Another  still  more  curious  habit,  as  narrated  by  Stolzmann,  was  practised  by  the 
young  males.  One  would  suspend  himself  beneath  a  small  branch,  whilst  another 
manoeuvred  above  him,  spreading  the  tail  and  making  the  low  click ;  then  in  a  twink- 
ling of  an  eye,  the  roles  would  be  changed  and  the  upper  would  suspend  himself,  and 
the  other  would  take  his  place.  What  these  evolutions  mean  is  unknown.  The  adult 
males  rarely  practise  them,  though  they  often  pass  when  the  young  males  are  engaged 
in  this  manner.  Sometimes  the  old  males  by  spreading  the  tail  give  a  peculiar  posi- 
tion to  the  external  rectrices  by  placing  the  spatules  above  the  head.  Once  Stolzmann 
observed  an  adult  male  drinking  from  a  brook.  He  had  chosen  a  little  cascade,  and  it 
is  from  these  alone  that  it  is  pretended  the  birds  are  able  to  quench  their  thirst. 
The  male  of  this  extraordinary  species  has  the  crown  of  the  head  a  brilliant  sapphire 
blue  ;  upper  parts  golden  green ;  throat  brilliant  green,  tinged  with  blue  in  the  centre, 
and  surrounded  by  a  narrow  band  of  coppery-red,  this  bordered  by  black;  sides  of 
breast  and  flanks  dull  white;  middle  of  breast  velvet  black  with  a  coppery  tinge. 
The  lengthened  under  tail-coverts  are  bronze  green  on  their  basal  half,  passing  into  a 
blackish-blue,  and  white  at  their  tips.  Bill,  black ;  feet,  brown ;  tarsus  covered  with 
white  feathers ;  iris,  nearly  black. 

The  genera  Steganura  and  Discura  have  together  seven  species,  birds  with  lumi- 
nous throats  and  breasts,  and  elongated  external  rectrices  bare  of  webs  near  the  tips, 
and  terminating  in  a  spatule.  The  members  of  the  first  genus  also  have  the  tarsi 
completely  hidden  in  downy  puffs.  They  dwell  in  various  parts  of  South  America, 
all  but  two,  however,  being  natives  of  the  western  side  from  Columbia  to  Bolivia. 
Steganura  solstitialis,  from  Ecuador  and  Peru,  is  found  at  altitudes  of  from  3700  to 
8000  feet  above  the  sea  level.  It  is  easy  to  be  distinguished  from  other  humming- 
birds by  its  voice,  as  it  possesses  certain  harmonious  notes.  It  has  a  steady  flight,  and 
does  not  precipitate  itself  from  flower  to  flower  with  the  suddenness  so  characteristic 
of  some  of  its  relatives.  When  resting  it  perches  on  low  branches,  but  when  flying 
it  frequently  rises  to  such  a  height  that  it  is  difficult  to  see  it. 

Goiddia  contains  four  species,  remarkable  for  their  singularly  shaped  tails,  which 
are  composed  of  lengthened  attenuated  feathers,  the  three  outer  ones  on  either  side 
being  the  longest,  although  very  unequal,  and  the  four  median  ones  being  so  short  as 
to  be  hardly  visible.  G.  letitice  is,  in  the  coloring  of  its  plumage,  almost  exactly  like 
Discura  longicauda,  but  does  not  possess  the  spatules  at  the  end  of  the  external  rectri- 
ces. They  are  most  charming  little  creatures,  the  heads  and  breasts  covered  with 
metallic  green  feathers,  this,  in  one  species,  bordered  with  red  beneath  the  green  on  the 
breast;  and  Gr.popelairii,  from  Colombia,  Ecuador  and  Peru,  has  the  head  ornamented 
with  a  crest  terminating  in  lengthened,  hair-like  feathers. 


\  i{\\ 


HUMMING-BIRDS.  449 

The  species  of  the  genus  Lophornis  are  also  small  birds,  with  a  highly  ornamented 
plumage,  and  have  elongated  feathers  with  metallic  tips,  springing  from  the  sides  of 
the  neck.  Some  also  are  adorned  with  crests,  and  all  save  two  have  metallic  throats. 
There  are  nine  known  species  of  this  genus,  and  they  bear  the  common  name  of  'Co- 
quettes.' They  are  found  in  Central  America,  Trinidad,  and  northern  and  western 
South  America.  The  most  beautiful  of  these  birds,  if  one  can  discriminate  where  all 
possess  so  many  attractions,  is  probably  L.  helence^  from  Mexico,  Gautemala,  and  Costa 
Rica.  Beside  a  dark  metallic  green  crest,  there  are  three  long,  slender,  greenish-black 
feathers  springing  from  either  side  of  the  occiput.  The  throat  is  metallic  green  sur- 
rounded with  black,  the  feathers  on  the  sides  of  the  neck  elongated  and  streaked  with 

*  O 

buff.  Another  beautiful  but  very  differently  colored  species  is  L.  ornatus^  from  Trin- 
idad, Venezuela,  and  Guiana.  It  has  the  forehead  and  throat  metallic  green,  rest  of 
head  and  crest  chestnut,  unspotted.  On  either  side  of  the  neck  is  a  series  of  length- 
ened graduated  feathers,  each  one  tipped  with  metallic  green.  This  bird  seeks  its 
food  from  the  flowers  in  more  open  parts  of  the  country  than  in  forests,  and  builds  a 
round,  cup-shaped  nest,  composed  of  some  cottony  material,  bound  together  with  cob- 
webs, and  decorated  externally  with  mosses,  lichens,  etc. 

Tilmatura  contains  only  one  species,  with  a  remarkably-colored  forked  tail.  This 
has  the  median  rectrices  short,  and  shining  green  ;  next  one,  dark  brown ;  next,  also, 
dark  brown,  but  with  a  white  spot  on  inner  web,  and  a  white  tip ;  the  remainder  is 
dark  brown  at  base,  then  a  band  of  rufous,  then  one  of  white,  succeeded  by  another 
of  dark  brown,  and  the  tips  white.  This  bird  is  a  native  of  Guatemala,  frequents  the 
gardens  and  other  places  where  flowers  abound,  and  builds  a  beautiful  little  round 
nest  of  vegetable  fibres  and  thistle-down,  thickly  covered  externally  with  small  pieces 
of  lichens,  attached  by  means  of  cobwebs.  It  is  fastened  to  any  small  branch,  such  as 
that  of  a  rose-tree,  etc. 

Chcetocercus,  Acestrura,  and  Calotkorax  are  represented  by  species,  some  of  which 
are  among  the  most  minute  in  the  Trochilidae.  They  have  very  peculiarly  shaped 
tails.  Those  of  the  members  of  the  first  genus  have  the  median  rectrices  extremely 
short ;  two  next  the  outermost  ones  lengthened,  equal  and  uniform ;  outermost  one 
half  the  length  of  the  one  next  it,  filiform  and  stiff,  graduating  to  a  point.  Acestrura 
has  the  two  outer  rectrices  almost  bare  of  webs,  and  spine-shape ;  while  the  species  of 
Calothorax  has  the  outei'most  rectrix  of  a  similar  shape.  There  are  about  nine  spe- 
cies in  these  genera,  natives  of  Mexico  and  the  northern  and  western  side  of  South 
America.  Chcetocercus  bombus,  two  and  a  half  inches  in  length,  is  not  much  larger 
than  a  honey-bee.  It  is  a  native  of  Ecuador  and  Peru,  dwells  at  an  elevation  of  from 
five  to  nine  thousand  feet,  flies  in  a  straight  line  but  not  so  rapidly  as  some  other  hum- 
ming-birds, and  when  perched  on  a  branch  elevates  and  depresses  the  tail  as  if  balanc- 
ing itself.  The  males  have  frequent  combats,  and  sometimes  one  will  mount  upwards 
until  its  tiny  body  has  completely  disappeared  from  sight. 

Heliactin,  with  its  single  species,  cornutus,  is  an  aberrant  form  among  the  Tro- 
chilidas,  and  is  chiefly  noticeable  for  the  brilliant  tufts  or  'horns'  on  each  side  of  the 
head.  It  is  a  native  of  Brazil,  and,  although  long  since  described,  very  little  is  known 
of  its  habits.  The  'tufts'  are  fiery  crimson  at  base,  changing  to  greenish  yellow  at 
the  tips,  very  brilliant  in  color,  and  a  great  ornament  to  the  bird. 

We  now  come  to  a  section  of  the  Trochilidae- composed  of  the  genera  Stellula,  At- 
this,  Catharma,  Selasphorus,  Calypte,  and  Trochilus.  They  are  all  birds  of  moderate 
or  small  size,  all  with  brilliant  metallic  coloring  on  their  throats,  this  sometimes  ex- 

VOL.  IV. —29 


450 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


tending  to  and  including  the  head.  They  have  short  tails  and  bills,  and  in  general 
appearance  are  most  attractive  birds.  Selasphorus  ru/us,  from  California  to  Nootka 
Sound ;  Calyptce  annce,  from  Mexico  and  California ;  and  Trochilus  colubris,  the 
Ruby-throat,  of  eastern  North  America,  south  to  Central  America  and  the  West  In- 
dies, are  probably  the  best  known  among  the  species.  A  charming  species  is  Calypte 
helence,  from  Cuba.  The  entire  head  and  throat  with  its  lengthened  feathers  are  bril- 
liant metallic  crimson,  and  the  tail  deep  greenish  blue,  as  are  also  the  upper  parts ; 


FIG.  223.  — Helactin  cornutus,  horned  hummer,  suii-gem. 

under  surface  white.  This  little  gem,  of  only  about  two  and  a  half  inches  in  total 
length,  has  a  varied  song,  well  sustained,  and,  for  the  size  of  the  little  creature,  rather 
powerful.  It  has  not  a  rapid  flight,  is  very  pugnacious,  and  when  in  the  air  preserves 
a  complete  silence,  but  commences  to  sing  on  alighting. 

Mellisuga  minima,  from  Jamaica  and  St.  Domingo,  is  among  the  very  smallest  of 
birds,  being  only  a  little  over  two  inches  in  total  length.  This  diminutive  creature  is 
rather  plainly  attired,  being  green  above,  and  white  beneath.  It  is  quite  abundant  in 
Jamaica,  resorting  to  the  blossoms  of  the  West  Indian  vervain,  seeking  its  nourish- 


HUMMING-BIRDS. 


451 


ment  precisely  in  the  same  manner  as  the  honey-bee.  In  the  spring  months  soon  after 
sunrise  it  sits  on  the  top  of  a  mango  or  orange  tree,  and  warbles  a  melody  in  a  weak 
but  sweet  tone,  for  minutes  at  a  time.  The  nest  is  a  cup,  formed  of  silk  cotton,  orna- 
mented outside  with  gray  lichen.  The  movements  of  this  bird's  wings  in  flight  are  so 
rapid  that  they  produce  a  sound  like  an  insect's  hum.  Thalurania  contains  eleven 
species  of  moderate  size  and  graceful  forms,  with  a  plumage  of  green  or  green  and 
blue,  with  metallic  hues  on  the  crown  and  throat,  and  sometimes  on  both.  They  have 
a  wide  distribution  from  Central  America  to  Peru. 


FIG.  224.,—  Topazapella,  topaz  humming-bird. 

Aithurus  contains  a  very  singular  species  from  Jamaica,  A.  polytmus.  It  is  one 
of  the  longest  known  members  of  the  family,  and  is  conspicuous  from  the  fact  that  the 
lateral  rectrices  next  to  the  outermost  one  on  either  side  are  nearly  three  times  longer 
than  the  other  feathers,  and  are  curved,  and  cross  each  other  near  their  centre.  The 
head  also  has  a  somewhat  lengthened  black  crest.  It  is  very  common  jn  Jamaica, 
where  considerable  numbers  may  be  seen  at  one  time  performing  their  aerial  evolu- 
tions, chasing  each  other,  or  feeding  from  the  various  flowers.  They  do  not  always 
probe  these  when  on  the  wing,  but  may  be  seen  thus  engaged  when  sitting  near  them 
on  the  branch.  The  nest  is  composed  of  silk  cotton,  the  outside  quite  covered  with 
spider's  webs,  and  bits  of  lichens  and  bark  stuck  in  here  and  there.  The  eggs  are  oval 


452  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

and  when  fresh  have  a  reddish  tinge  from  the  thinness  of  the  shells.  The  general 
color  of  the  plumage  is  green,  from  a  dark  shade  to  lustrous  emerald. 

Topaza  contains  two  gorgeously  colored  large  species  with  peculiarly  formed  tails, 
which  are  rounded,  the  feathers  on  either  side  of  central  pair  narrow  and  elongated 
far  beyond  the  rest,  and  crossing  each  other.  T.  pella,  an  inhabitant  of  Cayenne, 
Trinidad,  and  Brazil,  is  something  of  a  recluse,  dwelling  in  the  heart  of  the  forest 
near  to  rivers  or  lonely  and  dark  creeks.  He  comes  out  of  his  retreat  before  sunrise, 
but  returns  as  soon  as  the  bright  rays  have  lit  up  the  landscape,  coming  out  again  just 
after  sunset.  The  nest  is  deep,  of  a  cup-shape,  formed  of  a  kind  of  fungus  resembling 
tinder,  and  united  by  cobwebs  or  similar  material.  The  male  is  very  beautiful,  having 
the  back  shining  red  changing  to  orange-red  on  the  rump ;  the  throat  metallic  green- 
ish-yellow with  a  topaz  hue  in  the  centre  ;  the  rest  of  lower  parts  are  shining  crimson ; 
upper  tail-coverts  light  bronze-green;  the  under  coverts  golden-green;  middle  rec- 
trices  bronze-green,  next  two  dark  purple,  remainder  reddish-buff;  the  head,  bill, 
lores,  and  line  encircling  the  throat,  black.  The  genus  Eustephanus  contains  three 
species,  from  Chili  and  the  islands  of  Juan  Fernandez  and  Masaf uera.  They  are  large 
birds,  the  metallic  hues  of  their  plumage  being  confined  to  the  top  of  the  heads.  In 
two  species  the  females  possess  an  entirely  different  dress,  and  from  the  fact  that  their 
crowns  were  also  metallic,  for  a  long  time  it  was  supposed  they  represented  distinct 
species. 

Jfemistephania,  Hourcieria,  HeHanthea,  and  Diphloycena,  all  contain  beautiful 
species,  some  of  them  being  among  the  most  brilliantly  colored  of  the  Trochilidae. 
They  are  almost  all  large  birds,  with  long  lance-like  bills,  and  for  the  most  part 
dressed  in  shining  hues  of  lustrous  metallic  colors.  Jlourcieria  inca,  from  Peru  and 
Bolivia  may  be  selected  as  representing  one  type  of  beauty.  This  lovely  species  has  a 
jet-black  head,  with  a  luminous  metallic  emerald-green  spot  in  the  forehead,  which 
shines  like  a  brilliant  star  in  the  midst  of  its  sombre  surroundings.  A  broad  band  of 
deep  buff  crosses  the  breast  and  covers  the  sides  of  the  neck ;  rest  of  plumage  glittering 
metallic  grass-green,  and  bronzy-green,  most  brilliant  in  certain  lights.  The  lateral 
rectrices  are  white,  tipped  with  bronzy-green.  This  bird  is  found  on  the  eastern  slope 
of  the  Andes,  at  an  elevation  of  10,000  feet,  and  resorts  to  a  shrub  bearing  red  wax- 
like  flowers.  It  visits  every  flower  in  succession,  never  passing  by  a  single  one,  is 
very  conspicuous  on  the  wing,  and  has  a  very  rapid  flight.  Beautiful,  however,  as  is 
the  bird  just  described,  it  is  far  surpassed  in  the  splendor  of  its  decoration  by  the 
Diphlogcena  iris  and  D.  hesperus  from  Ecuador,  Peru,  and  Bolivia.  These  mar- 
vellous creatures  have  the  forehead  metallic  golden-green,  changing  to  a  metallic 
orange-scarlet  on  the  sides  of  the  crown,  with  the  centre  of  the  latter  metallic-blue ; 
occiput  velvety-black  ;  throat  and  breast  glittering  grass-green,  with  a  spot  of  purplish- 
blue  in  the  centre.  The  rest  of  the  plumage  is  chestnut  red.  It  is  almost  impossible 
to  conceive  a  more  exquisitely  beautiful  bird  than  are  these  species.  They  live  at 
high  altitudes  7000  to  9000  feet,  not  very  rare  in  certain  localities,  and  visit  chiefly  a 
certain  kind  of  orange  flowers  or  the  purple  blossoms  of  lochroma.  Sometimes  they 
will  take  up  a  position  upon  some  dry  branch,  and  launch  themselves  forth  at  inter- 
vals and  catch  insects  upon  the  wing.  The  single  species  of  Docimastes,  D.  ensif- 
ertis,  is  remarkable  for  the  length  of  the  bill,  which  exceeds  that  of  the  entire  bird. 
The  necessity  for  this  is  at  once  understood  when  the  lengthened  tubular  flowers  of 
the  Brtcgmansice  are  seen,  from  the  bottom  of  which  the  species  procures  its  food,  and 
which  could  never  be  reached  by  a  short-billed  bird.  When  flying  it  presents  a 


HUMMING-BIRDS. 


453 


curious  appearance,  the  bill  being  so  disproportionately  long  to  the  size  of  the  body, 
and  it  stops  before  a  flower  as  though  examining  the  interior,  and  then  suddenly 
thrusts  in  the  long  bill,  repeating  the  action  at  various  intervals.  It  takes  long  flights, 
and  other  humming-birds  keep  out  of  its  way,  none  daring  to  attack  it,  afraid  prob- 
ably of  the  long  bill,  which  would  doubtless  make  this  bird  a  formidable  antagonist.  It 
is  of  rather  dull  plumage,  the  sides  of  the  breast  alone  being  a  bright  luminous  green. 


FIG.  225.  — 


sword-billed  humming-bird. 


Patagona  and  Pterophanes,  containing  each  a  single  species,  the  giants  of  the  Tro- 
chilidae,  are  the  largest  known  forms.  They  are  denizens  of  the  Andean  range  from 
Colombia  to  Chili.  Patagona  gigas  is  the  largest  species,  a  dull  brownish-colored 
bird,  not  unlike  some  snipe  in  general  appearance.  Its  flight  resembles  somewhat 
that  of  the  martin,  often,  though,  keeping  the  wings  immovable.  It  has  a  habit  of 
darting  into  the  air,  striking  the  wings  together,  and  then  returning  to  its  place. 


454  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

Beside  a  delicate  whistle  it  emits  no  sound.  Pterophanes  temminckii  has  a  flight 
very  similar  to  the  last  species,  and  moves  the  wings  slowly  showing  the  blue  coloring 
to  great  effect.  It  has  been  observed  at  elevations  of  13,000  to  14,000  feet  where 
there  are  no  flowers,  sweeping  along  the  grass  searching  for  insects.  The  skin  has  a 
musky  smell,  strongest  when  the  bird  is  in  the  flesh.  Once  one  was  observed  to 
attack  a  large  hawk  and  drive  it  away  from  its  feeding  grounds. 

Heliodoxa,  Lampraster,  Eugenia,  Urochroa,  Eugenes,  Sternoclyta,  lolcema,  Clyto- 
Icema,  and  Phoeolcema  are  a  group  of  genera  with  species  more  or  less  related  to  each 
other.  They  are  generally  birds  of  large  size,  many  of  veiy  brilliant  coloration,  with 
rather  long  stout  bills,  and,  as  a  rule,  with  the  feathers  of  the  forehead  projecting  onto 
the  culmen  and  covering  the  nostrils.  lol&ma  whitelyana  is  a  very  fine  species  with 
all  the  upper  surface  deep  grass-green,  and  a  glittering  spot  on  the  forehead.  The 
under  parts  are  jet  black,  save  a  broad  band  of  violet  on  the  throat.  It  is  found  at 
Cosnipato,  Peru,  and  frequents  the  flowering  plants  at  the  tops  of  the  highest  trees  in 
the  depths  of  the  forest,  keeping  nearly  always  out  of  gun-shot.  It  has  a  very  power- 
ful flight,  and  goes  from  flower  to  flower  with  wonderful  rapidity.  Another  more 
beautiful  bird  is  Eugenia  imperatrix,  from  Ecuador,  with  the  forehead  and  chin  bril- 
liant metallic  green,  upper  parts  grass-green,  exceedingly  luminous  when  viewed  from 
behind,  and  a  metallic  violet  spot  on  the  throat.  This  handsome  bird  inhabits  the 
thick  forests  at  about  four  thousand  feet  of  elevation,  and  feeds  from  the  beautiful 
flowers  of  an  Alstrcemeria,  which  hang  from  the  extremity  of  this  twining  plant. 
The  genus  Panoplites  contains  three  species  clothed  in  brilliant  metallic  colors,  agree- 
ing in  having  their  upper  parts  green,  but  their  under  parts  are  clothed  in  strongly 
contrasted  colors  of  diverse  hues.  Perhaps  the  most  brilliant  of  the  species  is  P. 
jardini,  from  Ecuador,  with  the  crown  and  under  parts  shining  violet  blue,  and  the 
upper  parts  metallic  bluish-green.  The  P.  mattheicsi  is  very  different,  having  the 
under  parts  deep  chestnut-red,  and  upper  parts  metallic  golden-green.  This  is  said  to 
be  a  most  pugnacious  species,  and  when  an  individual  alights  upon  a  tree  he  will  not 
permit  any  other  humming-bird  to  approach  the  flowers  upon  it.  They  hurl  them- 
selves against  each  other  in  the  air  like  cocks,  and  pursue  all  others  of  the  tribe  in 
their  vicinity.  It  is  met  with  as  high  as  10,000  feet  above  the  sea,  and  its  flight  is 
short,  the  bird  frequently  perching. 

Petasophora  includes  another  small  group  of  very  different  appearance  from  the 
last.  Of  rather  large  size,  and  greatly  resembling  each  other  in  plumage,  the  species 
are  distinguished  by  their  metallic-blue  ear-coverts,  metallic-green  scale-like  breasts, 
and  broad  bluish-green  barred  tails.  The  P.  anais  feeds  upon  insects  which  it  seizes 
in  the  air,  in  the  most  agile  manner,  snatching  them  in  all  directions,  executing  at  the 
same  time  most  graceful  movements.  At  times  it  launches  itself  into  the  air  from  its 
perch,  sings  a  short  simple  song,  and  returns  like  an  arrow  to  its  original  position, 
repeating  this  several  times  but  always  returning  to  this  same  place.  It  lives  at  alti- 
tudes varying  between  5,000  and-  9,000  feet.  Two  birds  with  pure  white  tails  tipped 
with  purplish-brown  form  the  genus  Florisuga.  In  general  form  they  resemble  the 
next  genus,  Chalybura,  the  members  of  which  differ  from  all  known  humming-birds 
by  the  great  development  of  their  plume-like  under  tail-coverts,  which  peculiarity 
exists  in  both  sexes.  The  males  are  clothed  in  green,  most  luminous  on  the  lower 
surface,  one  species  being  an  exception,  and  having  this  part  blue.  The  lower  tail- 
coverts  are  white  except  in  one  species  which  has  them  black.  They  are  natives  of 
Central  America,  Venezuela,  and  Columbia. 


HUMMIMG-BIRDS. 


455 


The  genera  Eulampis  and  Lampornis  are  closely  allied,  with  green  and  black 
the  principal  hues  of  their  plumage,  sometimes  varied  with  blue,  the  metallic  colors 
chiefly  confined  to  the  throat  and  breast.  The  species  of  Eulampis  in  addition  to 
other  characters  possess  luminous  upper  tail-coverts  causing  them  to  be  very  con- 
spicuous objects.  The  birds  of  these  genera  inhabit  Mexico,  Central  America,  West 
India  islands,  and  portions  of  eastern  South  America. 

Oreotrochilus  is  a  genus  of  hummers  that  dwell  in  lofty  altitudes  just  beneath 
the  line  of  perpeptual  snow.  Some  of  the  species  are  entirely  confined  to  particular 


FIG.  226.  —  Oreotrochilus  chimborazo,  Chimborazo  humming-bird. 

mountains,  like  0.  chimborazo  and  0.  pichincha,  which  are  found  upon  the  vol- 
canic peaks  whose  names  they  bear  and  that  of  Cotopaxi.  The  last  named  feeds 
frequently  from  the  ground,  hunting  the  moss-covered  clumps  for  insects,  as  the  snow 
melts  away.  When  the  plants  of  those  Alpine  heights  are  in  bloom,  they  frequent 
the  flowers.  Another  species,  O.  leucopleurus,  is  said  to  live  in  the  most  elevated 
Andean  valleys,  amid  storms  of  rain,  hail,  and  thunder,  in  places  where  a  species  of 
this  family  would  be  least  expected.  It  subsists  mostly  upon  insects,  small  flies  chiefly 
contributing  to  its  support.  They  are  handsome  birds  with  the  under  parts  white, 
deep  chestnut,  or  black,  witli  metallic-colored  throats,  some  with  richly  colored  heads. 


456 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


The  genera  Campylopterus,  Sphenoproctus  and  Eupetomana  are  composed  of 
species  characterized  by  having  the  shafts  of  the  primaries  more  or  less  developed, 
and  greatly  flattened  in  the  males.  The  majority  of  the  species  have  a  portion  of 
their  plumage  adorned  with  metallic  coloring.  The  genera  are  distinguished  mainly 
by  the  shape  of  the  tail  of  the  various  species,  this  being  rounded,  cuneate,  or  deeply 
forked,  in  the  order  of  the  genera  named.  A  very  large  and  showy  species  is  C'am- 
pylopterus  hemileucurus,  with  the  upper  and  under  surfaces  metallic  violet-blue,  a  black 
tail  glossed  with  green,  the  outer  feathers  largely  tipped  with  white.  It  is  extremely 


FIG.  227.  —  Eutoxeres  aquila,  sickle-billed  humming-bird. 

pugnacious,  two  males  rarely  meeting  without  a  combat.  This  generally  commences 
with  a  sharp  shriek,  then,  with  dilated  throats  and  feathers  all  on  end,  they  fight  until 
one  falls  to  the  ground  or  escapes  by  flight.  The  chief  damage  done  in  these  combats 
is  the  splitting  of  the  tongue  of  one  of  the  contestants,  which  then  surely  dies,  being 
no  longer  able  to  feed. 

One  of  the  most  extensive  genera  of  the  Trochilidas  is  Phcethornis,  embracing 
about  twenty-two  species.  The  majority  of  these  are  plainly  attired  without  any 
metallic  coloring,  and  all  are  chiefly  remarkable  for  their  peculiarly  shaped  tails,  the 
middle  feathers  of  which  extend  beyond  the  rest,  and  are  always  longest  in  the 


HUMMING-BIRDS.  457 

females.  The  plumage  consists  of  green,  gray,  buff,  or  whitish,  and  the  species  for 
the  most  part  dwell  in  dark  and  gloomy  situations  in  the  interior  of  the  forests,  feed- 
ing upon  spiders  and  other  insects  which  they  capture  on  the  under  side  of  the  leaves 
of  great  trees,  or  in  the  crevices  of  the  bark.  Their  movements  on  the  wing  are 
very  graceful,  the  beautifully  formed  tail  being  exhibited  to  much  advantage. 

The  birds  of  the  genus  Eutoxeres  are  distinguished  for  their  very  remarkable 
bills,  which  are  decurved  so  as  to  form  nearly  one  third  of  a  circle.  They  are  of 
rather  large  size,  with  very  little  metallic  coloring,  the  plumage  being  of  usually 
sombre  hues,  the  throat  and  breast  striated  with  buff.  The  tail  is  cuneate,  with 
pointed  feathers.  The  unusual  and  peculiar  form  of  the  bill  is  explained  when  the 
shape  of  the  flower  from  which  the  bird  feeds  is  seen.  This  is  of  the  shape  of  a 
Roman  helmet  inverted,  attached  to  the  stalk  by  the  point  of  the  crest  as  it  were. 
The  bird  inserts  the  bill  into  the  calyx,  not  by  advancing  in  a  direct  line  to  the  flower 
as  is  usually  done,  but  by  first  stooping  forward  until  the  bill  is  introduced,  and  on 
the  point  reaching  the  desired  locality,  the  body  is  dropped  down  so  that  the  bird 
appears  to  be  hanging  by  the  bill.  After  remaining  in  this  position  a  moment,  by 
reverse  movements  to  those  described,  the  bill  is  withdrawn.  These  birds  fly  swiftly, 
with  a  loud  hum  and  buzzing  of  the  wings.  Three  species  only  are  known,  natives  of 
Central  America,  Colombia  and  Ecuador. 

D.  G.  ELLIOT. 


458 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


ORDER  XVIII.— PASSERES. 

This  order  comprises  in  round  numbers  say  six  thousand  species,  or  more  than  half 
the  number  of  all  the  known  birds.  In  the  foregoing  pages  of  this  volume,  conse- 
quently, we  have  dealt  with  a  less  number  of  species  than  this  order  alone  contains. 
The  great  majority  of  the  Passerine  species,  however,  are  so  closely  allied  that  it  is 
only  in  catalogues  and  nominal  lists  that  they  take  up  the  greatest  space ;  while  here, 
where  we  have  to  consider  the  forms  according  to  their  biological  and  morphological 
features,  the  present  order  will  receive  a  treatment  commensurate  with  the  importance 
of  the  group  in  these  respects,  but  not  with  the  number  of  the  species. 

There  seems  to  be  no  single  character  by  which  the  Passeres,  as  here  and  most 
commonly  defined,  can  be  separated  from  all  the  rest  of  the  birds."  Hence  the  only 
characteristic  which  can  be  formulated  in  a  few  words  is  that  they  possess  a  number 
of  characters  which  are  not  combined  in  the  same  way  in  any  bird  included  in  the 
foregoing  orders.  It  is  especially  among  the  Picarians  that  we  find  forms  which 
approach  the  Passeres  very  closely  in  some  of  their  characters,  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  a  few  generalized  Passerine  birds  have  retained  some  ancestral  peculiarities 
which  link  them  to  the  groups  below. 

We  have  seen  that  segithognathism  is  no  exclusive  character ;  in  most  Passeres  the 
manubrial  process  of  the  sternum  is  bifurcate,  but  it  is  so  in  some  higher  or  passeri- 

form  Picarians ;  the  hind 
margin  of  the  breastbone 
has  mostly  only  two  notch- 
es, but  in  a  few  has  four, 
and  in  some  Picariae  has 
also  only  two  ;  the  Passeres 
have  caBca  and  no  tuft  to 
the  oil-gland,  but  many  Pi- 
carians are  similarly  charac- 
terized; the  Passeres  have 
a  peculiarly  specialized  ar- 
rangement of  the  wing-cov- 
erts, a  feature  ah'eady  noted 
on  a  previous  page  when  we 
said  that  woodpeckers  and 
some  allied  forms  present 
the  same  kind  of  specializa- 
tion. The  schizopelmous  arrangement  of  the  deep  plantar  tendons  would  have  been 
an  excellent  distinction  but  for  the  fact  that  the  hoopoes  are  also  schizopelmous,  while 
the  Eurylaimidae,  which  are  otherwise  true  Passeres,  have  the  flexor  hallucis  attached 
to  the  perforans  digitorurn  by  means  of  a  strong  vinculum,  making  them  desmopelmous. 
Another  myological  feature  which  is  peculiar  to  the  Passeres  inasmuch  as  it  does  not 
occur  in  other  birds,  though  not  in  all  Passeres,  is  the  distal  insertion  of  the  tensor 
patagii  brevis,  a  muscle  which  has  already  been  mentioned  under  the  head  of  the 
Micropodoideae.  Being  obliged  to  treat  of  this  character  more  in  full,  we  shall  try 
to  use  Professor  Garrod's  own  words  whenever  possible. 


FIG.  228.  —  Diagram  of  the  elbow-muscles  in  (A)  Icterus  and  (B)  Menura  ; 
muscles  with  longitudinal,  tendons  with  transverse,  lines  ;  b,  biceps  ;  emrl, 
extensor  metacarpi  radialis  longus  ;  h,  humeral ;  s,  shoulder  ;  sr,  second- 
ary remiges  ;  t,  triceps  ;  tpb,  tensor  patagii  brevis  ;  tpl,  tensor  patagii 
longus. 


PASSEEES.  459 

In  the  patagium,  that  is  the  triangular  membrane  of  the  bird's  wing  expanded 
between  the  anterior  margins  of  the  humerus  and  the  fore-arm,  the  tendons  of  two 
muscles  are  to  be  found.  One  is  that  of  the  tensor  patagii  longus,  which  forms  the 
supporting  chord  of  the  free  margin  itself.  The  second  is  that  of  the  tensor  patagii 
brevis,  which  courses  parallel  with  the  humerus  from  the  shoulder  to  the  muscles  and 
fasciae  of  the  fore-arm.  From  the  comparatively  insignificant  fleshy  belly  of  this 
muscle,  a  single  cylindroid  tendon  runs  to  the  upper  margin  of  the  axially  running 
tendon  of  origin  of  the  extensor  metacarpi  radialis  longus,  at  a  point  not  far  from 
the  tubercle  on  the  humerus,  whence  this  muscle  springs.  In  most  of  the  Passeres  the 
tensor  patagii  brevis  here  becomes  attached  to  the  latter  muscles  without  blending 
with  its  tendon,  and  runs  from  the  point  of  attachment  back,  independently  fixing 
itself  to  the  base  of  the  same  tubercle  as  the  extensor  m.  r.  longus,  as  a  consequence 
of  which  arrangement  two  distinct  tendons  run  to  that  same  spot,  as  may  be  plainly 
seen  in  the  accompanying  cut  (Fig.  228  A.)  In  a  few  Passeres  of  the  South  American 
families  Pteroptochidae  and  Conopophagidae,  the  arrangement  is  a  little  obscured  since 
the  muscular  fibres  of  the  extensor  m.  r.  longus  almost  surround  and  enclose  the  ten- 
dons in  question,  but  upon  removing  these  covering  fibres  the  two  tendons  are  seen 
arranged  exactly  as  in  most  other  members  of  the  order.  The  only  real  exceptions 
are  the  lyre-bird  (Menura),  and  the  Australian  brush-bird  Atrichornis  rufescens,  in 
which  the  tensor  brevis  inserts  itself  on  the  tendon  of  the  extensor  metacarpi,  in  such 
a  way  as  to  blend  with  it  entirely,  only  one  tendon  running  to  the  tubercle  at  the 
elbow,  an  arrangement  which  is  exactly  like  that  of  the  Ramphastidae,  Megalaimidaa, 
Indicatoridae  and  Picidae  of  the  foregoing  order,  and  illustrated  in  Fig.  228  B. 

A  certain  structure  of  the  syrinx  is  also  peculiar  to  the  Passeres,  although  not 
common  to  all  of  them.     Having  already  in  the  introduction  to  this  volume  promised 
a  fuller  account  of  this  feature,  we  shall  try  to  make  this  point  as  intelligible  as  pos- 
sible, especially  since  the  syringeal  arrangement  $   $ 
has  been  made  the  chief  character  by  which  some 
systematists  primarily  subdivide  the  Passeres. 

The  great  German  anatomist,  Johannes  Miil- 
ler,  in  1846  announced  the  discovery  that  the 
Passerine  birds  exhibited  two  —  or  rather  three 
—  radically  different  types  of  the  lower  larynx. 
He  found  that  in  the  vast  assemblage  of  birds 
which  has  usually  been  called  Oscines,  Cantores, 
etc.,  the  intrinsic  muscles  —  numbering  from 
two  to  six  pairs  -  are  inserted  into  the  extremi-  t 

ties  of  the  bronchial  semi-rino-s,  an  arrangement        semi-rings  -,'t,  trachea ;  the  muscles  are  lined 

v,-   v,  n          i    v,  j  /  u-i  longitudinally. 

which  Uarrod  has  termed  acromyodous,  while 

the  rest  have  these  muscles — usually  only  one  pair  —  attached  to  the  semi-rings  in 
their  middles ;  these  are  called  Mesomyodi,  or  Clamatores.  But  of  the  latter  some 
South  American  forms  are  peculiar  in  having  the  syrinx  chiefly  formed  by  the  lower 
end  of  the  trachea,  hence  Mtiller  made  them  a  separate  group,  Tracheophonae ;  the 
Mesomyodi  with  tracheo-bronchial  syrinx  are  often  termed  Oligomyodi,  or  Haploophonae, 
though  the  latter  name  was  originally  intended  for  a  more  restricted  group.  The 
terminology  is  somewhat  intricate,  but  it  is  important  that  one  who  wishes  to  study 
or  understand  the  modern  schemes  of  Passerine  classification  should  master  it  thoroughly, 
hence  Fig.  229  is  given  to  indicate  the  difference  between  the  acromyodian  and  the 


460  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

mesomyodian  type,  A  representing  the  former,  B  the  latter.  The  acromyodian  form 
here  figured  is  not  quite  typical  oscinine,  but  the  attachment  of  the  intrinsic  muscles 
to  the  ends  of  the  semi-rings  is  well  represented,  while  the  median  insertion  is  equally 
plain  in  the  other  figure. 

The  classification  of  the  Passeres  has  recently  made  a  long  stride  forward,  espe- 
cially by  the  investigations  of  Professor  Garrod.  We  have  above  indicated  three  pri- 
mary divisions  of  the  order,  which  we  shall  designate  as  super-families,  to  which  we 
may  add  two  additional  ones,  the  Eurylaimoidea?,  and  the  Menuroideas  ;  the  three 
others  are  the  Tyrannoideaa,  corresponding  to  the  non-tracheophonous  mesomyodian  s, 
the  Formicaroideas,  being  the  equivalent  of  the  TracheophonaB  of  authors,  and  the 
Passeroidea?,  of  the  same  limits  as  the  Oscines  proper,  or  the  Acromyodi  of  Garrod, 
minus  the  Pseudoscines  of  Sclater.  These  five  super-families  to  be  arranged  as  follows  : 

Tensor  patagii  brevis  picarian    ............     Menuroidew. 

syrinxbroncho-tracheai  {  j^  '** 

-Tensor  patagii    (  mesomyodian  ^^  Formicaroide(        schizopelmous. 

brevis    passerine  J  acromyodian    .    .  v  .........     Passeroidece 


On  the  whole  the  MENUROIDE^E  may  be  regarded  as  the  most  abnormal  Passeres, 
and  in  many  respects  most  generalized.  It  is  true  that  their  syrinx  is  '  acromyodian,' 
inasmuch  as  the  intrinsic  muscles  are  fastened  to  the  ends  of  the  semi-rings,  but  there 
seems  to  be  nothing  to  necessitate  the  theory  of  the  true  oscinine  syrinx  having  been 
developed  from  this  '  pseudoscinine  '  one,  or  to  prevent  the  assumption  that  both 
these  styles  have  developed  independently  from  the  mesomyodian  pattern,  as  they  are 
sufficiently  diverging  in  other  points  than  the  number  of  the  intrinsic  muscles  to 
make  it  probable  that  they  are  of  independent  origin.  It  is  also  true  that  they  are 
schizopelmous,  and  that  the  Eurylaimoidea3,  which  we  have  placed  after  them,  are 
more  generalized  in  this  respect,  being,  as  they  are,  desmopelmous  ;  but  there  is  noth- 
ing strange  in  supposing  that  the  vinculum  has  been  lost  independently  in  the  birds  of 
the  present  group  and  in  those  of  the  three  last  super-families  of  our  scheme  ;  in 
other  words,  that  the  vinculum  was  lost  by  the  ancestors  of  this  super-family  and  in 
those  mentioned  after  the  ancestral  passerine  stock  had  split  into  two  groups,  charac- 
terized by  the  difference  in  the  arrangement  of  the  tensor  patagii  brevis,  besides  in 
several  osteological  features.  The  proof  of  the  admissibility  of  this  conclusion  is 
furnished  by  the  fact  that  not  only  has  a  Picarian  group  —  viz.,  the  hoopoes  —  de- 
veloped the  same  arrangement  of  the  deep  plantar  tendons,  but  that  even  several 
herons  have  lost  the  vinculum  connecting  the  flexor  hattucis  with  the  flexor  per- 
forans. 

The  osteological  features  by  which  the  members  of  the  present  super-family  deviate 
from  the  other  Passeres  are  many,  but  we  shall  only  mention  those  by  which  the  two 
families  which  constitute  the  super-family  may  be  at  the  same  time  separated.  The 
lyre-birds  have  quite  a  peculiar  breast-bone,  it  being  long,  and  much  constricted  near 
the  centre  ;  the  manubrium  is  very  well  developed  and  furcated  ;  the  posterior  edge 
is  strongly  convex,  and  has  only  a  slight  notch  on  each  side  near  the  margin,  quite 
different  from  all  other  Passeres.  The  clavicles  are  well  developed,  but  without  a 
median  process  at  the  symphysis.  On  the  other  hand,  the  sternum  of  the  brush-birds, 
as  figured  by  Garrod,  differs  very  much  from  the  above.  The  manubrium  is  less  de- 
veloped, though  furcate,  and  the  posterior  edge  is  straight,  with  a  deep  passerine  notch 


LYRE-BIRDS. 


461 


on  each  side ;  but  the  most  curious  feature  is  the  absence  of  clavicles,  of  which  only 
a  small  rudiment  is  left,  a  feature  absolutely  unique  amongst  Passeres. 

The  lyre-birds,  therefore,  constitute  the  family  MENTJRIDJE.  Their  chief  internal 
characteristics  have  already  been  mentioned ;  we  shall  only  add  that,  notwithstand- 
ing Professor  Huxley's  assertion  to  the  contrary,  maxillo-palatines  are  present,  being 
long  and  slender,  and  separate  from  one  another  and  from  the  vomer,  and  that  the 
syrinx  is  supplied  with  only  three  pairs  of  intrinsic  muscles.  Externally  these  birds 
are  not  less  remarkable,  as  will  be  seen  from  the  accompanying  cut.  They  are  rather 
large  birds,  the  body  equalling  in  size  that  of  a  ruffed-grouse ;  the  head  is  small,  the 


FIG.  230.  — Menura  superba,  lyre-bird. 

tarsi  are  very  long  and  stout  and  the  toes  are  provided  with  long  and  rather  straight 
claws.  The  above  characters,  except  the  last  one,  in  connection  with  the  unique  tail, 
give  these  Australian  birds  quite  the  aspect  of  one  of  the  Gallinaceous  order,  with 
which,  indeed,  some  earlier  ornithologists  placed  them,  and  the  colonists  in  New  South 
Wales  call  them  '  pheasants '  to-day.  The  beautiful  tail  of  the  male  is  composed  of 
the  unusual  number  of  sixteen  rectrices,  which  are  enormously  lengthened  and  grace- 
fully curved,  so  as  to  imitate  the  shape  of  a  lyre  when  raised.  When  the  bird  is  sing- 
ing the  tail  is  displayed  in  the  same  manner  as  a  peacock  spreads  his  train.  The 
color  of  the  lyre-bird  is  a  sombre  dusky,  in  several  places  tinged  with  rufous,  and  there 
is  nothing  particularly  attractive  about  it  beyond  its  unrivalled  tail. 

Two  species  only  are  recognized  in  the  genus  Menura,  the  only  one  constituting 


462  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

the  family,  both  very  similar  in  appearance.  In  contradistinction  to  the  species  here 
figured  (M.  superba),  the  M.  alberti  is  of  a  more  rusty  color,  and  has  the  outer  lyre- 
shaped  tail-feathers  much  shorter  and  entirely  destitute  of  bars. 

The  lyre-birds  are  very  partial  to  the  dense  brush,  and  are  said  to  be  very  shy  and 
difficult  to  approach.  In  some  parts  of  New  South  Wales  they  are  sometimes  suc- 
cessfully pursued  by  dogs,  which  by  their  barking  attract  the  attention  of  the  birds  so 
that  the  hunter  may  easily  approach.  The  birds  rarely,  if  ever,  attempt  to  escape  by 
flight,  but  easily  elude  pursuit  by  running  swiftly  over  the  ground  in  the  dense  brush. 
The  lyre-bird  is  credited  with  a  great  power  of  mocking  the  song  of  other  birds  or 
the  voices  of  other  animals,  even  the  barking  of  the  dingo.  Mr.  Gould  also  states 
that  they  are  of  solitary  habits,  and  that  they  form  small  round  hillocks,  which  are 
constantly  visited  during  the  day,  and  upon  which  the  male  is  continually  trampling, 
at  the  same  time  erecting  and  spreading  out  its  tail  in  the  most  graceful  manner. 
Mr.  A.  A.  Leycester  says  that  the  Albert  lyre-bird  generally  constructs  its  nest  of 
small  sticks,  interwoven  with  moss  and  fibres  of  roots ;  it  is  covered  in  with  the  en- 
trance on  the  side,  and  placed  on  the  side  of  some  steep  rock.  The  single  egg  laid  is 
of  a  very  dark  color,  appearing  as  if  it  had  been  blotched  over  with  ink. 

The  ATRICHORXITHID^E,  brush-  or  scrub-birds,  constitute  a  family  of  pseudoscinine, 
acromyodian  Passeres,  with  two  pairs  of  intrinsic  muscles.  They  are  not  more  nu- 
merous than  the  lyre-birds,  comprising  only  one  genus  of  two  species,  which  also 
are  exclusively  Australian  in  their  distribution. 

Their  external  appearance  does  not  indicate  any  close  relationship  with  the  lyre- 
birds, for  in  size  and  general  form  and  coloration  they  more  closely  resemble  some  of 
our  large  wrens,  with  long  graduated  tails.  Their  habits  are  not  unlike  those  of  the 
lyre-birds,  and  their  power  of  mocking  other  sounds  is  equally  strong.  From  Mr.  E.  P. 
Ramsay's  account  of  the  habits  of  the  species  discovered  by  him,  Atrichornis 
rufescens,  we  quote  as  follows :  "  Only  on  one  occasion  did  I  meet  with  more  than  a 
single  bird  in  the  same  place.  They  are  always  among  the  logs  and  fallen  trees,  over- 
grown with  weeds,  vines,  nettles,  etc.,  and  are  the  most  tiresome  birds  to  procure 
imaginable.  As  to  their  ventriloquial  powers,  they  must  be  heard  to  be  believed.  It  is 
impossible  to  say  what  its  own  note  really  is.  I  have  frequently  stood  on  a  log 
waiting  for  it  to  show  itself  from  among  the  tangled  mass  of  vines  and  weeds  at  my 
feet,  when  all  of  a  sudden  it  would  begin  to  squeak  and  imitate  first  one  bird  and  then 
another,  now  throwing  its  voice  over  my  head,  then  on  one  side,  and  then  again 
apparently  from  the  log  on  which  I  was  standing.  This  it  will  continue  to  do 
for  hours  together;  and  you  may  remain  all  day  without  catching  sight  of  it." 

The  broad-mouths,  forming  the  super-family  EURYLAIMOIDE^E,  which  again 
only  comprises  one  family,  the  EUEYLAIMID^E,  recall  in  their  external  appearance  several 
PicariaB,  for  instance,  rollers  and  barbets,  and  in  fact  were  usually  kept  with  that 
order  in  the  systems  until  more  recently  Sclater,  Garrod,  and  Forbes  demonstrated 
their  passerine  nature.  Particularly  convincing  is  the  absence  of  tufts  to  the  oil- 
gland,  combined  with  presence  of  cajca,  the  nature  of  the  pterylosis,  and  the  insertion 
of  the  tensor  patagii  brevis ;  the  palate  and  the  posterior  margin  of  the  breastbone 
are  also  typical  passerine,  but  the  manubrium  is  pointed  and  not  bifurcated.  The 
desmopelmous  arrangement  of  the  deep  plantar  tendons,  which  prevents  the  hallux 
from  being  moved  independently  of  the  other  toes,  is  another  picarian  feature. 
Johannes  Milller  denied  the  existence  of  intrinsic  muscles  to  the  syrinx  in  the  only 
species  examined  by  him,  but  this  may  have  originated  in  a  mistake,  for  in  others  one 


TYRANT-BIRDS.  463 

pair  of  slender  muscles  is  present,  and.  the  syrinx  is  altogether  constructed  after  the 
tracheo-bronchial  mesomyodian  pattern. 

The  present  family  is  confined  to  the  southeastern  part  of  the  Oriental  region,  a 
few  species  occurring  from  the  Himalayas  southwards  through  Burmah  and  Malacca  to 
the  islands  of  Sumatra,  Java,  and  Borneo,  representing  in  the  Old  World  their  allies, 
the  cotingas  and  pipras  of  South  America.  Owing  to  the  small  number  of  species  — 
hardly  a  dozen  —  belonging  to  not  less  than. five  genera,  the  group  proves  itself  to  be 
on  the  way  to  extinction,  the  last  remnants  of  a  once  probably  quite  numerous  group. 
We  have  here  an  excellent  illustration  of  the  fact  that  the  distinctness  of  the  different 
groups  of  our  systems  only  depends  upon  the  number  of  links  that  have  disappeared. 
Had  hoopoes  and  broad-bills  become  extinct  only  a  short  time  before  the  present  era 
of  anatomical  ornithology,  the  systematist  would  have  found  no  difficulty  in  trenchantly 
defining  the  '  order '  Passeres. 

The  broad-bills  are  rather  small  birds,  not  much  larger  than  sparrows,  with  some- 
what syndactyle  feet,  the  outer  and  middle  toes  being  connected  for  a  distance  of 
nearly  two  joints.  The  bill  is  very  broad,  and  remai'kably  resembles  that  of  some 
rollers,  while  in  coloration  and  extreme  sluggishness  and  stupidity  they  remind  one  of 
the  barbets.  In  regard  to  color,  the  likeness  between  Pogonorhynchus  dubius,  from 
Africa,  as  described  in  a  previous  page  of  this  work  and  the  blue-billed  gaper 
(Cymbirhynchus  macrorhynchus)  is  very  striking.  The  latter  bii'd  is  found  in 
Sumatra  and  Borneo,  while  a  nearly  related  form,  C.  malaccensis,  is  common  in 
Malacca,  where  Lieutenant  H.  R.  Kelham  recently  has  observed  its  interesting 
breeding  habits,  and  from  his  account  we  choose  the  following  abstract :  "  Kwala 
Kanysar,  Perak,  5th  May,  1877. —  This  afternoon,  while  stalking  jungle-fowl,  which 
towards  dusk  come  out  to  feed  along  the  outskirts  of  the  jungle,  I  saw  a  blue-billed 
gaper  fly  out  of  a  large,  roughly-made,  domed  nest,  which  was  hanging  from  the  top- 
most twigs  of  a  slender  sapling,  at  about  ten  feet  from  the  ground;  over  the  entrance, 
which  was  on  one  side,  a  kind  of  roof  projected,  like  the  slanting  shade  of  a  cottage- 
door.  Internally  the  nest  was  rather  neatly  lined  with  flags  and  green  leaves,  and 
contained  four  white  eggs,  one  and  one  twelfth  inches  long  by  eight  twelfths  broad, 
blotched  (principally  at  the  larger  end)  with  rusty  brown  marks."  The  bill  of  the 
present  species  is  of  the  most  pure  cobalt  blue  above  and  orange  below,  while  the  eyes 
are  emerald  green. 

Before  leaving  this  family  we  may  mention  the  beautiful  green  Calyptomena 
viridis,  from  Borneo,  Java,  and  Sumatra,  which,  from  its  rounded  crest  on  the  head 
and  other  external  peculiarities,  has  been  classed  by  some  authors  with  the  South 
American  cock-of-the-rock  {Itupicold).  The  internal  structure,  however,  shows  plainly 
that  it  belongs  to  the  same  family  as  its  countrymen,  the  broad-bills. 

The  birds  composing  the  super-family  TYRANNOIDEJ2  have  already  been 
defined  as  Passeres  with  a  mesomyodian  tracheo-bronchial  syrinx,  and  with  the  hind 
toe  independently  movable.  It  is  a  rather  large  group  which,  in  regard  to  the  dispo- 
sition of  the  vessels  of  the  thigh,  has  been  divided  in  two  groups,  Homoeomeri  and 
Heteromeri.  In  the  former  the  main  artery  accompanies  the  sciatic  nerve,  as  in 
nearly  all  other  birds,  while  in  the  latter  the  femoral  artery  is  the  main  artery  of  the 
thigh.  This  exceptional  arrangement  is  found  in  the  pipras  and  cotingas,  with  the 
exception  of  the  cock-of-the-rock,  which  seems  to  prove  that  the  character  is  not  one 
fit  to  base  even  a  family  division  upon. 

The  horny  covering  of  the  tarsus  still  plays  a  great  role  in  the  classification  of  the 


464  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

Passeres,  and,  as  the  present  super-family  contains  a  great  many  different  forms  of 
tarsal  scutellation,  we  may  improve  the  opportunity  by  familiarizing  ourselves  with 
a  few  of  the  modern  technical  terms,  which  in  one  word  express  quite  marked 
differences. 

The  first  distinction  to  be  made  is  between  a  scutelliplantar  and  a  laminiplantar 
tarsus.  In  the  former,  at  least  one  of  the  sides  of  the  posterior  tarsal  surface  is 
divided  by  transverse  sutures  or  is  broken  up  into  small  scutell®.  The  laminiplantar 
tarsus  is  covered  behind  with  a  continuous  horny  lamina  on  each  side,  without  sutures 
or  divisions.  This  arrangement  is  found  in  all  true  Oscines  (Passeroidea?)  with  the 
exception  of  the  larks,  and  is  only  met  with  in  a  few  Old  World  forms  of  the  present 
super-family,  viz.,  in  the  Pittidas,  which  also  have  the  tarsal  covering  in  front  undi- 
vided, or  '  booted '  (ochreatce). 

The  scutelliplantar  tarsus  shows  several  modifications.  The  anterior  scutes  may 
extend  round  to  the  posterior  margin  exteriorly,  leaving  the  internal  plantar  space 
covered  by  a  smooth  skin,  with  no  signs  of  scutes  or  scutellse ;  such  a  tarsus  is  said  to 
be  exaspidean.  Or  the  arrangement  may  be  reversed,  so  that  the  anterior  scutes  are 
extended  round  the  tarsus  on  the  inner  sides,  in  which  case  it  is  endaspidean.  If  the 
posterior  surface  of  the  tarsus  is  entirely  broken  up  into  numerous  small,  somewhat 
irregular  and  rounded  scutellae,  the  tarsus  is  pycnaspidean,  while  taxaspidean  means 
that  the  plantar  scutella3  are  contiguous,  rectangular,  and  arranged  in  regular  series. 
If,  as  in  the  larks,  the  scutellation  behind  is  formed  by  larger  scutes  in  a  single  series, 
the  term  holaspidean  has  been  used.  In  the  taxaspidean  tarsus  it  often  occurs  that 
all  the  scutellas  become  fused  in  the  old  birds,  which  then  have  a  booted  tarsus,  and 
such  may  be  the  origin  of  the  nature  of  the  tarsus  of  the  Pittidae,  while  the  true 
ochreate  tarsus,  as  it  is  found  in  the  thrushes,  is  formed  by  simple  fusion  of  the  ante- 
rior scutes  only. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  well  to  remember  that  only  the  Passeroidea?,  or  the 
acromyodian  Passeres,  are  laminiplantar  or  holaspidean,  and  that  most  mesomyodian 
Passeres  have  ten  primaries,  the  first  of  which  is  but  slightly  shorter  than  the  rest. 

The  Tyrannoide®  are  found  in  both  hemispheres,  though  not  one  tenth  of  the 
nearly  six  hundred  species  composing  the  super-family  inhabit  parts  of  the  Old 
World.  They  are  chiefly  tropical,  and  it  is  only  in  America  that  birds  of  this  group 
extend  their  range  considerably  beyond  the  limits  of  the  tropics,  though  the  number 
of  species  with  such  a  distribution  is  comparatively  small.  Of  the  Old  World  forms, 
one  family  inhabits  parts  of  the  Australian,  Oriental,  and  Ethiopian  regions,  while  an- 
other is  restricted  to  Madagascar,  and  a  third  to  New  Zealand,  a  distribution  of  allied 
birds  which,  after  what  we  have  seen  on  preceding  pages,  cannot  be  strange  to  the 
readers  of  this  volume. 

A  considerable  diversity  of  form  is  shown  by  the  members  of  this  super-family. 
We  have  already  mentioned  the  different  tarsal  structure  to  be  found  amongst  them, 
but  the  bills  and  general  habitus  is  also  very  variable.  We  will  soon  be  introduced 
to  forms  which  resemble  the  starlings,  with  their  long  and  straight  bills ;  others  seem 
to  have  copied  the  thrushes,  while  again  others  have  all  the  superficial  look  of  a 
wren,  and  true  flycatchers  and  shrikes  are  closely  mimicked  by  tyrant-flycatchers  and 
the  '  American  bush-shrikes ' ;  even  the  '  conirostres,'  finches,  or  tanagers,  are  not 
unrepresented  in  the  clamatorial  Mesomyodi.  Indeed,  so  great  is  the  external 
resemblance  of  these  with  some  form  or  another  of  true  Oscines  that  before  their 
internal  structure  had  become  known  they  were  classed  with  the  isomorphic  oscinine 


RIFLEMAN.  465 

group.  This  parallellism,  however,  is  not  more  remarkable  or  inexplicable  than  the 
well-known  isomorphism  of  some  marsupials  and  placental  mammals,  and  'tenui- 
rostral,'  or  '  conirostral '  Clamatores  are  not  stranger  than  marsupial  '  Carnivora '  or 
'  Rodentia.' 

It  was  not  until  1882  that  the  XENICID^E  were  shown  to  be  mesomyodic,  and, 
consequently,  were  taken  from  the  Oscines,  having  formerly  been  placed  alternately 
in  the  families  Certhiidae,  Sittidae,  Troglodytidae,  and  Sylviidae.  In  support  of  their 
present  position  amongst  the  clamatorial  birds,  I  quote  the  following  summary  of  their 
characters  as  given  by  the  late  Professor  Forbes,  the  discoverer  of  their  true  relation- 
ship :  — 

"  JCenicus  and  Acanthisitta  are  true  mesomyodian  forms,  and  therefore  in  no 
intimate  degree  related  to  such  Oscines  as  Sitta,  Sitella,  or  other  '  Certhiida?,'  since 
the  syrinx  has  more  of  the  complex  nature  of  that  organ  in  the  Oscines,  and  there  is 
no  other  intrinsic  syringeal  muscle  than  the  thin  lateral  trachea!,  the  position  of 
which  is  that  characteristic  of  all  the  mesomyodian  Passeres,  resembling  somewhat  that 
of  Todus  (haplophone).  Externally  the  non-oscinine  structui'e  of  their  wings,  which 
have  a  '  first '  (tenth)  primary  nearly  as  long  as  the  following  (preceding)  one,  and  of 
the  tarsus,  which  is  non-bilaminate,  is  at  once  apparent.  Ten  rectrices.  No  trace 
of  plantar  vinculum.  Sternum  has  a  single  pair  of  posterior  notches.  Holorhinal. 
"Vomer  broad  and  deeply  emarginated  anteriorly,  the  maxillo-palatines  slender  and 
recurved.  Perhaps  nearest  to  Pittidae,  though  differing  in  many  respects." 

The  present  family  is  restricted  to  New  Zealand,  the  genus  Acanthisitta,  consisting 
of  one  or  possibly  two  species,  showing  some  resemblance  to  the  creepers,  except  for 
the  extremely  short  tail,  while  the  two  species  composing  the  genus  Xenicus  most 
remarkably  personate  our  small  short-tailed  wrens,  but  their  colors  show  considerable 
admixture  of  green.  X.  longipes  is  strictly  arboreal  in  its  habits,  while  X.  gilviven- 
tris,  according  to  Dr.  Haast,  is  found  in  the  high  Southern  Alps  of  New  Zealand,  ex- 
clusively amongst  the  large  taluses  of  debris  high  on  the  mountain  sides.  Instead  of 
flying  away  when  frightened,  or  when  stones  are  thrown  at  it,  or  even  when  shot  at, 
it  hides  itself  among  the  angular  debris.  Acanthisitta  chloris,  known  as  the  '  rifle- 
man,' especially  in  its  habits  resembles  the  creeper,  for  it  is  said  to  be  generally 
seen  running  up  the  boles  of  the  larger  trees,  often  ascending  spirally,  prying  into 
every  chink  or  crevice,  and  moving  about  with  such  celerity  that  it  is  rather  difficult 
for  the  collector  to  obtain  a  shot. 

From  New  Zealand  to  Madagascar  is  not  so  long  a  step,  ornithologically  speaking. 
The  PHILEPITTID^E  form  one  of  the  most  interesting  forms  of  the  latter  island.  They 
have  been  knocked  considerably  about  in  the  system,  and  Mr.  R.  B.  Sharpe  even  pro- 
posed to  make  them  a  sub-family  under  the  birds-of-Paradise,  while  A.  Milne-Edwards 
placed  them  next  to  the  Nectariniidae,  but  Forbes  showed,  a  few  years  ago,  that  they 
are  mesomyodian  with  broncho-tracheal  syrinx,  though  differing  enough  in  detail  to 
justify  their  position  as  a  separate  family.  The  most  remarkable  feature  in  regard  to 
the  intrinsic  muscles  is  that  at  the  lower  insertion  they  are  peculiarly  expanded, 
though  not  fixed  to  the  ends  of  the  bronchial  semi-rings,  which  are  peculiarly  modified. 
Of  external  characters  we  shall  only  call  attention  to  the  taxaspidean  tarsi,  the  rather 
long  wing-coverts,  and  the  short  tail,  a  peculiarity  which  the  Philepittce  have  in  com- 
mon with  all  the  Old  World  forms  of  the  present  super-family.  The  male  has  a  large 
lobed  and  nuked  caruncle  above  the  eyes,  and  both  sexes  possess  a  peculiar  penicil- 
lated  tongue.  Only  two  species  of  the  genus  Philepltta  are  known  —  P.  castanea  and 

VOL.   IV.  —  30 


466 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


P.  schleyelii.  Very  little  is  known  of  the  habits  of  these  interesting  birds.  The 
last  mentioned  species  is  said  to  hop  from  branch  to  branch,  mostly  in  pairs,  looking 
for  its  food,  which  consists  of  small  insects,  especially  coleopters. 

It  has  been  suggested  by  Mr.  J.  Gould  that  the  curious  Mellopitta  (or  Melampittd) 
lugubris  from  New  Guinea,  with  its  velvety  feathers  of  the  face,  might  form  the  tran- 
sition from  the  foregoing  family  to  that  of  the  PITTID^E  which  are  often  called  the 
*  Old  World  ant-thrushes,'  but  its  anatomy  is  yet  unknown,  and  we,  therefore,  leave 
it  with  the  latter,  at  least  provisionally. 

The  pittas,  on  account  of  the  form  of  their  bills  and  the  apparently  booted  tarsi, 
were  by  most  authors  held  to  be  nearly  related  to  the  thrushes  (Turdidae)  until  quite 
recently,  when  Garrod  demonstrated  their  mesomyodian  or  '  clamatorial '  nature  by 


FIG.  231.  — Pitta  coronata,  Bengal  pitta. 

actual  dissection,  thus  verifying  Dr.  Cabanis'  deduction  from  the  length  of  the  first 
(tenth)  primary.  The  skull  of  the  pittas  exhibits  one  feature  which  is  found  in  no 
other  passerine  bird,  viz.,  that  the  temporal  fossae  extend  across  the  occipital  region 
of  the  skull,  and  nearly  meet  in  the  middle  line  behind. 

The  species  figured  is  the  well-known  Indian  form  Pitta  coronata,  which  occurs 
from  the  Himalayas  to  Ceylon.  It  is  olivaceous  green  ;  the  head  olivaceous  ochre 
with  a  black  line  along  the  crown  and  one  underneath  each  eye  ;  throat  white,  but 
the  rest  of  the  under  surface  is  light  fawn-colored,  abdomen  and  under  tail-coverts 
strongly  washed  with  beautiful  rose-red  ;  the  upper  tail-coverts  and  the  smaller  upper 
wing-coverts  are  shining  sky-blue ;  on  the  wing  a  white  speculum. 

Alfred  Wallace  has  given  a  most  excellent  account  of  their  habits  and  distribution, 
from  which  we  make  copious  abstracts  in  the  following.  To  use  his  words,  the  pittas, 


PITTAS.  467 

or  ground-thrushes,  are  a  group  of  insectivorous  birds  which  inhabit  the  forests  of 
the  eastern  tropics,  and  are  generally  adorned  with  brilliant  and  strongly  contrasted 
colors.  The  rich  blues  and  crimsons,  the  delicate  greens,  yellows,  and  purples,  the 
velvety  black  and  pure  white  (three  of  which  tints  at  least  generally  adorn  each  spe- 
cies) remind  one  of  the  tanagers  of  South  America ;  and,  in  fact,  these  two  groups 
are  almost  the  only  ones  which  have  no  one  characteristic  tint  or  style  of  dress,  but 
whose  different  species  seem  free  to  adorn  themselves  with  the  brightest  hues  from 
Nature's  laboratory.  There  is,  however,  this  difference,  that,  whereas  the  tanagers  are 
a  dominant  group,  abounding  in  genera,  species,  and  individuals,  over  a  very  wide 
area,  and  presenting  to  our  view  much  variety  of  form  and  almost  every  possible  com- 
bination of  colors,  the  pittas  are  a  small  and  probably  decreasing  genus,  with  but  slight 
modifications  of  form,  and  alike  poor  in  species  and  in  individuals.  They  inhabit  a 
district  which  has  been  recently  broken  up  into  many  fragments,  and  which  seems  to 
have  been,  during  long  epochs  of  the  past,  in  an  unstable  and  ever-changing  condition. 
With  the  exception  of  the  West  African  P.  angolensis,  which  belongs  to  the  same 
section  of  the  genus  as  the  species  from  India  described  above,  all  the  pittas  belong 
to  the  Oriental  and  Australian  regions,  being  most  abundant  in  the  Malay  Archipelago, 
about  equally  divided  between  the  two  regions.  They  attain,  however,  their  maxi- 
mum of  beauty  and  variety  in  the  large  islands  of  Borneo  and  Sumatra,  from  whence 
they  diminish  in  numbers  in  every  direction,  one  species  being  found  in  North 
China,  and  only  a  few  in  Australia.  It  is  interesting  to  remark  that  the  species  which 
are  most  alike  form  a  section  which  spreads  over  the  whole  range  of  the  family, 
the  African  and  Chinese  as  well  as  one  of  the  Australian  species  all  belonging  to 
the  same  group  distinguished  by  its  comparatively  plainer  colors,  while  the  small 
islands  of  the  Malay  Archipelago  show  great  contrasts  in  coloration,  each  island  being 
usually  inhabited  by  a  distinct  species.  The  following  remarks  of  Dr.  Wallace 
illustrate  so  forcibly  several  cardinal  points  in  the  question  as  to  the  influence  of 
geographical  distribution,  or  the  origin  of  species,  that  we  cannot  refrain  from  quot- 
ing him  in  full. 

"It  is,"  he  says,  "interesting  to  remark  that  two  species  of  the  same  group  scarcely 
ever  inhabit  one  island  ;  where  two  or  more  species  are  found  in  an  island,  they  almost 
invariably  belong  to  as  many  distinct  sections  of  the  genus.  This  illustrates  Mr. 
Darwin's  theory  of  the  extermination  of  closely  allied  forms  by  the  more  dominant 
race,  and  also  of  the  effects  of  intercrossing  in  keeping  up  the  uniformity  of  a  species 
over  a  wide  area.  It  thus  happens  that  it  is  on  the  continent  that  the  species  have  the 
widest  range,  though  the  varieties  of  physical  condition  in  India,  from  the  Himalayas 
to  Ceylon,  must  certainly  be  greater  than  from  island  to  island  in  the  Archipelago. 
But  those  slight  modifications  which  tend  to  bring  a  species  into  more  exact  harmony 
with  surrounding  conditions  can  be  accumulated  and  rendered  constant  by 'natural 
selection '  in  an  island  where  intercrossing  with  the  forms  of  other  districts  is  impos- 
sible ;  while  on  a  continent  the  same  mode  of  action  will  be  very  often  neutralized  by 
the  intermingling  of  the  various  forms  which  must  occasionally  come  in  contact  with 
each  other,  except  where  the  habits  of  the  animal  are  much  opposed  to  locomotion. 
It  is  an  interesting  confirmation  of  this  theory  that  the  only  species  of  Pitta  which 
presents  any  well-marked  varieties  is  that  which  has  the  widest  range.  Two  or  three 
forms  of  P.  benr/alensis  [P.  coronata,  the  species  figured]  have  been  described  as 
distinct  species ;  but  it  is  found  that  these  forms  are  unstable,  and  graduate  into  each 
other.  We  have  here  an  evident  tendency  to  produce  distinct  forms,  which  inter- 


468  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

crossing  continually  prevents ;  but  if  continental  India  were  broken  up  into  three  or 
four  large  islands  (a  change  which  the  southern  extremity  of  Asia  has  already  under- 
gone), we  can  hardly  doubt  but  that  a  form  specially  adapted  to  the  conditions, 
physical  and  organic,  of  each  island  would  be  developed  by  natural  agencies  from  the 
variable  material  that  we  know  already  exists  there.  This  segregation  has  already 
taken  place  to  a  remarkable  extent  in  the  archipelago.  Generally  speaking,  each 
island,  or  little  group  of  islands,  has  its  peculiar  species  distinct  from  those  of  the 
islands  that  surround  it.  Some  of  these  cases  of  localized  species  are  among  the  most 
extraordinary  known.  The  little  island  of  Banda,  hardly  more  than  a  mile  across,  has 
a  species  peculiar  to  it.  Ternate,  a  mere  volcanic  satellite  of  Gilolo  (Halmahera),  and 
not  more  than  ten  miles  from  it,  has  a  Pitta  all  to  itself,  though  closely  allied  to  the 
distinct  species  which  inhabits  the  large  islands  of  Gilolo  and  Batchian.  The  small, 
rugged  metalliferous  island  of  Banca,  between  Sumatra  and  Borneo  (but  so  close  to 
the  former  island  as  to  seem  only  a  detached  fragment  of  it),  has  actually  two  species 
peculiar  to  itself ;  while,  what  is  still  more  strange,  the  two  allied  species  of  which 
they  seem  to  be  modifications  (P.  cyanoptera  and  P.  muelleri)  are  both  common  to 
the  great  islands  of  Sumatra  and  Borneo." 

This  latter  case  Dr.  Wallace  then  explains  by  showing  that  Banca  was  already 
isolated  at  a  time  when  Sumatra  and  Borneo  were  connected  with  the  Malay  penin- 
sula, and  that  the  nearness  of  Banca  and  Sumatra  is  quite  recent,  the  nearest  coast  of 
the  latter  consisting  of  a  soft  alluvial  soil,  newly-formed  by  the  action  of  tropical 
rains  on  the  mountains  way  back  in  the  interior. 

The  motions  of  the  pittas  he  describes  as  very  pleasing.  They  never  seem  to  hurry, 
and  yet  get  along  at  a  great  rate  by  hopping,  generally  on  the  ground,  but  occasion- 
ally perching  on  a  stump  or  bush,  and,  when  hard  pushed,  taking  a  long,  straight, 
and  silent  flight.  The  voice  of  the  smaller  species  he  met  with  was  a  plaintive  whis- 
tle of  two  notes,  the  second  lengthened  out  and  quickly  succeeding  the  first,  while 
the  larger  species  seem  to  have  three  notes.  The  pittas  seem  not  to  answer  to  their 
vernacular  name,  '  Old  World  ant-thrushes,'  as,  according  to  Wallace,  these  insects 
are  not  their  favorite  food,  which  chiefly  consists  of  coleopters,  small  orthopters,  and 
worms,  after  which  they  dig  with  their  powerful  bills. 

The  remaining  forms  of  the  present  super-family,  without  a  single  exception,  in- 
habit the  New  World  exclusively.  Garrod  discovered  a  peculiarity  in  the  structure 
of  some  of  them  already  mentioned,  viz.,  that  the  pipras  and  cotingas  have  the  femoral 
artery  developed,  in  a  word,  are  heteromerotis,  while  the  cock-of-the-rock  and  the 
tyrant-birds  agree  with  all  other  birds  in  having  the  sciatic  artery  performing  the  duty 
as  chief  artery  of  the  thigh,  or  are  homoeomerous.  We  are  absolutely  ignorant,  how- 
ever, of  the  taxonomic  value  of  this  character,  and  we  are  inclined  to  think  that  it  is 
of  no  more  account  from  a  systematic  point  of  view  than  is  in  most  cases  the  diversi- 
ties in  the  arrangement  of  the  carotids.  As,  moreover,  only  few  species  have  been 
investigated  as  to  the  vessels  of  the  thigh,  we  shall  disregard  this  character  altogether 
in  our  present  attempt. 

The  family  TYRANNID^E,  as  a  whole,  may  well  be  termed  tyrant-birds,  for  a  pugna- 
cious temper  and  a  tyrannical  irritability  towards  other  members  of  the  feathered 
tribes,  especially  the  rapacious  birds,  seems  to  pervade  the  whole  group.  Such  a  term 
is  the  more  expedient,  since  in  this  polytypical  family  of  more  than  three  hundred  and 
fifty  species,  it  is  difficult  to  invent  suitable  English  appellations  for  the  different  kinds, 
and  we  may  now  style  various  birds  tyrant-chats,  tyrant-wrens,  tyrant-flycatchers,  etc., 


TYRANT-BIRDS.  469 

according  to  the  more  or  less  obvious  resemblance  they  may  have  to  the  true  (osci- 
nine)  chats,  wrens,  or  flycatchers. 

The  family  is  not  difficult  to  define  by  means  of  external  characters,  as  the  tyrant- 
birds  have  exaspidean  tarsi,  and  the  outer  and  middle  toes  united  only  at  their  base,  as 
in  most  Passeres.  As  an  additional  character  may  be  added  that  the  bill  is  more  or 
less  hooked  at  the  .tip,  if  we  consider  the  genus  Oxyrhynchus  entitled  to  family  rank 
on  account  of  its  curious  straight  and  pointed,  lengthened  conical,  and  somewhat  star- 
ling-like bill.  The  anatomy  of  the  OXYRHYNCHIDJE,  however,  is  too  little  known  to 
allow  any  certain  conclusions,  and  if  the  form  of  the  bill  alone  is  taken  into  consider- 
ation such  a  separation  seems  hardly  defensible  in  view  of  its  great  variability  in  the 
Tyrannidae  proper,  in. which,  without  dissent,  are  included  birds  with  bills  as  different 
as  that  of  a  shrike,  a  warbler,  and  a  flycatcher.  The  species  6f  Oxyrhynchus  are  only 
two,  one,  O.frater,  from  Costa  Rica  and  Veragua,  the  other  from  Brazil.  The  colora- 
tion resembles  that  of  several  other  tyrant-birds,  being  green  with  a  fiery  orange 
crown  patch. 

The  systematic  arrangement  of  the  tyrants  is  a  matter  of  considerable  doubt,  as 
the  numerous  forms  on  one  hand  show  extreme  development  of  certain  characters, 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  they  grade  insensibly  into  each  other,  being  connected  all 
around  by  intermediate  forms.  We  shall,  therefore,  not  attempt  here  to  define  any 
sub-families,  contenting  ourselves  by  briefly  mentioning  the  most  noteworthy  forms. 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  tyrants  are  chiefly  tropical  birds,  —  only  one  tenth 
of  the  whole  number  entering  the  fauna  of  North  America,  —  the  great  bulk  of  the 
family  is  made  up  of  very  unsightly  birds  which  are  not  particularly  attractive,  either 
by  their  coloration,  by  their  form,  or  by  their  voice.  The  fundamental  coloration,  so 
to  speak,  seems  to  be  gray,  darker  above,  whitish  beneath,  but  a  common  modification 
is  that  the  whole  plumage  is  washed  with  yellow,  which  causes  the  back  to  become  olive 
and  the  under  surface  to  be  more  or  less  pure  yellow.  A  very  common  character  is 
the  shining  yellow  or  red  crown  patch  on  top  of  the  head,  more  or  less  hidden  when 
the  feathers  are  not  raised.  As  this  bright  spot  is  invariably  found  in  both  sexes,  the 
question  has  been  raised  whether  it  is  an  ornament  acquired  by  sexual  selection,  or 
whether  it  may  not  have  some  other  object.  Mr.  Charles  W.  Beckham  has  made  the 
following  suggestive  observations  on  our  common  king-bird,  or  bee-martin  (Tyrannus 
tyrannus)  : — 

"  Several  years  ago,  in  May,  I  saw  one  of  these  birds  occupying  an  exposed  perch 
on  a  pear-tree  in  bloom,  about  which  many  bees  were  darting.  Several  times  I  ob- 
served that  the  bird  caught  the  insects  without  leaving  his  perch  by  quickly  turning 
his. head  and  'grabbing'  them.  My  attention  being  thoroughly  aroused,  I  noticed 
that  many  of  them  seemed  to  fly  directly  towards  him  ;  the  majority  appearing  to 
*  shy  off '  at  a  short  distance  and  change  their  coui*se,  but  very  few  that  came  within 
reach  escaped  him.  The  question  naturally  suggests  itself :  Did  the  thrifty  Hymen- 
optera  mistake  the  fully  displayed  orange  red  crown  (I  could  see  that  the  crest  was 
erected)  for  a  flower?  Once  since  I  have  observed  the  same  phenomenon,  but  not  as 
well  as  upon  this  occasion.  Mr.  C.  C.  Nutting,  who  has  spent  considerable  time 
studying  the  birds  of  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua  in  their  native  haunts,  states  that  he 
has  seen  Muscivora  mexicana  perched  upon  a  twig,  and  waving  its  curious  and  bril- 
liant fan-shaped  crest  after  the  manner  of  a  flower  swayed  by  a  gentle  breeze,  and 
thus  attracting  insects  within  reach." 

Not  all  the  Tyrannidae,  however,  are  plainly  colored,  nor  is  the  family  without  such 


470  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

capricious  and  extraordinary  forms  as  the  tropics  usually  produce,  and  a  cursory 
glance  at  the  more  conspicuous  species  will  soon  convince  us  of  the  truth  hereof. 

Foremost  in  beauty  among  the  tyrants  is  the  graceful  'scissor-tail'  (Milvulus  for- 
ficatus)  which  inhabits  Central  America  and  some  of  our  southern  states  west  of  the 
Mississippi.  This  bird  is  about  as  large  as  our  common  king-bird,  but  the  tail  —  or 
more  correctly  the  three,  and  more  especially  the  two,  lateral  pairs  of  tail-feathers — 4 
is  enormously  lengthened,  the  length  of  the  tail  in  a  specimen  before  me  being  ten 
inches  and  a  half,  while  the  body  without  the  tail  is  not  more  than  four  inches  long. 
The  coloration  is  quite  unique,  being  above  of  a  very  delicate  and  light  hoary  gray, 
underneath  nearly  pure  white,  but  on  the  flanks  washed  with  a  most  exquisite  salmon 
red,  which  on  the  lower  tail-coverts  and  the  outer  rectrices  fad.es  into  a  lovely  rosy 
tinge,  while  the  feathers  surrounding  the  insertion  of  the  wing  and  those  forming 
the  concealed  crown  patch  are  fiery  scarlet.  A  few  remarks  on  the  habits  of  this 
splendid  member  of  our  North  American  fauna  may  be  welcome,  hence  we  transcribe 
the  following  from  Lieutenant  McCauley's  notes  on  the  birds  of  the  Red  River, 
Texas :  — 

"  This  peculiarly  beautiful  and  graceful  bird  was  one  of  the  species  most  frequently 
seen.  They  were  especially  active  in  the  evening,  just  before  dusk,  skimming  about 
in  pursuit  of  insects  with  wonderful  rapidity.  As  the  males  fly  about  the  camp  with 
their  mates,  in  the  twilight,  you  can  single  them  out  by  the  greater  length  of  their 
tails.  The  two  elegant  feathery  tines  cross  and  open  at  volition,  whence  the  ordinary 
simile  to  a  pair  of  scissors.  These  birds  are  grace  itself  when  on  wing,  darting  here 
and  there  as  quick  as  thought,  in  buoyant  sweeps  and  curves.  Even  the  teamsters 
call  them  '  mighty  pretty,'  and  no  one  wonders  that  the  '  Texicans '  brag  on  their 
beauty,  and  call  them  '  birds-of-Paradise.'  They  were  found  frequenting  the  fringe 
of  timber  bordering  the  streams  as  far  as  their  head-waters  in  the  Staked  Plain,  as 
well  as  along  the  streams  in  the  Indian  Territory,  all  draining  portions  of  the  Arkan- 
sas Basin.  They  ruled  the  wood  wherever  located,  and  not  only  repelled,  but  hotly 
pursued,  any  sparrow-hawk  that  ventured  near  their  homes,  and  even  maintained  au- 
thority over  the  king-bird." 

Other  forms  with  extremely  lengthened  outer  tail-feathers  are  the  large  and  hand- 
some Gubernetes  yetapa  from  Brazil,  gray  with  a  dark  chestnut  band  beneath  the  white 
throat,  and  Alectrurus  psalurus,  in  which  the  external  rectrices  are  denuded  at  the  base, 
and  the  webs  are  turned  vertically.  The  other  member  of  this  genus  (A.  tricolor) 
has  the  tail  folded  as  in  the  domestic  fowl,  and  the  inner  webs  of  the  middle  rectrices 
enormously  broadened  and  raised  above  the  rest. 

The  genus  Tcenioptera  and  its  allies  both  in  form  and  coloration  sti'ongly  remind. one 
of  the  Old  World  Saxicolce,  of  which  the  white-ear  is  a  familiar  representative ;  while 
the  kinglets  are  personated  by  the  thin-billed,  exceedingly  beautiful,  small  Gyanotis, 
the  head  of  which  is  ornamented  with  no  less  than  six  bright  colors  in  the  following 
order:  chin  white;  ear-patch  blackish  indigo;  superciliary  stripe  yellow  and  green; 
top  of  head  black,  relieved  in  the  middle  by  a  beautiful  crown  of  the  brightest  scarlet 
orange,  a  color  which  also  pervades  the  itnder  tail-coverts.  Here  also  belongs  the 
interesting  Anceretes  albocristatus,  a  bird  which  in  size  and  color  closely  resembles 
our  black-and-white  creeping  warbler  (Mniotilta),  but  which  has  a  white  crown,  bor- 
dered on  each  side  by  a  curious  horn-like  feather-tuft  above  each  eye,  somewhat  after 
the  fashion  of  certain  owls. 

The  central  group  is  occupied  by  a  large  number  of  species  of  small  or  medium 


TYRANT-BIRDS.  471 

size  with  rather  broad  and  depressed  bills,  among  which  are  our  common  tyrant-fly- 
catchers, pe\vees,  etc.,  belonging  to  a  number  of  genera,  the  distinctive  marks  of 
which  may  be  sought  for  in  the  special  and  formal  text-books.  We  shall  here  only 
point  out  a  single  form,  the  vermilion  fly-catcher  (Pyrocephalus  rubineus),  the  noi-th- 
ern  race  of  which  (mexicanus)  is  found  over  our  southern  border,  because  of  the  un- 
usual and  strongly  marked  sexual  difference,  and  of  the  exquisite  coloration  of  the 
male,  which  is  deep  rosy  vermilion,  with  a  silvery  white  ear-patch,  but  chiefly  on  ac- 
count of  its  musical  voice,  since  it  disproves  the  notion  that  the  mesomyodian  and 
oligomyodian  birds  must  necessarily  be  harsh  screamers.  Mr.  W.  H.  Hudson  has 
given  an  interesting  biography  of  the  '  churinche,'  as  this  species  is  called  in  South 
America,  from  which  \ve  select  the  following  relating  to  its  song  :  "  A  few  days  after 
their  arrival  the  churinches  pair,  and  the  male  selects  a  spot  for  the  nest  —  a  fork  in 
a  tree  from  six  to  twelve  feet  from  the  ground,  or  sometimes  a  horizontal  bough. 
This  spot  the  male  visits  about  once  a  minute,  sits  on  it  with  his  splendid  crest  ele- 
vated, tail  spread  out,  and  wings  incessantly  fluttering,  while  he  pours  out  a  continu- 
ous stream  of  silvery  gurgling  notes,  so  low  they  can  scarcely  be  heard  ten  paces  off, 
and  somewhat  resembling  the  sound  of  water  running  from  a  narrow-necked  flask, 
but  infinitely  more  rapid  and  musical.  He  is  exceedingly  pugnacions  ;  so  that  when 
not  fluttering  on  the  site  of  his  future  nest,  or  snapping  up  some  insect  on  the  wing, 
he  is  eagerly  pursuing  other  male  churinches,  apparently  bachelors,  from  tree  to  tree. 
At  intervals  he  repeats  his  remarkable  little  song,  composed  of  a  succession  of 
sweetly  modulated  metallic  trills  uttered  on  the  wing.  The  bird  usually  mounts  up- 
ward from  thirty  to  forty  yards,  and,  with  wings  very  much  raised  and  rapidly  vibrat- 
ing, rises  and  drops  almost  perpendicularly  half  a  yard's  space  five  or  six  times, 
appearing  to  keep  time  to  his  notes  in  these  motions.  This  song  he  frequently  utters 
in  the  night,  but  without  leaving  his  perch  ;  and  it  then  has  a  most  pleasing  effect,  as 
it  is  less  hurried  and  the  notes  seem  softer  and  more  prolonged  than  when  uttered 
by  day." 

Still  more  flattened  and  broadened  are  the  bills  of  the  small  species  of  Platyrhyn- 
chus,  which,  besides,  are  remarkable  for  their  extremely  short  tails,  while  the  still 
smaller  species  of  Todirostrum  have  similar  but  excessively  lengthened  bills. 

Finally,  as  examples  of  the  large  and  shrike-billed  forms,  the  king-birds,  may  be 
quoted  our  bee-martin  (Tyranmis  tyrannus),  the  case  of  which,  in  regard  to  its  alleged 
injuriousness  in  snapping  the  bees  away  as  compared  with  its  merits  in  defending  the 
farmer's  chickens  against  the  hawks,  will  soon  come  up  for  decision  by  the  ornitho- 
logical juries  of  this  country. 

It  would  take  us  too  far  were  we  to  go  to  relate  the  breeding  habits  of  the  differ- 
ent tyrant-birds,  but  we  may  briefly  touch  upon  an  interesting  point,  viz.,  how  much 
the  architecture  of  nearly  allied  birds  may  vary,  as  illustrated  by  the  difference  first 
pointed  out  by  Mr.  H.  W.  Henshaw  in  the  nests  of  the  two  small  species  of  Empid- 
onax,  of  Eastern  North  America,  E.  traillii  and  E.  acadicus,  which  are  so  alike  in 
their  external  appearance  that  they  have  frequently  been  mistaken  for  each  other 
even  by  experts.  Mr.  Henshaw  describes  the  former  as  follows:  "Hempen  fibres 
compose  the  exterior  or  the  bulk  of  the  nest,  while  internally  it  is  lined  in  true  fly- 
catcher style  with  fine  grasses  and  a  slight  admixture  of  down  from  thistles ;  the  main 
point  of  all,  however,  is  its  position  in  an  upright  fork,  the  small  twigs  that  surround 
it  being  made  available  to  secure  it  more  firmly  in  its  place  by  being  encircled  with 
the  stringy  fibres."  The  nest  of  the  Acadian  fly-catcher,  on  the  other  hand,  "  is  dis- 


472  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

posed  in  a  horizontal  fork.  It  is  a  slight  structure  made  of  fine  grasses,  interspersed 
more  or  less  with  the  blossoms  of  trees,  the  whole  disposed  in  a  circular  form,  and 
fitted  between  two  twigs.  The  entire  base  of  the  nest  is  without  support,  and  so  thin 
is  the  slight  structure  that  the  eggs  might  almost  be  seen  from  below." 

The  pipras,  or  manakins,  PIPRID^E,  like  the  foregoing  family,  have  exaspidean 
tarsi,  but  the  outer  and  middle  toes  are  connected  for  a  distance  of  two  joints,  hence 
the  feet  are  syndactylous.  Furthermore,  they  are  heteromerous,  as  already  men- 
tioned. The  pipras  are  mostly  small  birds,  and  nearly  confined  to  South  America, 
only  a  few  species  being  found  in  Central  America  and  Mexico.  The  sexes  are  very 
different  in  color,  the  females  usually  being  dull  greenish,  while  the  males  are  mostly 
very  gorgeously  colored,  generally  of  a  deep  glossy  black  relieved  by  the  most  brilliant 
scarlet,  yellow,  or  sky-blue.  Their  figure  is  somewhat  thick-set  and  the  tail  is  generally 
short  and  square,  but  forms  are  found  with  very  extraordinary  tail  ornaments,  and,  on 
the  whole,  the  tail  and  wings  seem  to  be  the  most  variable  parts,  while  the  bill  is  of  a 
very  uniform  shape  throughout  the  family,  being  short,  somewhat  vaulted,  and  broad 
at  base,  the  tip  of  the  upper  mandible  being  bent  over  the  under  one  and  notched  behind 
the  point. 

The  members  of  the  genus  Heteropelma  are  somewhat  different  from  the  general 
style  of  the  pipras,  being  larger,  and  both  sexes  similarly  dull  colored.  H.  verve-pads 
is  peculiar  to  Mexico  and  Central  America.  Among  the  more  conspicuous  forms  may 
be  mentioned  the  Pipra  filicauda  from  the  Amazon,  having  the  tail-feathers  pro- 
duced into  long  hair-like,  but  stiff,  threads ;  the  exquisitely  colored  P.  suavissima 
from  Demerara,  of  a  deep  velvety  black,  against  which  is  set  off  in  the  strongest  con- 
trast imaginable  the  glossy  sky-blue  of  the  rump,  the  bright  orange  of  the  abdomen, 
and  the  white  forehead  slightly  tinged  with  beryl  blue.  The  manakins  proper,  the  typi- 
cal species  of  which,  Manacus  manacus,  is  figured  on  the  plate  opposite  this  page,  are 
to  be  mentioned  on  account  of  the  beard-like  elongation  of  their  chin-feathers,  and  the 
attenuation  and  falcation  of  the  primaries.  The  species  figured  is  black,  gray,  and 
white,  exactly  as  shown  in  the  drawing,  the  gray  being  a  little  more  bluish  ;  and  hails 
from  northern  South  America,  while  M.  candei  from  Central  America  and  Mexico  has 
the  posterior  half  of  the  body  beautifully  tinged  with  yellow.  In  the  members  of  the 
genus  Chiroxiphia  we  meet  a  different  style  of  coloration,  the  back  usually  being 
light  blue,  while  the  head  is  adorned  with  a  crimson  crown  patch,  the  central  tail- 
feathers  are  often  more  or  less  lengthened,  and  the  frontal  and  nasal  feathers  show  a 
tendency  towards  the  velvety  antrorse  tufts,  which  reach  their  highest  development 
in  Masius  coronulatus  and  in  Antilophia  galeata,  both  velvety  black,  the  former  with 
top  of  the  head  and  the  tuft  yellow,  the  latter  with  the  same  parts,  including  the 
upper  neck  and  anterior  back  gloriously  crimson  scarlet.  Most  curious  in  form  and 
color,  however,  is  the  genus  Jfachceropterus.  The  typical  species  are  green  with  fiery 
red  crown,  and  the  lower  surface  most  curiously  striped  brown  and  whitish  lengthwise. 
The  inner  secondaries  have  the  shafts  thickened  and  hardened,  ending  in  a  pointed 
claw,  a  structure  carried  out  to  an  excessive  degree  in  the  more  uniformily  chestnut- 
colored  M  deliciosa.  Dr.  Ph.  L.  Sclater,  who  originally  described  this  species,  gives 
the  following  account  of  this  odd  structure  of  Aving :  "  The  ten  primaries  are  of  the 
ordinary  formation  of  birds  of  this  family.  The  first  three  secondaries  are  thick- 
stemmed,  and  curved  towards  the  body  at  a  distance  of  about  two  thirds  of  their 
length  from  the  base.  The  fourth  and  fifth  show  this  structure  to  a  greater  degree, 
with  same  corresponding  alteration  in  the  barb  on  each  side,  as  may  be  seen  from  Fig. 


Manacus  manacus,  manakin. 


liiti>iculu  nu>icula,  cock-of-the-roek. 


COCK-OF-THE-R  OCK. 


473 


FIG.  232.  —  a,  fifth  and  b,  sixth  secondaries 
of  the  male  Machaeroptenu  dvltciosa  from 
above  ;  c,  seventh  secondary  from  below. 


232,  a  representing  the  upper  surface  of  the  fifth  secondary  of  the  male  bird.  In  the 
sixth  and  seventh  secondaries  of  the  male,  the  terminal  half  of  the  rachis  is  thickened 
to  an  extraordinary  degree,  forming  a  solid  horny  lump.  The  external  and  internal 
barbs  are  also  much  modified  in  shape,  and  generally  curtailed  in  size.  Mr.  Fraser 
states  that  the  wing-bones  of  these  birds  were  also 
much  thickened,  no  doubt  in  aid  of  this  abnormal 
structure  of  the  wing." 

The  pipras  are  said  to  resemble  our  tits  and 
chickadees  in  their  habits,  hopping  about  in  the 
lower  bushes  and  partly  nesting  on  the  ground. 
Chiroxiphia  cauclata  is  known  in  Brazil  as  the 
'  dansador,'  on  account  of  a  peculiar  play  or  dance 
which  often  is  performed  when  a  few  of  them  are 
together.  One  of  them  keeps  up  whistling  with  all 
his  might  while  the  others  are  jumping  and  danc- 
ing on  the  twigs  round  about  him ;  when  he  gets 
tired  he  is  relieved  by  another  bird,  and  he  him- 
self joins  the  dancing  chorus. 

The  so-called  cock-of-the-rock  (Rupicola)  takes 
a  position  somewhat  intermediate  between  the 
Pipridse  and  the  COTINGID^E,  inasmuch  as  it  is  syndactylous,  like  the  former,  but 
pycnaspidean,  like  the  latter  family.  It  has,  consequently,  by  ornithologists,  been 
referred  to  one  of  them  as  well  as  to  the  other.  Taking  into  consideration  that  it  is 
homceomerous,  like  most  other  birds,  the  supposition  seems  not  unreasonable  that  it  is 
more  nearly  related  to  the  ancestral  stock  than  the  pipras  and  the  cotingas  proper,  and 
that  all  three  should  be  united  in  the  same  family. 

This  singular  bird,  which  is  well  figured  on  the  plate  facing  page  472,  is  of  a  beau- 
tiful orange-yellow  color,  with  a  curiously  compressed  and  rounded  crest  on  the  head, 
somewhat  resembling  that  of  the  quezal,  and  nearly  concealing  the  upper  mandible. 
The  female  is  much  plainer,  being  of  a  dull  olive  brownish.  Another  species  is 
JK.  peruviana,  very  similarly  colored,  but  the  crest  without  tte  subapical  brownish 
band.  The  intensity  of  the  red  in  the  orange  color  seems  to  vary  according  to  the 
geographical  distribution,  two  additional  races  being  perhaps  recognizable,  It.  peru- 
viana saturata  and  JK.  peruviana  sanguinolenta.  The  females  are  of  a  dull  olivaceous 
brown.  The  cocks-of-the-rock  are  restricted  to  the  interior  parts  of  northern  South 
America.  Being  of  the  size  of  a  magpie,  they  of  course  are  very  showy,  and  have 
always  attracted  great  attention,  not  the  least  because  of  the  peculiar  plays  and  dances 
which  the  males  perform  in  the  breeding  season.  They  meet  at  certain  places,  and  the 
females  are  interested  spectators,  the  whole  performance  strongly  reminding  of  similar 
games  among  the  gallinaceous  birds.  A  visit  to  the  breeding  place  of  R.  sangui- 
nolenta is  described  by  Mr.  T.  K.  Salmon  as  follows :  "  I  once  went  to  see  the  breed- 
ing  ]»lace  of  the  cock-of-the-rock  ;  and  a  darker  or  wilder  place  I  have  never  been  in. 
Following  up  a  mountain  stream  in  the  district  of  Frontino  (State  of  Antioquia),  the 
gorge  became  gradually  more  enclosed,  and  more  rocky,  till  I  arrived  at  the  mouth  of 
a  cave,  with  high  rock  on  each  side,  and  overshadowed  by  high  trees,  into  which 
the  sun  never  penetrated.  All  was  wet  and  dark,  and  the  only  sound  heard  the 
rushing  of  the  water  over  the  rocks.  We  had  hardly  become  accustomed  to  the 
gloom  when  a  nest  was  found,  a  dark  bird  stealing  away  from  what  appeared  to  be  a 


474  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

lump  of  mud  upon  the  face  of  the  rock.  This,  upon  examination,  proved  to  be 
a  nest  of  the  '  cock-of-the-rock,'  containing  two  eggs;  it  was  built  upon  a  projecting 
piece,  the  body  being  made  of  mud  or  clay,  then  a  few  sticks,  and  on  the  top  lined 
with  green  moss.  It  was  about  five  feet  from  the  water.  I  did  not  see  the  male 
bird ;  nor,  indeed,  have  I  hardly  ever  seen  male  and  female  birds  together,  though  I 
have  seen  both  sexes  in  separate  flocks."  The  eggs  are  described  as  pale  buff,  spotted 
with  various  sized  spots,  of  shades  from  red-brown  to  pale  lilac,  chiefly  at  the  large 
end. 

The  greater  number  of  the  species  of  the  Cotingidaa  are  plain-colored,  gray,  rufous, 
or  greenish,  as,  for  instance,  most  species  belonging  to  the  genera  Tityra,  Pachy- 
rhamphus,  Lipaugus,  etc.,  though  even  among  these  rather  modest  forms  there  are 
some  which  are  more  or  less  highly  adorned.  Amongst  these  is  the  rose-breasted  '  fly- 
catcher,' Hadrostomus  aglaice,  gray,  with  a  beautiful  crimson  rosy  patch  on  the  breast, 
which  just  enters  our  fauna  across  the  southern  frontier.  Nevertheless,  the  cotingas 
are  generally  considered  especially  bright-colored  and  curiously  adorned  birds,  on 
account  of  the  unrivalled  splendor  and  marvellous  ornaments  of  a  number  of  tropical 
forms,  chiefly  from  the  northern  parts  of  South  America.  From  Central  America  we 
have  the  exquisite  Carpodectes,  white  all  over,  with  a  delicate  tinge  of  bluish  gray 
washed  over  the  upper  surface  ;  from  Guiana  to  Brazil  are  found  the  deep  purplish- 
carmine  Xipholcena,  with  white  remiges,  and  the  great  wing-coverts  singularly  length- 
ened, narrowed,  and  stiffened  like  a  woodpeckei-'s  tail-feathers ;  the  glorious  Cotiixja, 
shining  azure  blue,  with  purple  throat,  from  the  same  countries ;  the  greenish,  fork- 
tailed  Phibalura  from  Brazil,  and  the  small,  pipra-like  lodopleura,  curious  on  account 
of  the  rare  lilac  color  of  the  sides  of  the  body  hidden  under  the  wings.  All  these  are 
well  known  and  conspicuous  members  of  the  group,  the  females  of  which  are  plainly 
colored,  mostly  gray.  But  while  these  forms  excite  our  admiration,  a  number  of  oth- 
ers exhibit  features  and  ornaments  so  odd  as  to  completely  amaze  the  observer  when 
first  introduced  to  them.  Most  of  these  are  rather  large  birds,  the  Pyroderus  reach- 
ing the  size  nearly  of  a  crow.  It  would  take  too  much  space  were  we  to  mention  all 
of  them,  hence  we  only  offer  some  few  remarks  on  the  species  figured  on  our  plate. 

The  first  to  come  in  for  our  consideration  is,  then,  the  curious  umbrella-bird 
(Cephalopterus  ornatus),  black  all  over,  varied  with  metallic  blue  reflections,  and  of 
the  size  of  a  crow ;  as  Mr.  Wallace  says,  were  it  not  for  its  crest  and  neck  plume,  it 
would  appear  to  an  ordinary  observer  nothing  more  than  a  short-legged  crow.  The 
same  gentleman,  who  met  the  species  on  the  Amazon,  thus  describes  the  ornaments 
from  the  fresh  bird  as  follows  :  "  The  crest  is  perhaps  the  most  fully  developed  and 
beautiful  of  any  bird  known.  It  is  composed  of  long,  slender  feathers,  rising  from  a 
contractile  skin  on  the  top  of  the  head.  The  shafts  are  white,  and  the  plume  glossy 
blue,  hair-like,  and  curved  outward  at  the  tip.  When  the  crest  is  laid  back,  the  shafts 
form  a  compact  white  mass,  sloping  up  from  the  top  of  the  head,  and  surmounted  by 
the  dense,  hairy  plumes.  Even  in  this  position  it  is  not  an  inelegant  crest,  but  it  is 
when  it  is  fully  opened  that  its  peculiar  character  is  developed.  The  shafts  then 
radiate  on  all  sides,  from  the  tip  of  the  head,  reaching  in  front  beyond  and  below  the 
top  of  the  beak,  which  is  completely  hid  from  view.  The  other  singular  appendage 
of  this  bird  is  the  neck  plume.  On  examining  the  structure  of  this  plume,  it  is  found 
not  to  be  composed  of  feathers  only,  growing  from  the  neck.  The  skin  of  the  neck 
is  very  loose ;  looser  and  larger,  in  fact,  than  in  any  bird  I  know  of.  From  the  lower 
part  grows  a  cylindrical  fleshy  process  about  as  thick  as  a  goose-quill,  and  an  inch  and 


PLANT-CUTTERS. 


475 


a  half  long.  From  this  grow  the  feathers  to  the  very  point,  thus  producing  the  beau- 
tiful cylindrical  plume  quite  detached  from  the  breast,  and  forming  an  ornament  as 
unique  and  elegant  as  the  crest  itself." 

The  other  bird  figured  is  the  male  of  the  naked-throated  bell-bird  (  Casmarhincos 
n>t<Hcollis),  white,  with  the  naked  parts  green,  inhabiting  the  dense  forests  of  Brazil. 
With  its  congeners  it  is  especially  celebrated  for  its  extraordinary  voice,  which  is 
compared  with  the  tolling  of  a  bell,  or  the  sound  produced  by  the  blows  of  a  hammer 
on  an  anvil.  Two  of  the  species  have  most  remarkable  caruncles  on  the  base  of  the 
bill,  the  'Campanero'  (C.  niveus)  from  Cayenne,  having  one  fleshy,  erectile,  and 
cylindrical  appendage  nearly  three  inches  long,  black  of  color,  and  ornamented  with 
small,  white,  star-like  feathers,  while  C.  tricarimculatus,  from  Costa  Rica,  has  three 
enormous  band-like  caruncles  on  the  forehead  where  it  joins  the  bill,  and  one  on  each 
side  at  the  corner  of  the  mouth. 

The  cotingas  are  very  much  like  enlarged  pipras,  and  have  also  some  resemblance 
to  our  cedar-birds  (Ampelis),  hence  they  were  formerly  classed  with  the  latter.  Their 
structure,  outside  of  the  peculiar  ornaments  already  referred  to,  is  rather  uniform. 
Their  diet  is  a  mixed  one,  consisting  chiefly  of  fruits  and  insects. 

We  have  finally  to  mention  the  last  family  of  the  present  super-family,  the  plant- 
cutters,  PHYTOTOMID^E,  with  a  single  genus  (Phytotomd)  consisting  of  a  few  species 
ranging  from  Bolivia  to  the  Argentine  Republic  and  Chili.  In  their  external  appear- 
ance they  closely  resemble  some  conirostral  oscines,  with  which  they  have  been  often 
associated  in  the  systemot.  The  coloration  is  brownish,  streaked 
with  black,  but  their  internal  structure  is  very  interesting  since 
they  represent  the  finches  among  the  mesomyodian  Passeres ; 
hence  we  are  obliged  to  go  a  little  into  detail. 

The  skull  of  the  plant-cutter  is  described  by  Parker  as  on 
the  whole  "  a  most  remarkable  and  evidently  ancient  form, 
although  unique  in  many  of  its  characters."  According  to  his 
nomenclature,  its  palatal  structure  (Fig.  233)  is  compound  aegi- 
thognathous  of  the  feebler  type  occurring  in  some  mesomyodian 
forms,  for  instance  Pitta,  Pipra,  Thamnophilus,  and  which  is 
characterized  as  a  kind  of  passerine  desmognathism  produced 
by  the  maxillaries  coalescing  with  the  ossified  alinasal  wall,  but 
not  with  the  nasal  septum  as  is  the  case  with  the  oscinine  palates 
of  the  compound  type.  In  many  other  points  the  palate  of 
I'Jii/totoma,  especially  in  its  anterior  part,  shows  considerable 
resemblance  to  some  of  the  oscinine  conirostres  ;  in  the  former 
there  is  a  row  of  clearly  defined  denticles,  both  along  the  den- 
1:iryand  palatine  ridges  of  the  premaxillary.  Professor  Parker 
imagines  that  these  knobs  are  "remains  of  what  are  apparently  but  recently  lost  teeth 
—  that  is,  speaking  palajontologically," — an  interpretation  which  to  us  seems  doubtful, 
to  say  the  least.  Altogether  the  palate,  in  spite  of  its  adaptation  to  a  bill  isornor- 
phous  with  that  of  the  tanagers  and  finches,  shows  near  relationship  to  that  of  the 
< >tl i er  members  of  the  present  super-family,  besides  that  mentioned  above,  for  instance, 
in  the  spur-like  process  from  the  maxillo-palatines  postero-externally ;  but  entirely 
unique,  in  the  present  order,  are  the  plover-like  nasal-gland  grooves  ;it  the  orbital  eave. 
We  fully  agree  with  Professor  Parker  that  the  plant-cutter  "  is  marked  off  from  its  near- 
est known  congeners  —  a  species  representing  a  genus,  and  even  a  family,  quite  unique." 


.d 


mxp 


FH..  i::i;!.  —  1'alate  of  1'lnj- 
totoma:  <l,  deiitiolus:  /n.r/i, 
maxillo-palatines  ;  jit, 
palatines ;  pt,  pterygoius; 
v,  voiner. 


476  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

The  plant-cutters  are  charged  with  being  extremely  injurious  to  the  farmers,  since 
with  their  serrated  bills  they  cut  the  young  and  tender  sprouts  and  buds,  doing  great 
damage  to  the  plantations  where  they  occur  in  any  numbers.  Their  habits  are  said 
to  resemble  those  of  the  tanagers  of  the  genus  Saltator.  Being  a  '  clamatorial '  bird, 
the  Phytotoma  has  a  cry  which  "  could  not  be  much  more  disagreeable,  as  it  resem- 
bles the  noise  made  by  the  grating  of  the  teeth  of  one  saw  against  those  of  another." 

We  have  already  designated  the  tracheophonous  mesomyodic  Passeres  as  FOR- 
MICAROIDE^E,  or  ant-birds,  and  it  remains  now  only  to  treat  briefly  of  the  different 
families  belonging  to  the  super-family  defined  in  the  above  words.  At  the  outset, 
however,  we  may  remark  that  the  present  group,  which  embraces  about  five  hundred 
species,  is  absolutely  confined  to  the  Neotropical  Region,  not  a  single  species  being 
known  to  occur,  even  accidentally,  within  the  limits  of  North  America,  nor  have  any 
ever  been  found  in  any  part  of  the  Old  World.  It  is  also  noteworthy  that  this  super- 
family  is  entirely  absent  from  the  West  Indies. 

In  having  depressed  beaks  and  exaspidean  tarsi,  the  COSTOPOPHAGID^E  agree  with 
the  tyrant-birds,  with  which  they  are  most  commonly  classed.  Their  position  in 
the  present  super-family,  however,  is  clearly  dictated  by  the  tracheal  position  of  the 
syrinx,  which,  by  the  way,  has  no  intrinsic  muscles.  That  their  correct  place  is  here, 
is  furthermore  demonstrated  by  several  other  features,  in  which  they  agree  especially 
writh  members  of  the  following  family,  the  Pteroptochida?,  viz.,  the  four-notched  ster- 
num and  the  quasi-picarian  insertion  of  the  tensor  patagii  brevis  tendon,  the  returning 
portion  of  which  is  concealed  by  the  muscular  fibres  at  the  origin  of  the  extensor 
metacarpi  muscle,  as  discovered  by  Forbes. 

This  family  comprises  two  genera,  if  Corythopis  really  belongs  here,  and  a  little 
more  than  a  dozen  species,  confined  to  tropical  South  America.  They  are  small  birds, 
of  sparrow-size  and  smaller,  Conopophaga,  with  extremely  short  tail,  and  the  typical 
species  with  a  white,  silky  feather-pencil  behind  the  eyes.  The  ant-pipits,  as  Corytho- 
pis may  be  termed,  have  normal  tails  and  a  general  resemblance  in  form  and  colora- 
tion to  the  oscinine  pipits.  Sundevall  places  this  genus  with  the  Formicariidae.  Very 
little,  if  anything,  is  known  in  regard  to  the  habits  of  these  birds. 

Like  the  foregoing  family,  the  PTEROPTOCHID^E  have  a  four-notched  sternum,  and 
a  masked  passerine  insertion  of  the  tensor  patagii  brevis,  but  their  tarsi  are  taxaspi- 
dean.  In  their  palate,  however,  they  exhibit  quite  an  oscinine  feature,  their  maxillo- 
palatines  being  slender  processes  curved  backwards.  In  their  external  appearance 
some  of  them,  at  least,  resemble  the  wrens  very  much,  —  so  much,  indeed,  that  one  of 
the  earliest  known  species  of  the  family  was  originally  described  as  Troglodytes  para- 
doxus,  and  some  of  the  young  Scytalopus  are  amazingly  like  our  winter-wren.  In 
this  respect,  as  also  in  the  four-notched  sternum,  they  agree  with  the  Australian  genus 
Atrichornis,  and  might  have  fitly  been  termed  ant-wrens,  had  the  latter  name  not 
already  been  given  to  another  group  of  the  Tracheophonae.  From  the  true  wrens 
they  are  easily  distinguished  externally  by  the  long  first  (tenth)  primary,  the  taxas- 
pidean  tarsus,  and  the  peculiar  operculum  overhanging  the  nostrils.  The  family  con- 
sists of  less  than  two  dozen  species,  most  of  which  are  restricted  to  the  zoological 
province  embracing  Chili  and  western  Patagonia,  two  generic  types  being  entirely 
peculiar  to  this  region. 

In  accordance  with  their  skulking  habits,  the  general  coloration  of  the  Pteropto- 
chida? is  dusky  brownish,  or  blackish,  and  none  are  especially  remarkable,  either  on 
account  of  color  or  any  striking  external  peculiarity,  except,  perhaps,  Acropternis 


Cephalopterus  ornatus,  umbrella-bird. 


Casiuarhincos  nudicollis,  naked-throated  bell-bird. 


ANT-BIRDS.  477 

orthonyx,  from  Ecuador  and  the  United  States  of  Colombia,  which  "  is  readily  known 
by  the  extraordinary  flat,  oval  shield  into  which  the  culmen  is  developed,  and  the  lon^, 
straight  hind  claw.  Its  ocellated  plumage  is  likewise  unique  among  the  Passeres," 
and  reminds  one  forcibly  of  some  small  Gallinaceous  birds. 

Darwin  gives  interesting  accounts  of  several  of  the  species.  Of  Hylactes  tarnii 
he  says  that  it  is  called  by  the  native  Indians  guid-guid,  but  by  the  English  sailors 
the  barking-bird,  a  name  very  well  applied,  since  the  noise  it  utters  is  precisely  like 
the  yelping  of  a  small  dog.  It  feeds  exclusively  on  the  ground,  in  the  thickest  and 
most  entangled  parts  of  the  forest,  and  rarely  takes  wing,  but  hops  quickly  and  with 
great  vigor,  carrying  the  short  tail  in  a  nearly  erect  position.  H.  megapodius  is 
called  by  the  Chilenians  '  El  Turco.'  "  Its  appearance  is.  very  strange,  and  almost 
ludicrous,  and  the  bird  seems  always  anxious  to  hide  itself.  It  does  not  run,  but  hops, 
and  can  hardly  be  compelled  to  take  flight.  The  vai-ious  cries  which  it  utters,  when 
concealed  in  the  bushes,  are  as  strange  as  its  appearance." 

Apparently  closely  allied  to  the  foregoing  family,  though  with  only  two  sternal 
notches  and  normal  passerine  insertion  of  the  tensor  patagii  brevis,  is  the  taxaspidean 
family  FOKMICARIID^E,  a  large  and  characteristic  South  American  group  of  consid- 
erably over  two  hundred  species,  which  seems  to  be  eminently  natural.  Mr.D'Orbigny 
remarks  as  follows :  "  All  the  species  of  this  family,  independently  of  their  being  of 
the  same  habits,  have  a  fades  which  unites  them  together.  Their  most  salient  traits 
are  the  long,  slender  tarsi  and  toes,  the  exterior  toe  united  to  the  middle  at  its  base, 
the  moderate  claws,  the  fine  elongated  feathering  of  the  rump,  and,  in  particular,  the 
spots  of  white  which  occupy  the  base  of  the  interscapularies  in  the  wings  of  nearly 
all  the  males." 

The  present  family  is  divisible  in  three  groups,  which  have  been  termed  sub- 
families, viz.,  the  ant-shrikes  (Thamnophilinae),  strongly-built  birds,  with  a  strong,  deep 
and  compressed  bill,  hooked  and  toothed  at  the  end,  and  a  long,  broad-feathered, 
much-rounded  tail,  presenting  a  great  resemblance  to  the  genuine,  oscinine  shrikes. 
The  sexes  are  very  differently  colored,  the  males  being  varied  with  black  and  white, 
the  females  with  brown.  The  ant-wrens  (Forrnicivorinae)  are  smaller  and  weaker, 
with  slenderer,  scarcely  hooked  bill.  The  tail  varies  much,  being  in  some  genera  veiy 
long,  and  in  others  extremely  short.  Sexes  as  in  the  foregoing  group,  with  but  few 
exceptions;  The  members  of  the  third  group  are  called  ant-thrushes  (FormicariinaB), 
and,  except  in  regard  to  coloration,  are  very  much  like  the  pittas,  having  long  tarsi, 
large  feet,  a  thrush-like  bill,  and  an  extremely  short,  square  tail ;  and,  like  their  Old 
World  relatives,  their  habits  are  entirely  terrestrial.  The  sexes  are  usually  colored 
alike.  These  sub-families  are  not  very  trenchantly  defined,  intermediate  forms  occur- 
ring all  around ;  and  Mr.  Sclater,  from  whose  synopsis  of  the  present  family  the  above 
is  mostly  borrowed,  freely  admits  that  it  is  difficult  to  draw  a  precise  line,  and  say 
where  one  sub-family  ought  to  end  and  the  other  to  begin. 

It  is  entirely  out  of  question  to  go  into  detail  concerning  the  different  genera  or 
species,  or  their  habits  individually,  for  they  are  not  particularly  attractive  to  the 
general  reader,  and  the  habits,  as  far  as  they  are  known,  seem  to  be  rather  uniform. 
On  the  whole,  they  are  birds  of  very  retired  manners  of  life,  spending  their  time 
amongst  the  densest  and  thorniest  thickets.  Curiously  enough,  nearly  all  of  these  non- 
oscinine  birds  are  said  to  possess  voices  of  special  ventriloqual  power,  though  Mr.  Sal- 
mon, as  will  be  seen  from  the  following  quotation  of  his  account  of  the  habits  of 
Grallaria  ntficapilla,  explains  the  omnipresence  of  the  voice  as  the  result  of  the  bird's 


478  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

own  ubiquity.  He  says :  "  In  the  morning,  and  shortly  before  sunset,  may  be  heard 
a  melancholy  cry,  as  this  ant-thrush  creeps  amongst  the  brushwood.  Many  times  have 
I  followed,  to  obtain  a  specimen,  and,  after  a  tough  scramble  of  an  hour,  given  it  up 
for  a  bad  job.  At  one  time  you  seem  to  stand  right  upon  it,  and  a  moment  after  you 
hear  it  four  yards  off ;  again  you  reach  the  spot,  and  you  hear  it  twenty  yards  behind 
you ;  you  return,  then  it  is  to  the  right ;  soon  after,  you  hear  it  on  the  left.  At  first 
you  imagine  the  bird  has  the  power  of  a  ventriloquist ;  but,  by  dint  of  patience  and 
watching,  you  may  see  it  creeping  swiftly  and  silently  among  the  grass  and  brush- 
wood in  places  where  it  has  to  pass  a  rather  more  open  spot,  and  the  mystery  is 
explained.  The  nest  is  also  difficult  to  obtain  ;  it  is  placed  at  some  height  from  the 
ground,  and  made  of  a  mass  of  roots,  dead  leaves,  and  moss,  lined  with  roots  and 
fibres.  The  eggs  are  two  in  number,  rather  round  and  blue." 

In  now  turning  to  the  last  two  families  of  the  present  super-family,  which  are  dis- 
tinguished from  the  rest  by  having  endaspidean  tarsi,  we  have  to  remind  the  reader  of 
an  osteological  character,  of  which  we  heard  considerable  during  the  earlier  part  of  this 
volume.  It  will  be  remembered  that  several  'swimmers'  and  'waders'  distinguished 

O 

themselves  from  others  of  these  antiquated  'orders,'  and  from  most  other  birds,  by 
being  schizorhinal,  that  is,  by  having  the  posterior  angle  of  the  external  nares  passing 
behind,  instead  of  in  front  of,  the  ends  of  the  nasal  processes  of  the  przemaxillae,  all 
other  birds  being  holorhinal.  Picarians  and  Passeres  were,  therefore,  all  considered 
holorhinal  until  Garrod,  in  1877,  demonstrated  that  certain  tracheophone  Passeres, 
regarded  as  belonging  to  the  family  Dendrocolaptida9,  are  schizorhinal,  like  the  plovers 
and  gulls.  Curiously  enough,  this  specialization,  which  is  quite  unique  in  the  order, 
is  combined  with  slender  maxillo-palatines,  curved  backwards,  as  in  the  Oscines,  a  fea- 
ture only  found  elsewhere  in  the  Pteroptochidas  among  mesomyodian  Passeres.  The 
significance  of  these  structures  is  not  quite  clear  yet,  but  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  the 
schizorhinal  Formicarioideae  form  a  very  natural  group,  since  it  is  very  improbable 
that  such  a  unique  development  should  have  started  independently  in  two  or  more 
forms.  We  therefore  accept  it  as  indicating  family  relations,  following  Garrod's 
proposition  in  dividing  the  endaspidean  Formicarioideaa  in  the  holorhinal  Dendroco- 
laptida?  and  the  schizorhinal  Furnariidae. 

The  DENDROCOLAPTID^E,  or  woodhewers,  represent  the  woodpeckers  in  the  meso- 
myodian series,  chiefly  on  account  of  the  pointed  and  stiffened  tail-feathers,  the  ends 
of  which  are  denuded,  and  in  some  forms  quite  claw-like.  The  object  of  this  peculiar 
structure  of  the  rectrices  is  the  same  as  in  the  woodpeckers,  that  is,  to  support  the 
bird  when  climbing  on  the  trunks  of  trees,  as  by  being  pressed  against  the  bark  it 
prevents  the  bird  from  slipping  backwards.  The  foot  is  not  zygodactylous,  how- 
ever, though  it  is  nearly  as  peculiar  and  specialized  for  the  purpose  of  climbing.  The 
outer  toe  is  about  as  long  as  the  middle  one,  and  this  is  considerably  longer  than 
the  innermost  toe,  thus  giving  the  foot  a  very  singular  appearance,  the  more  so 
since  all  three  toes  are  closely  bound  together  at  the  base  for  the  whole  length  of  the 
first  phalanx.  The  bill,  on  the  other  hand,  presents  no  resemblance  to  the  wedge- 
shaped  chisel  of  the  woodpeckers,  it  being  more  or  less  curved,  generally  quite  slen- 
der, and  often  extraordinarily  lengthened,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  genus  Nasica.  It 
is  therefore  easy  to  understand  that  the  Dendrocolaptidaa  do  not  use  their  bills  as 
hammers  or  axes  in  digging  holes  in  the  solid  wood  of  trees,  like  the  woodpeckers. 
Some  species,  as,  for  instance,  the  typical  Denclrocolaptes,  which  are  marked  with 
dense  dusky  cross-bars,  recall,  in  their  coloration,  certain  brown  Indian  woodpeckers, 


OVEN-BIRDS.  479 

but  the  characteristic  red  ornaments  of  the  latter  are  entirely  absent.  A  peculiar 
style  of  coloration  pervades  the  whole  family,  however,  all  the  species  being  of  some 
shade  of  brown,  usually  with  the  secondaries,  rump,  and  tail  rufous,  while  the  breast, 
and  often  the  head  and  the  back,  are  adorned  with  whitish  drop-spots  or  shaft-streaks. 
Indeed,  so  uniform  is  the  aspect  of  all  the  members  of  the  family,  that  we  see  no  rea- 
son for  specially  mentioning  any  particular  species,  inasmuch  as  the  habits,  which, 
however,  are  very  little  known,  seem  to  be  equally  uniform.  Their  movements  on  the 
trees  are  said  to  be  just  like  those  of  the  woodpeckers.  The  species  of  woodhewers 
are  not  very  numerous,  hardly  more  than  some  eighty  being  known,  ranging  from 
Chili  and  La  Plata  to  Mexico. 

Representatives  of  the  different  types  of  the  FURNARIID^E  have  been  examined  as 
to  the  structure  of  the  nares,  and  have  been  found  to  be  schizorhinal.  We  are,  there- 
fore, justified  in  presuming  that  this  condition  is  a  character  shared  by  the  other  spe- 
cies, and  peculiar  to  the  family.  Externally,  they  differ  from  the  Dendrocolaptidaj  in 
having  the  middle  toe  longer  than  the  two  lateral  toes.  Otherwise  the  two  families 
have  many  features  in  common.  Thus  many  of  the  Furnariidaj  have  pointed  and 
somewhat  stiffened  tail-feathers,  representing  as  they  do  the  creepers  and  nuthatches 
amongst  the  Clamatores.  Even  in  coloration  there  is  a  great  resemblance  to  that  of 
the  foregoing  family.  On  the  whole,  the  coloration  of  the  Formicaroidea3  deserves  a 
few  remarks.  All  these  birds  with  a  mesomyodian  tracheal  syrinx  are  exclusively 
neotropical.  They  consequently  hail  from  a  part  of  the  world  which  justly  is  regarded 
as  the  home  of  some  of  the  gaudiest-colored  birds  which  our  globe  has  produced, — 
humming-birds,  tanagers,  parrots,  toucans,  jacamars,  trogons,  etc.  How  often  has  it 
not  been  thoughtlessly  repeated  that,  while  the  tropical  forests  foster  brilliancy  of 
plumage,  the  temperate  climates  are  the  home  of  the  plain  and  dull-colored  species, 
and  that  kind  nature  has  given  the  modestly  dressed  birds  the  power  of  sweet  song 
as  a  compensation  for  the  lack  of  beauty.  But  here  is  a  neotropical  super-family  of 
'  songless '  birds,  nearly  five  hundred  species  of  a  number  of  different  genera  and 
families,  not  one  of  which  is  adorned  with  a  single  bright-colored  feather !  All  the 
variation  of  color  is  from  white  to  black,  through  brown  and  rusty  ;  and  so  uniform  is 
their  style  that  not  even  green,  otherwise  so  common  a  color  among  birds,  is  found  on 
any  form  which  really  belongs  in  this  super-family,  a  proof  more  of  the  great  natural- 
ness of  the  group. 

The  remarkable  impersonation  by  mesomyodian  birds  of  well  known  oscinine  types 
is  also  very  strongly  marked  in  the  present  family,  for  in  Geositta  and  its  allies 
we  have  a  complete  repetition  of  the  larks,  not  only  in  colors,  but  also  partly  in  habits, 
since  they  are  entirely  terrestrial  birds,  while  some  species  of  Synallaxis  are  most 
astonishing  counterparts  of  the  tree  creepers  (Certhia)  in  movements,  size,  form, 
and  color.  Peculiar  in  regard  to  the  form  of  the  bill  are  the  genera  Xenops  and 
Pygarrichns,  in  which  the  lower  mandible  is  bent  upwards  and  slightly  falcate,  dis- 
tantly reminding  of  the  corresponding  structure  in  the  parrot-auk  (Cyclorrhynchus) 
and  in  some  kingfishers. 

A  closer  characterization  of  the  different  species,  genera,  or  even  sub-families,  of 
the  FarnariicUa  would  only  be  an  uninteresting  series  of  notes  respecting  comparative 
dimensions,  more  or  less  stiffness  and  pointedness  of  tail-feathers,  greater  or  less 
amount  of  gray,  or  rufous,  in  the  plumage,  and  may,  therefore,  be  entirely  dispensed 
witli.  But  as  the  chief  interest  of  this  family  lies  in  the  remarkable  nesting  habits, 
we  propose  to  give  a  fuller  account  of  this  side  of  their  economy. 


480  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

In  speaking  of  the  species  of  the  creeper-like,  point-tailed  Synallaxinae,  of  Lower 
Uruguay,  Mr.  W.  B.  Barrows  observes  as  follows  :  "  These  birds  are  very  abundant 
at  Concepcion,  their  nests  being  one  of  the  most  noticeable  features  of  the  landscape. 
There  are  places  within  two  miles  of  the  centre  of  the  town  where  I  have  stood  and 
counted,  from  one  point  within  a  radius  of  twenty  rods,  over  two  hundred  of  these 
curious  nests,  varying  in  size  from  that  of  a  small  pumpkin  to  more  than  the  volume 
of  a  barrel.  Often  a  single  tree  will  contain  half  a  dozen  nests  or  more,  and  not 
unfrequently  the  nests  of  several  different  species  are  seen  crowding  each  other  out  of 
shape  on  the  same  bush  or  tree.  Most  of  the  smaller  species  are  so  similar  in  color 
and  motion  that  they  cannot  possibly  be  distinguished  from  each  other  at  a  distance 
of  twenty  feet.  And  it  can  easily  be  imagined  how  difficult  it  is  to  collect  eggs  and 
be  sure  of  their  identification.  The  eggs  of  most  species  are  as  much  alike  as  the 
parrots  themselves ;  often  more  so,  for  the  eggs  are  always  either  white  or  pale  blue.'1 

One  of  the  most  interesting  structures  is  that  of  the  thorn-bird  (Anumbius  annumbi), 
described  by  the  same  author  as  follows :  "  The  bird  is  not  larger  than  our  wood- 
thrush  (Turdus  mustelinus),  but  its  nest  is  sometimes  four  feet  in  length,  with  an 
average  diameter  of  two  feet.  Probably  no  nest  as  first  completed  would  show  these 
dimensions ;  but  as  the  same  nest  is  used  for  several  seasons  in  succession,  its  size 
increases,  until  it  may  even  exceed  the  above  measurements.  The  bird  builds  its  nest 
of  twigs  and  thorns,  placing  it  either  on  a  tree  or  bush,  sometimes  low  enough  to  be 
reached  by  the  hand,  sometimes  at  a  height  of  twenty  or  thirty  feet.  The  first  new 
nest  I  ever  examined  was  built  in  an  ombti  tree  at  Buenos  Aires,  and  measured  about 
two  and  one  half  feet  in  height  by  fifteen  inches  in  diameter.  The  larger  diameter 
was  vertical,  and  the  opening  at  the  top  gave  access  to  a  passage-way,  barely  large 
enough  to  admit  the  hand,  and  twisting  regularly  in  a  spiral  to  near  the  bottom, 
where  it  enlarged  somewhat  to  form  the  nest  cavity.  The  spiral  passage-way  made 
rather  more  than  two  complete  turns  between  orifice  and  nest,  and  in  so  doing  passed 
between  two  branches  of  the  tree  so  close  together  as  barely  to  allow  the  passage  of 
the  bird.  I  have  several  times  seen  nests  in  which  these  passage-ways  were  made  to- 
pass  completely  around  the  (small)  main  stems  of  the  trees  on  which  they  were  built. 
In  other  nests,  the  passage-way,  though  never  straight,  was  by  no  means  a  spiral." 

The  nest  of  the  oven-birds  (Furnarius)  is  quite  a  different  affair,  being,  as  the 
name  of  the  bird  indicates,  an  oven-shaped  structure  built  of  clay.  Once  more  we 
resort  to  Mr.  Barrows'  excellent  account  of  the  nesting  habits  of  these  birds,  from 
which  we  quote  the  following,  relating  to  the  nesting  of  the  '  hornero,'  as  the  red  oven- 
bird  (Furnaritis  rufus)  is  called,  in  lower  Uruguay :  "  The  nest  is  built  of  such  mud 
as  can  be  found  near  at  hand,  and  if  the  mud  contain  grass-roots  or  similar  fibres,  so 
much  the  better,  but  I  do  not  think  the  birds  worry  themselves  much  about  the  qual- 
ity of  the  materials.  Although  the  eggs  may  not  be  laid  until  September  or  October, 
the  birds  often  begin  work  on  the  nest  as  eai'ly  as  the  middle  of  June,  thus  occupying 
three  months  or  more  in  its  completion.  In  fact  I  doubt  if  there  is  any  month  in  the 
year  when  one  cannot  find  oven-birds  at  work  on  their  nests.  If  the  weather  is  dry 
they  suspend  work  for  a  week  or  two  until  a  shower  refills  the  muddy  pool  from 
which  they  draw  their  building  material,  when  they  go  on  leisurely  as  before.  This  is 
the  case  only  in  winter,  and  when  there  is  nothing  to  cause  haste.  In  spring  and 
summer  the  case  is  entirely  otherwise ;  a  nest  may  then  be  begun  and  finished  within 
a  week  But  a  winter-built  house  is  usually  much  the  best,  and  not  a  few  such  with- 
stand the  rain  and  heat  for  a  year  or  more,  if  not  sooner  pulled  down  by  boys,  iguanas, 


PASSEROIDE^E.  481 

or  birds  of  prey.  The  clayey  mud  bakes  almost  to  brick,  and  it  is  no  easy  matter 
even  to  break  out  a  hole  large  enough  to  extract  the  eggs.  The  nests  are  rather  less 
than  a  foot  in  greatest  diameter,  and  though  the  eggs  are  not  visible  from  the  entrance 
the  common  statement  that  there  is  an  '  ante-chamber '  to  the  nest  seems  to  me  not 
quite  accurate.  The  nest  is  built  very  much  like  a  spiral  shell,  and  if  one  could  re- 
move the  inner  whorls  from  such  a  shell  as  Ampullaria  he  would  have  quite  a  fair 
miniature  of  the  hornero's  nest.  The  eggs  are  seldom  more  than  three  in  number,  and 
are  originally  pure  white,  but  being  laid  directly  on  the  muddy  floor  of  the  nest  they 
soon  acquire  about  the  same  color.  I  have  taken  them  from  September  16  until  Jan- 
uary 15,  but  the  larger  number  are,  I  think,  laid  during  October." 

Finally,  we  shall  have  to  copy  Mr.  Gibson's  observations  on  the  curious  burrowing 
habits  of  the  terrestrial  and  lark-like  Geositta  cunicularia,  made  in  Buenos  Aires : 
"  This  is  a  most  common  bird  in  the  camps  or  plains,  to  which  it  is  confined,  though 
we  may  notice  it  about  the  borders  of  any  wood  also,  should  there  be  a  biscachero 
(colony  of  La-gostomus  trichodactylus)  situated  near.  On  the  16th  of  August  I  have 
seen  the  excavation  of  a  nest  begun.  This  (with  us,  at  least)  is  invariably  situated  in 
the  brow  of  one  of  the  burrows  of  a  biscachero ;  and  as  a  new  one  is  made  every  year, 
it  is  often  difficult  to  tell  which  hole  to  open  up.  The  passage  varies  in  length  from 
two  to  four  feet,  with  a  slight  downward  tendency,  and  terminates  in  a  cavity  shaped 
like  a  cocoa-nut,  but  a  little  larger.  This  is  prepared  for  the  reception  of  the  eggs  by 
a  pile  or  cushion  of  soft  dry  grass,  sometimes  very  sparse.  The  slope  of  the  passage 
I  have  always  found  to  be  correctly  calculated,  so  as  not  to  disconcert  the  bird  by  a 
possible  emergence  into  the  open  air,  should  the  ground  fall  away  behind  the  burrow. 
The  bird  sits  close,  and  may  often  be  excavated  with  the  nest.  Three  is  the  general 
number  of  eggs  laid.  The  color  is  white." 

As  the  Passeres  form  the  largest  order  among  existing  birds,  so  are  the  PASSEROI- 
DE^  the  largest  super-family,  agreeing  exactly  with  the  Acromyodi  normales  of  Gar- 
rod,  the  Oscines  of  Keyserling  and  Blasius,  Mdller,  Cabanis,  and  others,  and  the 
Laminiplanteres  of  Sundevall,  plus  the  larks.  So  far  the  harmony  amongst  systematists 
is  great  and  unusual.  But  when  we  come  to  subdivide  this  enormous  group,  the  una- 
nimity suddenly  comes  to  an  end,  and,  to  use  Professor  Parker's  words,  "  A  hundred 
classifiers,  a  hundred  so-called  systems !  " 

Having  the  task  now  before  us  of  selecting  one  of  these  hundred  systems,  or,  if 
they  do  not  suit  us,  to  propose  number  one  hundred  and  one,  at  least  for  our  own  use, 
we  will  have  to  follow  the  principle  which  has  guided  us  so  far,  viz.,  to  begin  with 
the  most  generalized  forms,  proceeding  towards  the  most  specialized  ones,  whenever  the 
present  status  of  the  science  enables  us  to  draw  reliable  conclusions  in  that  respect. 
Our  view  in  regard  to  the  present  super-family  is  fairly  expressed  by  the  following 
quotation  from  Professor  Newton :  "  Hard  though  it  be  to  find  definitions  for  the 
several  groups  of  Oscines,  whether  we  make  them  more  or  fewer,  it  is  by  no  means  so 
hard,  if  we  go  the  right  way  to  work,  to  determine  which  of  them  is  the  highest  [most 
specialized],  and,  possibly,  which  of  them  is  the  lowest  [most  generalized]."  But  it 
must  at  the  same  time  be  borne  in  mind  that  a  linear  arrangement  is  as  impossible  in 
this  as  in  any  other  polymorphous  group ;  an  attempt  to  arrange  all  the  forms  belong- 
ing here,  in  one  natural  series,  is  bound  to  fail,  because  it  is  against  Nature. 

In  most  modern  systems  we  find  that  the  'highest'  position  has  been  granted  the 
Turdidee,  partly  because  some  of  that  family  are  among  the  best  songsters,  partly 
because  they  possess  the  most  specialized  tarsus,  the  scales,  both  in  front  and  behind, 

VOL.    IV.  — 31 


482  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

being  fused  into  continuous  lamina,  or  '  boots.'  Professor  Newton  has  made  a  very 
successful  assault  upon  this  arrangement,  the  most  forcible  argument  being  the  rather 
generalized  state  of  their  coloration,  the  young  ones  being  very  different  from  the 
adults,  and  spotted.  But  he  is  probably  going  too  far  when  he  thinks  that  "  so  far 
from  the  Turdidae  being  at  the  head  of  the  Oscines,  they  are  among  its  lower  mem- 
bers." This  view  is  entirely  opposed  to  that  of  Professor  Parker,  whom  Newton  quotes 
in  defence  of  his  assigning  the  first  position  to  the  crows.  But  if  Parker's  opinion 
lias  any  weight  as  to  one  family,  it  probably  is  of  some  importance  in  regard  to 
another ;  and  as  to  the  "  warblers,"  as  typified  by  the  European  redstart,  which 
most  certainly  belongs  to  the  Turdida?,  the  latter  gentleman  says  that  "  in  the  fulness 
of  their  organization  as  to  all  that  lifts  a  bird  on  high  above  a  reptile,  or  above  a  rep- 
tilian bird,  these  types  are,  as  to  family,  what  a  blood-horse  is  as  to  breed ;  they  are 
of  the  highest  and  the  purest  blood.  That  these  birds  (the  very  aristocracy  of  the 
'  Oscines,'  or  songsters)  are  small  does  not  much  affect  the  question  ;  for  if  we  wish 
to  look  for  a  low  bird  of  mean  reptilian  blood,  we  search  for  it  amongst  the  ponderous 
giants." 

In  order  to  find  out  the  most  specialized  form  of  the  Passeres,  we  must  look  for 
the  bird  which  is  most  specialized  in  all  directions,  not  only  as  to  the  coloration  of  its 
plumage,  or  the  fusion  of  its  tarsal  covering.  The  ideally  highest  form  of  this  super- 
family  would  have  booted  tarsi,  nine  primaries,  long  mandibular  symphysis,  powerful 
bill  for  grain-crushing,  a  digestive  system  adapted  to  grain-feeding,  and  coloration  of 
young  and  adults  unspotted  and  similar.  That  this  is  the  regular  course  and  ultimate 
end  of  the  evolution  among  the  higher  birds  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  we  can  trace 
it  in  nearly  all  the  groups,  and  in  the  individual  development  of  the  birds  possessing 
these  characters.  Thus  the  young  of  birds  with  booted  tarsus  have  the  tarsal  cover- 
ing yet  divided  into  scutella? ;  in  nine  primaried  birds  the  tenth  primary  can  be  seen 
in  the  unfledged  young,  and  in  those  with  the  tenth  (usually  called  the  first)  primary 
aborted,  it  is  longer  in  the  young  bird  than  in  the  adult ;  grain-feeding  species  are 
insectivorous  and  feeble-billed  when  young,  and  in  young  birds  the  symphysis  of  the 
mandibular  rami  is  shorter  than  in  the  adults;  and,  finally,  a  uniformly  colored 
plumage  usually  develops  from  a  spotted  one,  and,  as  far  as  we  know,  never  a  spotted 
plumage  out  of  a  uniform  one. 

A  passeroid  bird  combining  all  these  characters  is  not  known,  but  the  above  com- 
bination is  that  standard  by  which  the  different  claimants  have  to  be  compared.  The 
form  which  comes  nearest  to  the  standard  will  have  to  take  the  '  highest '  place. 

It  is  then  apparent  that  the  Turdidje,  whether  including  both  thrushes  and  Old 
World  warblers,  or  only  the  former,  do  not  fill  the  bill,  in  spite  of  the  booted  tarsi. 
The  little  kinglets  (Regulus)  which  combine  this  character  with  an  unspotted  young 
plumage  make  a  good  showing,  and  should  stand  highest  in  their  family ;  but  their 
beak  and  palate  are  not  particularly  specialized,  and  the  wing  has  ten  primaries. 

The  Corvida?,  or  crows,  have  recently  come  to  the  front,  advocated  by  Professor 
Newton,  who  thinks  that  "  he  would  be  a  bold  man  who  would  venture  to  gainsay  " 
Parker's  opinion,  that  "  in  all  respects,  physiological,  morphological,  and  ornithologi- 
cal, the  crow  may  be  placed  at  the  head,  not  only  of  its  own  great  series  (birds  of  the 
crow  form),  but  also  as  the  unchallenged  chief  of  the  whole  of  the  '  Carinatae."'  Not 
only  has  Parker  himself  partly  neutralized,  not  to  say  gainsaid,  this  passage  by  the 
one  quoted  above,  but  I  think  that  the  risk  in  challenging  the  crow's  claims  can- 
not be  so  very  great.  This  type  of  the  genus  Corvus  does  certainly  not  stand  the 


PASSEROIDEJ:.  483 

morphological  test  above  alluded  to.  The  character  of  the  corvine  tarsus  is  very 
'  low  '  indeed,  and  it  may  even  be  questioned  if  it  can  be  called  laminiplantar.  I  sub- 
mit Fig.  234,  drawn  by  myself  from  a  fresh  specimen  of  an  old  raven  (Corvus  behrlny- 
H(/nts),  from  which  it  will  be  seen  that  the  plantar  covering  consists  of  one  lamina 
on  each  side,  separated  from  the  other  by  one  row,  and  from  the  anterior  scuta  by 
one  or  more  rows  of  scutellae.  The  crows,  furthermore,  have  ten  primaries,  the  first 
(tenth)  one  being  among  the  longest  in  oscinine  birds.  The  bill,  in  spite  of  its 
strength  and  size,  is  not  particularly  spe- 
cialized, and  the  symphysis  of  the  lower 
mandible  is  remarkably  short  throughout 
nearly  all  the  family.  There  remains  the 
color-character  of  the  plumage,  which,  if 
considered  alone,  would  procure  a  high 
rank  for  the  crows ;  but  several  other 
groups  might  claim  the  same  with  equal 
propriety.  But  then  it  is  urged  that  the 
crows,  in  regard  to  the  relative  size  and 

weight  Of   the   brain   as  Compared  with  the       FIG.  234.  -  Right  tarsus  of  Cormu;  inner  (above)  and 

body,  take  a  high  and  exceptional  position, 

and  that  the  "likeness  between  young  and  old  is,  so  far  as  is  known,  common  to  every 
member  of  the  family,"  while  it  does  "  not  extend  to  more  than  a  portion,  and  generally 
a  small  portion,"  of  the  other  groups  in  Avhich  a  similar  likeness  occurs.  I  will  assert, 
however,  that  this  is  not  exactly  the  case,  and  that  the  Paridae,  or  tits,  will  be  equally 
entitled  to  the  highest  rank  on  the  same  grounds.  For  in  all  Paridas  undoubtedly 
belonging  to  the  family,  the  color  of  the  adults  and  young  is  essentially  alike,  and, 
as  a  whole,  the  magnitude  of  their  brain  is  not  less.  Moreover,  the  uniformity  of 
the  corvine  plumage  is  not  so  exceptionless  as  Professor  Newton  thinks,  for  the  young 
of  the  Canada  jays  (Perisoreus)  differ  considerably  from  the  adults,  and  the  young 
nut-crackers  (Nucifraga)  are  much  more  speckled  than  the  adults. 

In  my  search  for  the  most  specialized  Passeres,  I  have  fallen  back  on  SundevalPs 
original  idea  of  placing  the  Conirostres,  or  finch-forms,  at  the  end  (or  the  head,  as 
others  would  say)  of  the  series.  True,  their  tarsi  are  not  booted,  but  in  all  the  other 
points  the  most  specialized  genera  come  up  to  the  standard  above  alluded  to.  This 
will  be  easier  demonstrated  by  taking  one  example,  for  which  we  select  one  of  the  spe- 
cies to  be  placed  at  the  end,  namely,  our  evening  grosbeak  (Hesperiphona  vesperti/«f). 
The  number  of  its  primaries  is  reduced  to  nine ;  the  mandibular  symphysis  is  well 
developed,  and  the  palatine  and  facial  part  of  the  skull  is  highly  specialized,  and  so  is 
the  digestive  canal.  Furthermore,  the  plumage  of  the  young  is  essentially  like  that 
of  the  adults.  It  even  seems  as  if  the  development  of  the  brain  can  be  no  serious 
objection  against  the  finches,  since,  according  to  Tiedemann,  as  quoted  by  Newton, 
the  proportion  which  the  brain  bears  to  the  body  in  the  European  goldfinch  (  Cqrduelis 
carduelis),  and  in  the  canary-bird  (Serinus  canarius)  is  as  one  to  fourteen.  The 
•  /i t</h'  condition  of  the  palatal  structure  is  clearly  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  in 
the  typical  Fringillidae  the  moieties  of  the  vomer  are  well  coalesced  as  early  as  the 
middle  of  incubation. 

The  above  theory  may  be  supported  by  additional  reasons,  but  here  is  not  the 
place  to  go  further  into  detail.  There  remain  to  be  said  only  a  few  words  in  regard 
to  the  characters  by  which  the  Passeroidea?  are  usually  subdivided.  The  arrangements 


484  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

of  this  vast  multitude  of  forms  are  confessedly  anything  but  natural.  Several  single 
characters  have  been  employed,  but  in  every  case  the  result  has  been  that  some  forms 
were  separated  from  their  nearest  allies,  the  relationship  of  which  is  so  clear  that  it 
cannot  be  disputed ;  hence  the  systematist  was  compelled  to  take  them  into  a  group 
from  which  the  characters  given  excluded  them  and  made  them  '  exceptions.'  It  has 
repeatedly  been  attempted  to  establish  sections  higher  than  families,  but  without  suc- 
cess. "Wallace's  proposition  to  employ  the  number  of  primaries  as  an  easy  means  of 
separating  large  groups  has  received  considerable  favor,  but  the  fact  that  none  of  the 
groups  are  without  'exceptions,' and  that  nine  and  ten  primaries  may  occur  within 

the  same  genus,  makes  the  scheme  valueless  in 
a  natural  classification.  The  fact  is,  really,  that 
the  tenth  (first)  primary  is  not  absolutely  want- 
ing in  the  '  nine-primaried '  Passeres,  but  its 
size  is  so  extremely  reduced  as  to  become  quite 
or  nearly  invisible  in  the  old  birds,  the  more  so 
since  its  position  is  also  slightly  changed,  as  it 
is  forced  up  on  the  upper  surface  of  the  wing. 
Not  so  m  the  young,  however.  In  a  very  young 

FI«.  235.  -  primaries  and  first  secondaries  of     specimen  of  the  snow-flake  (Plectrophemtx  niva- 
wing  of  fledgling  piectrophennx  enlarged  one     #g\   a  t  nine-primaried '  species,  now  before  me, 

and  one  half  times,  from  above  ;  a,  alula  ;  c9p, 

covert  of  penultimate,  and  cWp,  covert  of  last     t]ie  outermost  (tenth)  primary  is  plainly  visible 

primary ;  gc,  greater  coverts ;  p,  primaries  ;  9/>,  J  J 

penultimate  primary  ;  Wp,  ultimate  (first)  pri-      jn  JtS  natural  position,  and  with  the  COlTCSpOnd- 
uiary  ;  s,  secondaries. 

ing  great  covert  in  its  proper  place,  that  is,  in 

the  interval  between  the  ultimate  and  penultimate  primaries,  as  shown  in  the  accom- 
panying cut  (Fig.  235).  From  this  will  be  easily  perceived  how  perverse  is  the  method 
of  counting  the  primaries  from  the  edge  of  the  wing,  since,  in  nine-primaried  birds, 
the  feather  which  is  usually  called  the  first  in  reality  corresponds  to  the  second  of 
the  ten-primaried  species.  By  counting  from  the  secondaries,  no  difficulty  is 
experienced. 

Since  Cuvier's  days,  however,  the  Passeres  have  most  commonly  been  gathered 
into  groups  according  to  the  shape  of  the  bill,  and  the  section  names  ending  in  -rostres 
are  familiar  to  everybody.  For  convenience  they  have  been  employed  even  in  the 
latest  systems,  though  confessedly  only  in  default  of  something  better.  Believing 
that  their  retention  is  a  decided  obstacle  to  a  natural  arrangement,  we  shall  take  no 
further  notice  of  them.  It  may  be  proper  to  enumerate  them,  however,  since  they 
play  a  considerable  role  in  the  ornithological  nomenclature.  According  to  Sclater's 
arrangement  of  the  laminiplantar  Passeres,  these  sections  are  as  follows :  — 

Dentirostres,  comprising  thrushes,  wrens,  warblers,  tits,  Old  World  fly-catchers,  pipits,  etc. ; 

Latirostres,  for  the  swallows; 

Curvirostres,  creepers  and  nuthatches; 

Tenuirostres,  sun-birds,  honey-suckers,  etc. ; 

Conirostres,  finches,  weaver-birds,  tanagers; 

Cultrirostres,  crows,  pies,  jays,  starlings,  grackles,  birds-of-Paradise,  etc. 

We  do  not  claim,  however,  that  the  arrangement  to  be  applied  in  the  following  is 
quite  natural  in  all  its  detail.  The  exact  affinities  of  many  forms  are  as  yet  very  ob- 
scure, or  in  dispute,  while  in  many  other  instances  we  are  still  ignorant  of  the  nature 
of  some  important  characters,  whether  we  shall  regard  them  as  generalized  or  spe- 
cialized features.  But  we  must  warn  against  any  criticism  charging  unnaturalness  on 


LARKS.  485 

account  of  distantly  related  forms  having  been  placed  in  juxtaposition  in  the  linear 
sequence.  The  allied  forms  must  be  looked  for  at  the  root  of  each  series,  not  at  the 
end.  Regarding  our  system  as  a  tree,  it  is  our  plan  to  place  it  on  paper  by  working 
from  the  stem  up  the  first  branch  to  its  top,  then  descending  to  the  base  of  the  next 
branch,  to  again  work  upwards,  and  so  on  until  the  top  of  the  last  branch  is  reached. 
In  cases  of  reasonable  doubt,  however,  we  propose  to  give  the  conventional  arrange- 
ment the  benefit  of  the  doubt. 


Fi<;.  ZX.  —  Aldiula  <irl«irm,  wood-lark  (upper)  ;  A.  arvensis,  sky-lark  (left);  A,  cristata,  crested-lark  (right). 


This  last  paragraph  is  applicable  to  the  family  of  the  larks,  the  ALAUDID.E. 
They  have  sorely  troubled  systematists  by  apparently  exhibiting  characters  of  two 
groups  as  diverse  as  the  Motacillidre  and  the  Emberizina3,  and  at  the  same  time  pos- 
sessing a  feature  so  unique  within  the  present  super-family  as  to  prevent  their  proper 
assignment  to  either.  This  peculiarity  consists  in  the  holaspidean  tarsi,  technically 
making  them  scutelliplantar,  the  hind  surface  of  the  tarsus  being  broken  up  into  scutes 
similar  to  those  covering  the  front  part.  This  is  generally  regarded  as  a  generalized 
feature,  hence  the  larks  are  usually  placed  at  the  bottom.  We  have  a  strong  sus- 


486  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

picion  that  this  view  is  quite  erroneous,  but  accept  the  present  position  at  least  pro- 
visionally. Additional  characters  of  less  importance  are  the  length  of  the  last 
secondaries,  the  ends  of  which  nearly  reach  the  tip  of  the  folded  wing ;  the  usually 
strong  and  conical  bill ;  the  elongated  and  straight  hind  claw ;  the  very  short  first 
(tenth)  primary,  visible  in  all,  though  extremely  reduced  in  some ;  and  the  peculiar 
sandy-brown  plumage  longitudinally  streaked  with  dusky.  So  general  is  the  uniform- 
ity of  the  plumage  that  '  lark-colored '  has  become  a  technical  term.  This  stylo  is 
well  illustrated  in  the  accompanying  cut,  which  represents  three  common  European 
species,  Alauda  arborea,  A.  arvensis,  and  A.  cristata.  There  are,  however,  several 
forms  which  show  considerable  differentiation  in  color,  as,  for  instance,  a  number  of 
pale  sandy-colored  desert-forms,  among  which  the  long-legged,  long-billed  Certhilauda 
alaudipes ;  the  curious  South  African  Megalophonus  apiatus,  with  the  nostrils  not 
covered  by  the  usual  bristles,  and  a  coloration  highly  suggestive  of  that  of  a  quail ; 
the  black  Melanocorypha  yeltonensis,  from  western  Siberia;  the  unspotted  Aitmio- 
manes  phoenicura,  with  the  basal  half  of  the  tail  rusty,  and  the  tip  blackish ;  the 
sparrow-like  Pyrhulauda  grisea,  with  the  middle  of  the  lower  surface  black.  Sev- 
eral of  the  last  mentioned  forms  have  a  somewhat  lengthened  first  primary,  while  in 
some  the  secondaries  are  short  as  in  most  birds,  a  feature  which  reaches  its  maximum 
in  the  genus  Pterocorys.  Finally,  we  have  to  mention  the  shore-larks,  or  horned-larks 
(Otocoris),  which  are  easily  recognizable  on  account  of  the  curious  elongated  tuft  over 
each  eye  forming  a  kind  of  pointed  hornlet.  To  us  they  are  of  special  interest,  since 
they  are  the  only  larks  which  occur  regularly  in  this  hemisphere;  for  the  European 
skylark  has  only  a  right  to  a  place  in  our  fauna  as  a  straggler  to  Greenland  and  the 
Bermudas.  This  latter  bird  is  the  most  famous  and  familiar  of  the  whole  group,  being 
one  of  the  favorite  migratory  birds,  the  early  arrival  of  which,  in  spring,  is  a  welcome 
messenger  from  a  milder  sky  in  those  countries  where  it  makes  its  home.  This,  in 
connection  with  its  marvellous  song,  has  made  the  skylark  a  favorite  with  writers  and 
poets,  in  this  respect  successfully  rivalling  with  the  nightingale.  We  quote  from  Yar- 
rell :  "  It  is  an  inhabitant  of  all  the  countries  of  Europe,  preferring  cultivated  dis- 
tricts, and  particularly  arable  land.  Here  in  early  spring  its  cheerful  and  exhilarating 
song,  fresh  as  the  season,  is  the  admiration  of  all.  The  bird  rises  on  quivering  wing, 
almost  perpendicularly,  singing  as  he  flies,  and  even  after  gaining  an  extraordinary 
elevation  so  powerful  is  his  voice  that  his  wild,  joyous  notes  may  be  heard  distinctly 
when  the  pained  eye  can  trace  his  course  no  longer ;  but  an  ear  well  tuned  to  his  song 
can  yet  determine  by  the  notes  whether  he  is  still  ascending,  stationary,  or  on  the 
descent,  for  the  strain  is  continued  on  his  downward  course  till  he  approaches  the 
ground,  when  it  stops  abruptly,  and  with  a  headlong  dart  the  bird  alights."  The  sky- 
lark likewise  has  a  high  reputation  as  a  dainty  for  the  table,  and  was  formerly  caught 
during  the  fall  migrations  in  incredible  numbers.  Thus  it  is  estimated  that  during  the 
last  century,  in  Leipzig  alone,  over  five  million  larks  were  received  annually;  in  ls.r>4 
there  were  brought  to  the  London  markets  about  four  hundred  thousands,  and  the  official 
returns  state  that  in  1867-68  more  than  a  million  and  a  quarter  were  taken  into  the 
town  of  Dieppe,  France.  These  stupendous  figures  make  it  easy  to  understand  that 
during  the  cold  season  the  larks  "do  a  considerable  amount  of  damage  to  the  autumn- 
sown  wheat,  if  the  ground  be  free  from  snow,  and  to  such  green  crops  as  they  may 
find."  It  is,  therefore,  a  matter  of  congratulation,  that  the  attempt  to  introduce  the 
skylark  into  our  country  has  not  proved  a  success,  as  otherwise  we  should  have  had  a 
repetition  of  our  deplorable  experience  with  the  English  sparrow. 


PIPITS. 


487 


The  family  Alaudidae  comprises  more  than  one  hundred  species,  especially  char- 
acteristic of  the  plains  and  deserts  of  the  Eurasiatic  continent  and  Africa,  while  only 
a  few  forms,  evidently  recent  immigrants,  are  found  in  the  Australian  and  the  Neo- 
gaean  regions. 

As  already  indicated,  it  is  a  question  whether  the  general  resemblance  which  the 
larks  present  to  certain  MOTACILLID^E,  especially  the  pipits  (Anthus),  is  anything  more 
than  a  superficial  analogy.  At  any  rate,  the  similarity  in  external  appearance  between 


FIG.  237.  —  European  pipits  (Antkus'j. 

certain  pipits  and  the  typical  larks  is  certainly  astonishing,  and  he  who  attempts  to  dis- 
tinguish between  some  of  the  species  without  looking  closely  at  the  hind  side  of  the  tar- 
sus, or  at  the  nostrils,  which  in  the  pipits  are  exposed,  will  find  himself  in  a  bad  fix ;  for 
the  resemblance  not  only  affects  the  coloration  both  in  general  and  in  detail,  but  also 
the  elongated  hind  claw,  and  the  long  inner  secondaries.  Even  in  the  habits  there  is 
considerable  likeness,  for  the  pipits  have  a  manner  of  singing  when  on  the  wing  quite 
similar  to  that  of  the  larks,  though  the  song  itself  is  much  inferior.  Physiologically 


488 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


there  is  a  great  difference  between  the  two  groups,  since  the  pipits  molt  twice  a  year, 
while  larks  only  molt  once.  The  pipits  are  nearly  cosmopolitan,  several  Old  World 
species  being  figured  in  the  accompanying  cut,  and  are  pretty  well  represented  in 
America.  The  Old  World  tree-pipit  (A.  trivialis)  deserves  special  notice,  since  its 
arboreal  habits  are  an  exception  to  the  rest  of  the  species.  Of  other  exotic  forms 
we  shall  only  mention  the  Ethiopian  genus  Macronyx,  remarkable  for  its  large  feet, 
and  especially  interesting  for  its  most  extraordinary  external  resemblance  to  the  dif- 


FIG.  238.  —  Enicurus  leschenaulti,  Leschenault's  fork-tail. 

ferent  species  of  the  American  meadow-larks  (Sturndla),  of  quite  another  and  remote 
family,  a  likeness  which  is  nearly  as  striking  as  that  of  the  typical  pipits  and  larks, 
the  more  curious  since  we  find  species  (for  instance,  M.  croceus)  which  represent  the 
yellow  style  of  our  North  American  meadow-lark,  with  black  breast-patch,  alongside 
another  form,  M.  amelice,  from  Natal,  which  assumes  the  pinkish  under-surface  of 
Sturnella  defilippii,  of  South  America. 

The  wag-tails  proper  (Motacilld)  structurally  agree  very  well  with  the  pipits,  but 


FORK-TAILS.  489 

present  quite  a  different  style  of  coloration,  black,  gray,  and  white  or  yellow  being 
distributed  in  continuous  areas  and  not  broken  up  into  stripes  or  mottlings.  Like  the 
pipits,  they  are  very  partial  to  the  neighborhood  of  water,  running  .or  stagnant,  and 
like  them  they  are  nearly  exclusively  terrestrial  in  their  habits,  running  gracefully  and 
swiftly  over  the  ground,  putting  one  foot  in  front  of  the  other,  and  jerking  the  long 
tail  up  and  down.  Their  geographical  distribution  is  noticeable,  since  no  form  is  in- 
digenous in  the  New  World,  the  yellow  wag-tail  (JBwfyUa  jlavus  leucostriatiis)  occur- 
ring in  Alaska  being  only  a  slight  eastern  race  of  the  typical  European  form,  which 
but  recently  has  extended  its  range  into  the  northwestern  corner  of  our  continent. 

A  small  group  of  anomalous  birds,  the  exact  position  of  which  is  nearly  as  doubt- 
ful now  as  it  was  some  sixty  years  ago,  when  the  first  species  was  discovered,  are  next 
to  be  mentioned.  The  fork-tails,  on  account  of  a  certain  resemblance  in  form,  color, 
and  habits,  have  been  placed  by  most  authors  near  Motacilla ;  others  have  referred 
them  to  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  water-ouzel  (Cinclus) ;  while  Mr.  R.  B.  Sharpe 
has  given  them  place  as  an  *  aberrant  group '  in  the  Timaliidae,  on  account  of  the 
form  of  the  wing,  the  first  (tenth)  primary  being  rather  long  and  well  developed. 
Under  the  circumstances,  it  seems  to  us  preferable  to  keep  them  separate  from  the 
rest,  and  until  a  satisfactory  place  be  found  for  them  we  shall  designate  them  as  ENI- 
CURIDJE.  Only  eleven  species,  belonging  to  three  genera,  are  known,  their  range 
being  from  the  Indian  and  Chinese  Himalayas  dowrn  through  the  Burmese  countries 
to  the  Malay  peninsula  and  the  islands  of  Sumatra,  Java,  and  Borneo.  The  most 
characteristic  species  and  the  type  of  the  genus  Enicurus  is  figured  in  the  accompany- 
ing cut,  which  needs  no  further  comment,  since  the  colors  are  black  and  white,  as  seen 
in  the  drawing.  There  is  one  feature  of  the  coloration  of  these  birds  of  uncertain 
affinity,  which  is  of  great  interest,  viz.,  the  white  tips  to  the  rectrices.  We  call  special 
attention  to  this  fact,  because  we  have  recently  seen  it  asserted  that  such  a  style  of  the 
tail-feathers  is  only  found  in  birds  with  rounded  or  graduated  tail.  This  'exception' 
is  the  more  remarkable,  since  Microcichla  scouleri,  which  has  a  short  and  nearly 
square  tail,  has  no  such  white  marks  at  the  end  of  the  rectrices.  As  to  their  habits, 
Mr.  H.  J.  Elwes  remarks  that  "  their  motions  are  so  active  and  lively  that  they  form 
a  conspicuous  feature  in  Himalayan  scenery,  being  usually  found,  either  singly  or  in 
pairs,  flitting  rapidly  from  rock  to  rock  by  the  side  of  the  most  rapid  torrents.  They 
appear  to  be  very  partial  to  the  neighborhood  of  a  waterfall  or  rapid.  They  make  a 
large  nest  of  moss  and  fibres,  which  is  placed  under  a  rock  close  to  the  water.  Their 
food  consists  of  insects,  larvaB,  water-beetles,  and  small  shells." 

Before  leaving  the  Enicuridae,  however,  I  would  like  to  record  my  suspicions  that 
they  are  not  laminiplantar  or  even  oscinine  at  all.  The  tarsi  are  'booted,'  it  is  true, 
but  the  posterior  aspect  is  rounded,  and  not  sharp-edged,  as  in  typical  laminiplantar 
birds.  In  other  words,  I  find  the  tarsus  to  agree  very  closely  with  that  of  the  '  booted ' 
species  of  Pitta,  in  the  neighborhood  of  which  I  believe  that  the  Enicuri  will  finally 
have  to  be  placed,  as  soon  as  their  anatomy  shall  have  become  known. 

In  their  attempts  at  framing  natural  families  among  the  Oscines,  the  different 
monographers  have  thrown  out  of  the  old-fashioned  artificial  groups  which  formerly 
were  honored  by  that  rank  all  the  inconvenient  forms  which  would  not  properly  fit 
into  the  new  scheme,  without  providing  another  or  better  place  for  them  in  the  sys- 
tem. As  they  had  to  be  accommodated  somewhere,  and  as  many  systematists  have  a 
great  horror  of  '  families '  consisting  of  only  a  few  genera  or  even  a  few  species,  all 
these  heterogeneous  forms  were  put  into  the  great  '  waste-basket '  which  has  been 


490  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

called  the  TIMALIID^E,  or  'babbling-thrushes.'  While  taking  a  goodly  number  of 
forms  out  of  this  heterogeneous  assemblage,  we  will  yet  have  to  leave  enough  in  it  to 
justify  the  epithet  above,  as  this  is  manifestly  not  the  place  to  attempt  unravelling 
the  tangle  into  which  modern  systems  have  brought  themselves. 

The  Timatiidse  form  quite  an  extensive  group,  consisting  almost  exclusively  of 
tropical  Old  World  types,  which,  speaking  in  a  general  way,  may  be  said  to  resemble 
the  true  thrushes,  differing  chiefly  in  not  having  the  anterior  tarsal  scutes  fused,  and 
in  having  their  wings  strongly  concave,  so  as  to  fit  closely  to  the  body.  With  the 
exception  of  one  pretty  well  defined  group  within  the  family,  most  of  the  birds  which 
we  include  in  it  are  very  modestly  colored,  rufous  being  a  very  common  ground-color, 
or  with  admixture  with  white,  gray,  and  black.  In  this  respect  the  '  babblers '  show 
considerable  similarity  to  the  Formicaroideae,  offering  another  proof  of  how  erroneous 
is  the  popular  belief  that  the  tropical  birds  must  necessarily  be  brilliantly  colored. 

Out  of  the  nearly  four  hundred  and  fifty  species  composing  this  family  there  will 
only  be  space  to  mention  a  few  of  the  most  prominent  forms.  The  remarkable  spine- 
tailed  Orihonyx  temminckii,  from  eastern  Australia,  is  noteworthy  for  the  fact  that 
grave  doubts  as  to  its  oscinine  nature  were  entertained  nntil  quite  recently,  when 
Forbes,  in  1882,  demonstrated  its  mesornyodian  character.  This  bird  also  deserves  to 
be  mentioned  on  account  of  an  anatomical  feature  which  is  unique,  inasmuch  as  the 
left  carotid  (the  only  one  developed,  as  in  all  Passeres)  "  is  not  contained  anywhere 
in  the  subvertebral  canal,  but  runs  tip  superficially  in  company  with  the  left  vagus 
nerve  to  near  the  head,  where  it  bifurcates  in  the  usual  manner."  Another  strange 
form,  the  true  passerine  nature  of  Avhich  has  only  been  shown  recently,  is  the  Malayan 
and  Papuan  genus  Ev.petes,  the  type  species  of  which,  E.  macrocercus,  is  said  to  have 
a  great  external  resemblance  to  Mesites.  The  bill  is  long,  and  the  head  and  neck  are 
covered  with  very  short  velvety  feathers,  causing  the  neck  to  look  disproportionately 
thin ;  over  the  eye  a  silky  white  streak. 

There  are  many  other  genera,  some  of  which  resemble  shrikes,  others  which  look 
more  like  jays,  others  again  which  personate  the  thrushes  or  starlings.  Kenopia  stri- 
<tt<i,  from  the  Malay  Peninsula,  in  its  coloration  strongly  recalls  a  Dendrocolaptes, 
but  the  feathers  of  the  lower  back  are  very  long  and  soft,  a  feature  characteristic  of 
many  true  timaliine  birds ;  it  is  carried  to  an  excess  in  Mcicronus  ptilosus,  from  the 
same  country,  in  which,  moreover,  the  shafts  are  broadened,  stiffened,  and  white- 
colored.  First  in  the  Pycnonotinae,  bulbuls,  or  fruit-thrushes,  are  found  more  bril- 
liantly colored  species,  among  which  we  may  mention  the  different  species  of  Pycno- 
notus,  brownish  gray  birds,  with  more  or  less  blackish  head,  and  easily  recognizable 
by  having  the  under  tail-coverts  brightly  colored,  either  red  or  yellow.  Another  genus 
which  is  now  referred  to  this  group  is  Jrena,  containing  the  fairy  bluebirds,  brilliantly 
blue  and  black  colored  birds,  as  large  as  robins,  and  characteristic  of  the  oriental  re- 
gion from  central  India  eastward  to  the  Philippine  Islands.  Another  group,  which 
has  often  been  regarded  as  a  separate  family  or  sub-family,  has  also  recently  been 
united  with  the  foregoing  genera,  viz.,  the  green  bulbuls  (CMoropsis  and  allies),  a 
small  group  of  oriental  fruit-eating  birds  of  brilliant  green  plumage,  on  the  head  often 
adorned  with  blue,  yellow,  and  black.  The  genus  Cnniger  is  especially  remarkable 
for  the  long  and  extremely  thin  hairs  which  protrude  betAveen  the  feathers  of  the  head 
and  hind  neck,  and  for  the  very  stiff  bristles  at  the  mouth  angle. 

Little  is  known  about  the  habits  of  the  timaliine  birds.  Of  Pycnonotus  hcemor- 
rhous  Captain  Legge  writes  as  follows:  "The  Madras  bulbul  affects  gardens,  com- 


BL'LBULS. 


491 


pounds,  cinnamon  plantations,  the  vicinity  of  roads,  low  jungle,  open  scrubby  land, 
and  the  edges  of  forest.  It  is  a  fearless  and  very  sprightly  bird,  most  active  and 
animated  in  its  manners,  erecting  its  conspicuous  crest  to  full  height  as  it  sits  on  the 
top  of  a  bush  chirping  to  its  companions.  It  locates  itself  in  close  proximity  to 
houses,  and  not  unfrequently  builds  its  nest  in  verandahs,  and  is  consequently  a  uni- 
versal favorite  with  Europeans,  who  rate  its  attempts  at  singing  so  highly  that  it  is 
styled  by  many  the  'Ceylon  nightingale.'  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  its  notes 
have  but  little  music  in  them,  but  it  is  constantly  uttering  its  quick  chirruping  warble, 
which,  in  the  breeding  season,  is  to  a  certain  extent  more  melodious  than  at  other 
times.  Its  food  consists  of  insects,  as  well  as  fruit  and  seeds  of  all  kinds,  the  berry 


FIG.  239.  —  Accentor  modularis,  hedge-sparrow;  A.  collaris,  Alpine  accentor. 

of  the  Lantana  plant  being  a  favorite  diet,  a  fact  which  conduces  to  the  propagation 
and  spreading  of  this  horticultural  pest.  In  the  evening  little  parties  of  bulbuls  as- 
semble, and  after  a  great  deal  of  excitement  and  chattering  they  choose  a  roosting- 
place  in  some  thick  bush  or  umbrageous  shrub." 

Of  somewhat  doubtful  relation  to  the  Timaliidae  are  the  African  Eremomelinae, 
nearly  fifty  species  of  warbler-like  birds,  which  may  perhaps  be  better  placed  among 
the  SylviicUe.  Still  more  uncertain  is  the  position  of  another  group,  which  is  often 
recognized  as  a  separate  family  under  the  name  of  LEIOTRICHID^K.  The  '  hill-tits,' 
comprising  nearly  sixty  species,  peculiar  to  the  Himalayas  and  the  oriental  region, 
have  a  varied  plumage,  often  brightly  colored,  and  with  prominent  markings  on  the 
wing.  They  feed  especially  on  berries  and  insects.  The  best  known  species  is  the 


492  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

red-billed  hill-tit  (Leiothrix  lutea),  by  dealers  in  living  birds  often  called  'the  Japan- 
ese robin,'  though  not  occurring  at  all  in  Japan.  On  account  of  its  beautiful  colors, 
its  pleasant  song,  and  its  tame  and  gentle  manners,  it  is  often  kept  in  confinement, 
and  instances  of  its  having  bred  in  cage  are  now  quite  numerous. 

But  it  is  not  only  the  species  living  in  the  tropics,  and  of  difficult  access,  the  rela- 
tionship of  which  is  obscure  and  disputed.  In  the  accompanying  cut  are  represented 
two  European  species,  the  hedge-sparrow  (Accentor  modularis),  and  the  Alpine 
accentor  (A.  collaris),  members  of  a  very  small  group  of  birds,  scattered  over  the 
Palaearctic  region,  and  chiefly  noted  for  the  somewhat  sparrow-like  inflection  of  the 
cutting  edges  of  the  bill.  The  former  is  a  very  modestly  brownish-colored  bird,  and 
partial  to  hedges  and  bushes,  light  woods  and  gardens,  while  the  Alpine  accentor  is 
richly  tinged  with  rufous  on  the  back,  and  very  conspicuous  for  the  beautiful 
black-and-white  design  of  the  throat.  This  species  is  found  in  the  European  Alps, 
above  the  tree  limit,  where  in  summer  it  lives  among  the  rocks,  coming  down  in  win- 
ter into  the  valleys;  allied  species  occur  in  all  the  high  mountain  ranges  of  the  south- 
ern part  of  the  Palaearctic  region.  Various  authors  have  placed  these  birds  with  the 
Old  World  warblers,  the  thrushes,  the  tits,  the  sparrows,  the  American  bluebirds,  or 
the  babblers.  We  have  followed  the  latter  course,  as  quite  non-committal,  since  leav- 
ing a  bird  among  the  Timaliidae  means  nothing  more  than  saying  that  its  true  position 
is  still  unknown  or  doubtful. 

In  this  country  we  tasually  designate  the  tyrant-birds  as  the  '  fly-catchers,'  a  name, 
however,  which  properly  should  be  restricted  to  the  members  of  the  Old  World  fam- 
ily, the  MUSCICAPID^E.  They  are  chiefly  characterized  by  a  broad,  depressed  bill,  with 
heavy  bristles  at  the  gape,  mostly  scutellated  lamelliplantar  tarsus,  a  short  first  (tenth) 
primary,  and  a  spotted  young  plumage  radically  distinct  from  that  of  the  adults.  The 
propriety  of  regarding  the  fly-catchers  as  a  group  of  family  rank  may  well  be  ques- 
tioned, however,  at  least  as  it  is  currently  defined  and  adopted,  since  it  seems  to  fade 
gradually  into  the  Timaliidae  on  one  hand,  and  into  the  Tui'didae,  or  thrushes,  on  the 
other. 

Two  common  European  species,  the  spotted  fly-catcher  (Muscicapa  grisold),  and 
the  pied  fly-catcher  (Ficedula  atricapilla),  are  illustrated  in  the  cut  as  well  known 
members  of  the  family,  the  former  brownish  gray,  slightly  spotted  underneath,  and 
both  sexes  alike,  the  latter,  an  adult  male,  pure  black  and  white,  while  the  female  and 
the  young  are  grayish.  I  am  bound  to  say,  however,  that  I  am  inclined  to  adopt  Sun- 
devall's  view  of  the  latter  species  and  its  allies,  among  which  are  the  minute,  rusty- 
throated  Erythrosterna,  as  being  only  distantly  related  to  the  former.  Within  the 
conventional  limits  of  this  family  are  included  about  four  hundred  species,  very  differ- 
ent in  structure  and  plumage,  but  all  limited  to  the  Old  World.  In  the  tropics  the 
fly-catchers  reach  a  great  development,  and  many  interesting  forms,  the  names  of 
which  alone  would  take  Tap  too  much  space,  occur.  Yet  we  cannot  pass  by  the  Para- 
dise fly-catchers  (Terpsiphone)  in  silence,  adorned  as  they  are  more  after  the  fashion 
of  a  quezal  than  that  of  a  bird-of-Paradise,  with  extremely  elongated  middle  tail- 
feathers,  measuring  in  some  of  these  small  birds  not  less  than  twelve  inches.  The  old 
males,  for  instance,  of  T.  paradisi,  in  their  white  plumage,  with  the  crested  glossy 
blackish-green  head,  are  exquisite,  but  it  takes  considerable  time  before  they  attain 
this  perfect  plumage,  according  to  the  latest  theories,  as  the  young  male  is  said  to 
pass  several  seasons  in  the  reddish  brown  dress  of  the  female,  even  after  having 
attained  long  tail-feathers.  Other  remarkable  forms  are  the  fan-tails  (Rldpidnra),  a 


THRUSHES. 


493 


numerous  genus  inhabiting  the  oriental  and  Australian  regions,  which  have  obtained 
their  name  from  their  habits  of  spreading  out  the  tail  to  its  full  extent  while  darting 
after  the  insects.  The  Australian  'grinder'  (/Sisura  inquieta)  has  been  so  called  by 
the  colonists  on  account  of  the  peculiar  voice,  which  is  "something  like  that  caused 
by  a  razor-grinder  at  work."  This  curious  voice  is  not  its  call-note,  however,  but  is 
only  uttered  when  hovering  over  the  ground  like  a  small  falcon,  probably  in  order  to 
attract  the  attention  of  the  insects  upon  which  it  darts  headlong. 

On  the  whole,  the  habits  of  the  fly-catchers  are  very  uniform,  or  '  monotonous,'  as 


FIG.  240.  —  Muscicapa  yrisola,  spotted  fly-catcher  ;  Ficedula  atricapilla,  pied  fly-catcher. 

a  recent  author  lias  called  them.  In  nearly  exclusively  catching  their  prey  while  on 
the  wing,  they  closely  resemble  the  American  tyrants,  with  which  for  a  long  time 
they  were  united  in  the  systems. 

Gradually  the  fly-catchers  with  the  broad,  depressed  bills  fade  into  the  more  nar- 
row-billed thrushes,  the  central  groups  of  which  are  characterized  by  a  young  plumage 
spotted  with  whitish  or  ochraceous,  and  usually  by  'booted'  tarsi.  From  the  oldest 
genus,  the  family  may  be  called  TURDID^E,  though  embracing  a  number  of  forms  which 
are  often  dignified  as  Sylviidae,  Saxicolida3,  etc.  The  limits  of  this  'family'  are  a 
mutter  of  doubt,  but  a  rough  estimate  will  give  about  eight  hundred  species  belong- 
ing to  a  bewildering  number  of  genera.  Xo  wonder  that  a  group  of  such  extent  is 
cosmopolitan  in  its  distribution,  for  the  Turdidae  occur  from  the  bleak  Arctic  and 
Antarctic  regions  to  the  equator,  not  only  populating  the  wide  continents,  but  pene- 
trating to  the  remotest  islands,  where  they  often  specialize  into  very  interesting  gen- 


491  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

eric  forms,  as,  for  instance,  the  thrush  (Nesocichla  eremita),  which  inhabits  Tristran 
d'Acuuha,  an  island  in  mid- Atlantic,  "  one  of  the  most  remote  and  isolated  spots  on 
the  globe."  The  family  is  only  scantily  represented  in  America,  the  thrushes  and 
some  few  allied  forms  being  only  a  small  proportion  of  the  enormous  number  of  Old 
World  'warblers.' 

Some  of  these  American  forms,  however,  belong  to  the  most  interesting,  among 
which,  on  account  of  their  apparent  relationship  to  the  Old  World  fly-catchers,  the 
solitaires  or  fly-catching  thrushes  (Myadestes)  stand  first.  One  species  occurs  in 
the  middle  and  western  parts  of  our  country,  though  the  headquarters  of  this  genus 
is  Central  America  and  the  Antilles,  nearly  every  one  of  the  mountainous  islands 
being  inhabited  by  a  distinct  species.  They  are  known  as  exquisite  songsters  of  very 
retired  habits.  An  abstract  of  Mr.  F.  Ober's  account  of  the  'invisible  bird'  of  St. 
Vincent,  one  of  the  smaller  Antilles,  may  not  be  out  of  place.  Its  systematic  name 
is  M.  sibilans  ;  it  is  blackish  above  and  orange-rufous  beneath,  one  of  the  most  distinct 
species  of  the  group.  Mr.  Ober  writes  as  follows :  "  The  local  name  of  the  '  Sou- 
friere-bird,'  from  the  French  word  soufrtere,  a  sulphur  mountain,  an  inhabitant  of  the 
volcano,  has  been  obtained  from  the  Caribs  and  the  negroes,  as  the  bird  is  rarely  heard 
outside  a  gunshot  limit  from  the  crater.  Its  habitat  is  strictly  mountainous,  and  I  do 
not  think  it  is  ever  found  at  a  lesser  height  than  one  thousand  feet  above  the  sea; 
and  in  the  dark  ravines  and  gorges  seaming  the  sides  of  the  cone  it  finds  a  congenial 
retreat.  It  resembles  a,  closely-allied  bird  of  Dominica,  the  '  mountain  whistler,'  in 
many  particulars,  especially  in  its  habits  of  seclusion,  shyness,  and  melody  of  sono-. 
It  is,  however,  much  shyer  than  even  the  Dominica  bird  ;  and,  while  the  latter  seems 
to  prefer  the  solitude  of  dark  gorges  more  from  a  love  of  retirement  than  fear  of  man, 
the  soufriere-bird  is  timid,  even  suspiciously  watchful  of  man's  presence,  and  flies  from 
his  approach.  In  its  wild,  sweet,  melancholy  music,  it  strikingly  resembles  the 
'mountain  whistler,'  but  the  notes  are  different.  From  the  dense  thicket  of  trees 
bordering  the  ti-ail  around  the  crater  this  bird  sends  forth  its  mystic  music,  and  darts 
away  at  the  slightest  indication  of  human  proximity  to  its  haunts.  As  the  earth  sup- 
porting the  trees  it  inhabits  is  cut  into  every  conceivable  shape  of  hole,  rut,  and 
ravine,  and  as,  moreover,  the  place  swarms  with  monster  snakes,  the  terror  of  the 
negroes,  almost  the  only  people  crossing  the  mountain,  it  has  been  connected  with  the 
superstitions  of  the  negro,  and  has  ever  remained  the  '  invisible,  mysterious  bird  with 
the  heavenly  song.'  The  Indians  avoided  its  haunts,  and  regarded  with  veneration 
this  bird  that  filled  the  air  \vith  unearthly  melody;  for  generations  they  have  pre- 
served the  tradition  of  its  existence,  and  vaguely  associated  it  with  the  tutelar  deity 
of  the  volcano." 

Not  distantly  related  are  our  lovely  bluebirds  (Sialia),  a  group  which  has  been 
considerably  knocked  about  in  the  systems.  It  is  really  rather  isolated,  and  the  only 
very  nearly  allied  form  is  Ridgwayia  pinicola,  from  the  high  pine  woods  of  Mexico, 
a  rare  species  of  very  limited  distribution.  It  is  colored  very  much  like  a  bluebird 
in  the  first  plumage,  but  is  much  larger. 

It  will  be  necessary  to  confine  our  remarks  to  such  forms  as  are  illustrated  in  the 
accompanying  cuts. 

In  the  first  we  have  two  European  representatives  of  the  genus  Turdits,  to  which 
also  belong  our  North  American  wood-thrush  ( T.  mustelinus),  and  its  many  small 
allies.  Nearest  to  these,  and  similarly  colored,  but  with  rusty  under  wing-coverts, 
comes  the  figure  to  the  left,  the  song-thrush  (T.  musicus),  the  musical  powers  of  which 


THRUSHES. 


495 


are  so  -well  described  by  Macgillivray  that  we  must  quote  his  words :  "Listen,  and 
think  how  should  you  describe  the  strain  so  as  to  impress  its  characters  on  the  mind 
of  one  who  never  heard  it.  Perhaps  you  might  say  that  it  consists  of  a  succession  of 
notes,  greatly  diversified,  repeated  at  short  intervals  with  variations,  and  protracted 
for  a  long  time ;  that  it  is  loud,  clear,  and  mellow,  generally  sprightly,  but  at  times 


FIG.  241.  —  Turdus  musictm,  song-thrush  ;  T.  tvnjuatus,  ring-ouzel. 

tender  and  melting.  You  might  add  that  two  birds  at  a  distance  from  each  other 
often  respond,  the  one  commencing  its  song  when  the  other  has  ceased,  and  that 
sometimes  several  may  be  heard  at  once,  filling  a  whole  glen  with  their  warbling. 
Listen  again,  and  say  what  does  it  resemble  ? 

"  '  Dear,  dear,  dear, 

In  the  rocky  glen ; 
Far  away,  far  away,  far  away, 
The  haunts  of  men. 


496  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

There  shall  we  dwell  in  love, 
With  the  lark  and  the  dove, 
Cuckoo  and  corn  rail ; 
Feast  on  the  banded  snail, 

Worm,  and  gilded  fly ; 
Drink  of  the  crystal  rill, 
Winding  adown  the  hill, 

Never  to  dry. 

"  '  With  glee,  with  glee,  with  glee, 

Cheer  up,  cheer  up,  cheer  up;  here 
Nothing  to  harm  us ;  then  sing  merrily, 
Sing  to  the  loved  one  whose  nest  is  near. 
Qui,  qui,  qui,  kween,  quip, 
Tiurru,  tiurru,  chipiwi, 
Too-tee,  too-tee,  chin  choo, 
Chirri,  chirri,  chooee, 
Quin,  qui,  qui.' 

"  No  more,  pray :  the  thrush's  song  is  inimitable  and  indescribable.  It  is  heard  at 
all  seasons  in  fine  weather,  but  especially  in  spring  and  summer,  particularly  in  the 
early  morning  and  about  sunset.  But  it  is  not  in  sunshine  only  that  this  gentle 
songster  warbles  its  wild  notes ;  for  often  in  the  midst  of  the  thick  rain  it  takes  its 
stand  in  some  sheltered  spot,  under  the  cover  of  a  projecting  crag  or  stone,  and  for 
hours,  perhaps,  amuses  itself  with  repeating  its  never-tiring  modulations." 

The  other  species,  the  ring-ouzel  ( T.  torquatus)  is  more  confined  to  mountainous 
regions,  and  is  one  of  the  largest  and  finest  thrushes,  black,  with  a  conspicuous  white 
collar.  On  account  of  its  black  color  it  is  generally  believed  to  be  closely  allied  to 
the  European  blackbird  (Merula  nterula).  This  is  a  great  mistake,  however,  as  it 
does  not  even  belong  to  the  same  genus,  and  its  nearest  relative  is  the  spotted  missel- 
thrush  (T.  viscivorus).  The  blackbird,  on  the  other  hand,  is  (Congeneric  with  our 
American  robin  (M.  miyratoria),  which  it  is  extremely  like  in  form  and  habits ;  but,  as 
the  name  indicates,  it  is  black  all  over.  The  English  robin  (JZrithacusrubecula),  again, 
is  much  smaller,  being  not  larger  than  our  bluebird,  and  has  longer  legs,  but  is  not 
otherwise  very  different  from  its  American  namesake.  Through  this  form  we  are  led 
to  the  subjects  of  our  next  illustration,  the  two  famous  species  of  nightingales,  the 
western  (J^uscinia  luscinia)  to  the  left,  and  the  larger  and  eastern  species  (L.  philo- 
mela)  to  the  right,  both  inhabiting  Europe,  and  nearly  peculiar  to  that  region.  Re- 
specting the  former,  Mr.  Seebohm  says:  "The  nightingale  is  a  very  skulking  bird, 
frequenting  the  dense  undergrowth,  hopping  restlessly  about  the  cover,  and,  when 
alarmed,  it  instantly  finds  shelter  amongst  the  tangled  vegetation.  The  song  of  the 
nightingale  has  possibly  been  over-praised.  Its  beauties  have  been  the  poet's  theme 
for  ages ;  and  men  have  immortalized  it  who  have  probably  never  listened  to  its  strains. 
Fiction  has  described  the  bird  as  leaning  against  a  thorn,  and  has  thus  explained  the 
cause  of  its  singularly  melancholy  notes.  The  nightingale's  song,  nevertheless,  is  not 
equalled  by  that  of  any  other  bird ;  and  the  volume,  quality,  and  variety  of  its  notes 
are  certainly  unrivalled.  It  is  impossible  in  words  to  convey  its  delightful  strains  to 
the  reader  ;  the  bird's  haunts  must  be  visited,  and  its  sweetness  listened  to  there.  The 
nightingale  does  not  always  sing  in  the  hours  of  night,  as  is  very  popularly  believed 
to  be  the  case,  and  it  may  be  heard  warbling  at  all  hours  of  the  day.  Neither  is  the 
nightingale  the  only  bird  that  sings  under  a  starlight  sky."  The  nightingale  is  dull 
brownish  above,  shading  into  whitish  or  grayish  underneath,  and  in  the  exterior  has 


Agrobates  yalactotes,  rufous  vf&rbler,  and  Sylvia  orphea,  Orphean  warbler. 


Cyanecula  suecica,  blue-throat,  and  Melodes  calliope,  Kaintschatkan  nightingale. 


THRUSHES. 


497 


lias  nothing  to  recommend  it  but  its  elegant  and  graceful  form.  In  this  plainness  of 
dress  they  are  equalled,  however,  by  some  Central  American  species  of  the  genus 
( '((tharus,  one  of  which,  C.  gracilirostris,  is  most  astonishingly  like  the  true  nightin- 
gales, and  travelers  insist  that  their  vocal  powers  are  not  inferior.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  plate  facing  page  496  shows  us  two  northern,  nearly  arctic  songsters,  of  fine  musi- 
cal qualities,  but  also  adorned  with  the  most  brilliant  and  exquisite  colors  of  the 
throat,  one,  Cyanecula  suecica,  with  the  richest  blue,  the  other,  Melodes  calliope,  with 


FIG.  242.  —  Luscinia  luscinia,  nightiugale  ;  L.  philomela,  thrush-nightingale. 

a  lovely  scarlet,  which,  when  the  warbling  bird  faces  the  setting  sun,  shines  with  the 
lustre  of  an  amethyst.  The  present  writer  can  testify  to  the  fitness  of  its  name,  the 
Kamtschatkan  nightingale,  for,  although  its  song  is  not  so  melancholy,  or  quite  as 
varied,  as  that  of  its  western  rivals,  it  certainly  is  a  'star'  of  the  first  order. 

How  nearly  the  thrushes  and  the  true  fly-catchers  are  related  is  illustrated  by  the 
three  species  depicted  in  our  next  cut,  inasmuch  as  the  left-hand  figure  without  dis- 
pute is  referred  to  the  former,  while  the  other  two,  by  some  recent  authors,  are  con- 
VOL.  iv.  — 32 


498 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


sidered  members  of  the  Muscicapidae,  on  account  of  their  somewhat  broader  bills, 
shorter  tarsi,  and  stronger  rictal  bristles.  The  wheatears  (Saxicola)  form  a  very  marked 
group  of  peculiar  coloration,  black  and  white  being  the  chief  colors,  often  combined 
with  gray  on  the  back.  Both  these  and  the  bush-chats  (Pratincola)  are  exclusively 
Old  World  inhabitants,  with  the  exception  of  Saxicola  cenanthe,  the  wheatear  figured, 
inasmuch  as  it  invades  the  North  American  fauna  from  both  sides,  over  Iceland  and 


FIG.  243.  —  Saxicola  ananthe,  wheatear ;  Pratincola  rubetra,  wlihichat ;  P.  rubicola,  stonecliat. 

Greenland  in  the  east,  and  Alaska  in  the  west,  but  its  number  in  our  continent  is  evi- 
dently yet  very  small.  As  it  is  very  fond  of  rocks  and  stones,  it  is  quite  at  home  in 
the  bleak  northern  regions,  where  it  is  a  conspicuous  feature  by  its  light  colors  and  its 
peculiar  habits  of  simultaneously  jerking  up  the  tail  and  dipping  the  breast  in  a  spas- 
modic sort  of  way,  while  emitting  a  curious  call  note,  consisting  of  three  loud  clicks, 
often  rendered  by  '  chick-chack-chdcJc."1  The  genus  is  principally  African,  and  southern 
species  are  mostly  inhabitants  of  arid  and  stony  deserts. 


TAILOR-BIRDS. 


499 


The  Malurinae  form  a  characteristic  group  of  warbler-like  birds,  chiefly  Austra- 
lian, though  a  few  species  also  are  found  in  South  Africa  and  Madagascar.  Our  cut 
representing  the  emu-wren  (Stipiturus  malachurus),  from  Australia,  illustrates  one  of 
the  smallest  and  most  curious  of  the  group,  the  tail-feathers  being  stiffened,  and  only 
thinly  supplied  with  barbs,  so  that  they  resemble  emu-feathers ;  the  color  of  the  bird 
is  brownish,  with  a  blue  throat,  but  many  of  the  species  are  gorgeously  colored,  being 
in  that  respect  not  inferior  to  the  brightest  cotingas  or  tanagers.  Amytornis  textilis, 
with  two  allied  species,  also  from  Australia,  belong  here,  wren-like  birds  of  brown 
plumage,  with  curious  whitish  longitudinal  streaks. 

The  bird  to  the  left,  in  our  next  group,  the  faintail-warbler  (  Cisticola  cisticola),  is 
in  Europe  the  only  representative  of  the  tribe  of  the  grass-warblers,  which  to  us  is 


v 
i  / 


FIG.  244.  —  Stipiturus  malachurus,  emu-wren. 


of  great  interest,  as  it  contains  some  of  the  most  skilled  bird  architects,  among  others 
the  remarkable  tailor-birds.  In  his  work  on  Indian  birds'  nests  and  eggs,  Mr.  A.  Hume 
gives  a  full  account  of  the  structure  of  the  nesting  habits  of  Sutoria  sutoria,  from 
which  we  make  the  following  selection  :  "  The  Indian  tailor-bird  breeds  throughout 
India  and  Burmah,  alike  in  the  plains  and  in  the  hills,  up  to  an  elevation  of  from  3,000 
to  4,000  feet.  The  nest  has  been  often  described  and  figured,  and,  as  is  well  known, 
is  a  deep  soft  cup  enclosed  in  leaves,  which  the  bird  sews  together  to  form  a  recepta- 
cle for  it.  I  quote  an  exact  description  of  a  nest  which  I  took  at  Bareilly,  and  which 
was  recorded  on  the  spot :  *  Three  of  the  long  ovato-lanceolate  leaves  of  the  mango, 
whose  peduncles  sprang  from  the  same  point,  had  been  neatly  drawn  together  with 
gossamer  threads  run  through  the  sides  of  the  leaves  and  knotted  outside,  so  as  to 
form  a  cavity  like  the  end  of  a  netted  purse,  with  a  wide  slit  on  the  side  nearest  the 


500 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


trunk,  beginning  near  the  bottom  and  widening  upwards.  Inside  this,  the  real  nest, 
nearly  three  inches  deep  and  two  inches  in  diameter,  was  neatly  constructed  of  wool 
and  fine  vegetable  fibres,  the  bottom  being  thinly  lined  with  horse-hair.  In  this  lay 
three  tiny,  delicate,  bluish-white  eggs,  with  a  few  pale  reddish-brown  blotches  at  the 
large  end,  and  just  a  very  few  spots  and  specks  of  the  same  color  elsewhere.'  I  have 
often  seen  nests  made  between  many  leaves,  and  I  have  seen  plenty  with  a  dead  leaf 
stitched  to  a  yet  living  one  ;  but  in  these  points  my  experience  entirely  coincides  with 
that  of  Mr.  A.  Anderson,  whose  note  I  proceed  to  quote :  *  The  dry  leaves  that  are 
sometimes  met  with  attached  to  the  nest  of  this  species,  and  which  gave  rise  to  the 


FlG.  245.  —  Cisticola  clsticola,  fantail-warbler ;    Cettia  cetti,  Cetti's  bush-warbler;  Acrocej^ialus  schcenobanus, 

sedge-warbler. 

erroneous  idea  that  the  bird  picks  up  a  dead  leaf,  and,  surprising  to  relate,  sews  it  to 
the  side  of  a  living  one,  are  easily  accounted  for.  I  took  a  nest  of  the  tailor-bird  a 
short  time  ago  (llth  July,  1871)  from  a  Brinjal  plant  (Solanum  esculentum),  which 
had  all  the  appearance  of  having  had  dry  leaves  attached  to  it.  The  nest  originally 
consisted  of  three  leaves,  but  two  of  them  had  been  pierced  (in  the  act  of  passing  the 
thread  through  them)  to  excess,  and  had  in  consequence  not  only  decayed,  but  actually 
separated  from  the  stem  of  the  plant.  These  decayed  leaves  were  hanging  from  the 
side  of  the  nest  by  a  mere  thread,  and  could  have  been  removed  with  perfect  safety.' 
The  ground  color  of  the  eggs  is  either  reddish-white  or  pale  bluish-green.  Of  the 
two  types,  the  reddish-white  is  the  more  common,  in  the  proportion  of  two  to  one. 


WARBLERS. 


501 


The  parent  birds  that  lay  these  very  different  looking  eggs  certainly  do  not  differ ; 
of  this  I  have  positively  satisfied  myself"  The  tailor  itself  is  a  small  bird  of  warbler 
size,  with  a  graduated  tail,  and  the  central  pair  of  rectrices  considerably  lengthened 
beyond  the  others,  in  the  male ;  it  is  olive-green  above,  with  the  crown  of  the  head 
pale  brick-red,  while  the  whole  under  surface  is  yellowish-white. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  the  true  Old  Worid  warblers  (Sylviinae),  the  most  promi- 


3&JUMHRMMIL 

FIG.  246,  —  LocustellaJluviatiliii,  L.  ncevia,  and  L.  luscinioides,  European  grasshopper  warblers. 

nent  European  representatives  of  which  are  found  delineated  in  the  cut  already 
referred  to  under  Cisticola,  as  well  as  in  the  two  following  ones  and  one  on  the  plate 
facing  p.  496.  All  of  them  are  dull-colored,  gray  or  brownish,  and  wre  shall  therefore 
dispense  with  any  description  of  their  appearance,  reserving  the  space  for  a  few 
remarks  on  their  most  salient  peculiarities. 

Cettia  cetti,  the  upper  figure  on  page  500,  belongs  to  a  group  of  warblers  charac- 
terized by  having  only  ten  tail-feathers.  They  are  chiefly  central  Asiatic,  but  the 
species  in  question  inhabits  the  Mediterranean  region. 


502  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

The  third  bird  in  the  same  cut  is  the  sedge-warbler  (Acrocephalus  shcenobcenus)^ 
one  of  the  commonest  species  of  this  genus  in  Europe,  breeding  among  sedges  and 
reeds,  or  in  the  willows  of  marshes,  and  by  the  water-side  as  far  north  as  Tromso  in 
Norway.  In  contradistinction  to  the  following  group,  the  reed-warblers,  as  they  are 
called  generically,  are  possessed  of  considerable  powers  of  song,  while  the  name  of 
the  grasshopper-warblers  (Locustelld)  clearly  indicates  the  character  of  their  musical 
gifts.  Three  European  species  are  figured  in  our  cut,  all  of  which  inhabit  marshy 
districts  and  reed-beds.  Their  habits  are  said  to  be  very  skulking  and  partly  noc- 
turnal. My  own  experience  in  Kamtschatka  with  a  near  ally  of  L.  ncevia,  viz., 
L.  hendersonii,  is  very  different,  and  deserves  a  place  here. 

It  was,  as  I  thought,  under  rather  peculiar  circumstances  that  I  made  the  first 
acquaintance  of  the  grasshopper-warbler.  From  what  I  had  read  about  the  habits  of 
allied  species,  and  conjectured  from  the  manners  of  Acrocephalus  ochotensis,  I  listened 
for  this  bird  about  and  after  sunset,  wherever  willows  were  abundant,  in  the  marshy 
valley  bottoms.  I  recollected  the  many  poetical  accounts  of  ornithological  enthusiasts 
waiting  in  the  wet  swamps  for  the  moon's  rising  over  the  white  vapors,  when  the  males 
of  L.  ncevia  would  commence  their  strange  chirping,  and,  invisible  to  the  bewitched 
naturalist,  mock  round  him  like  mischievous  elves,  now  pitching  their  ventriloquous 
notes  to  the  left,  now  to  the  right,  until  the  gunning  poet,  in  bewilderment  and  des- 
pair, sends  a  shot  at  random  in  the  direction  from  whence  the  creaking  thrills  seem  to 
proceed.  So  I  tried  patiently  to  get  enchanted,  bewildered,  water-soaked,  and  mos- 
quito-bitten, too ;  but  no  Locustellci ! 

It  was  a  very  hot  day  in  the  summer  of  1882,  in  fact  the  last  day  of  June,  that  I 
took  an  ornithological  morning  ramble  to  a  broad  valley  just  behind  the  rounded  hills 
upon  the  sloping  base  of  which  Petropaulski  is  situated.  The  weather  had  been  dry 
and  warm  for  a  considerable  time ;  the  vegetation  was  longing  for  rain,  and  the  soil 
was  gray  and  dusty.  At  last  I  determined  to  return  ;  the  tropical  rays  of  the  sun  at 
noon  had  silenced  all  birds,  and  the  only  living  being  in  the  neighborhood  not  seeking 
the  cool  shade  was  the  mosquito-phobious  naturalist.  Suddenly  I  was  struck  by  the 
vigorous  and  rather  protracted  chirp  of  a  heat-despising  cricket.  Something  in  its 
note  led  me  to  wish  to  get  hold  of  the  producer,  so  I  cautiously  proceeded  in  the 

direction  of  the  sound.  Zirrrrr !  But  who  describes  my  astonishment  when  I 

found  that  the  supposed  cicada  was  a  small  bird  facing  the  sun  from  the  top  of  a 
broken  and  dead  birch !  As  he  did  not  mind  the  noise  I  made  when  breaking  my 
way  through  the  five  feet  high  grass,  if  I  only  took  care  to  stop  whenever  he  inter- 
rupted his  curious  love-song,  his  fate  was  soon  sealed.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  I 
now  became  an  attentive  listener  to  the  grating  sounds  of  the  locusts,  and  half  an  hour 
later  I  was  rewarded  by  another  male,  which  I  shot  from  the  outer  branches  of  a  leaf- 
clad  Betula  ermani. 

The  Old  World  warblers  (Sylvia},  as  we  are  obliged  to  term  them  in  contradis- 
tinction to  our  American  nine-primaried  warblers,  are  very  interesting  on  account  of 
their  geographical  distribution.  It  is  very  generally  asserted  that  the  western  Palas- 
arctic  region,  or  the  European  sub-region,  have  no  characteristic  birds  of  their  own. 
The  warblers  proper,  however,  seem  to  have  their  headquarters  in  the  region  surround- 
ing the  Mediterranean,  while  quite  a  number  inhabit  central  and  northern  Europe 
without  extending  into  Siberia,  though  several  southern  species  breed  as  far  east  as 
Turkestan.  Most  of  the  migratory  species  winter  in  Africa.  The  plate  facing  page 
496  illustrates  two  southwestern  species,  Agrobates  galactotes,  the  rufous  warbler, 


WARBLE Rb. 


503 


easily  recognizable  by  the  sub-terminal  dark  band  on  the  tail,  a  native  of  the  Spanish 
peninsula  and  Xorth  Africa,  and  Sylvia  orphea,  which  extends  its  range  a  little  further 
north.  The  latter  is  not  unlike  the  black-cap  (S.  atricapilla),  the  lower  figure  on  this 
page,  gray,  with  the  upper  part  of  the  head  black,  one  of  the  commonest  and  best- 
known  warblers  of  Europe,  in  Scandinavia  ranging  north  to  69°  north  latitude.  The 
black-cap  is  highly  esteemed  for  its  melodious  song,  and  therefore  often  held  in  con- 
finement. Says  Mr.  Dixon  :  "  You  hear  a  soft,  plaintive  note,  sounding  as  though  its 
author  were  a  hundred  yards  away ;  gradually  it  rises  in  its  tone  ;  you  think  the  bird 


PIG.  247.  —  Sylvia  nisoria,  barred  warbler  ;  S.  salicaria,  garden  warbler  ;  S.  atrlcapilla,  black-cap. 

is  coming  nearer ;  louder  and  louder  become  the  notes,  till  they  sound  as  if  the  black- 
bird, song-thrush,  wren,  robin,  and  warbler  were  all  singing  together.  You  perchance 
cast  your  eyes  into  the  branches  above,  and  there  see  the  little  black-capped  songster; 
and,  after  watching  him,  find  that  all  these  lovely  notes,  low  and  soft,  loud  and  full, 
come  from  his  little  throat  alone,  and  when  at  the  same  distance  from  you  —  so  great 
are  his  powers  of  modulation."  The  two  other  species  represented  in  the  same  cut 
are  also  well-known  European  warblers,  S.  nisoria  being  one  of  the  largest  and  most 
distinctly-marked  species.  Its  breeding  range  seems  to  be  very  peculiar,  since  it  is 
only  known  to  breed  in  a  rather  narrow  belt  from  southern  Sweden  through  Germany, 


504 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


south  Russia,  Persia,  and  Tui'kestan,  wandering  southward  in  winter  into  Africa.      It 
is  a  very  shy  and  skulking  bird,  and  may  therefore  easily  be  overlooked. 

Our  last  picture  of  sylviine  species  represents  birds  of  which  allied  species  also 
occur  in  this  country.  The  upper  figure  is  a  Siberian  willow-warbler,  related  to 
Phyttopseustes  borealis,  a  comparatively  recent  immigrant  into  Alaska,  where  a  small 
breeding  colony  has  settled,  the  members  of  which  in  fall  migrate  southward  through 
eastern  Asia.  In  general  aspect  the  willow-warblers  resemble  the  kinglets  (RegulinaB), 
which  are  easily  distinguished  by  their  yellow  and  red  —  nearly  tyrannine  —  crown- 
patches,  9«d  by  having  booted  tarsi.  Their  exact  position  is  still  a  matter  of  some 


FiG^lS.—Phyllopseustes  superciliosus,  yellow-browed  willow-warbler   (upper  figure;;  Regulus  ignicapillus,  tire- 
crest  ;  Jt.  regulus,  gold-crest. 

uncertainty,  and  many  authors  refer  them  to  the  tits.  The  lower  figure  to  the  left  is 
the  European  fire-crest  (Regulus  ignicapillus),  in  a  cut  indistinguishable  from  our 
North  American  R.  satrapa.  The  gold-crest  (R.  regulus)  is  the  other  European  species. 
It  was  evidently  a  step  towards  a  natural  arrangement  when  lately  the  dippers 
and  the  mocking-birds  were  removed  from  the  thrushes  and  associated  more  or  less 
intimately  with  the  wrens ;  and  probably  the  Chamcea  should  not  be  kept  outside  of 
this  assemblage.  I  may  also  remark  here,  as  we  have  just  finished  the  Sylviida?  with- 
out mentioning  the  North  American  Polioptilince,  that  I  regard  the  latter  as  closely 
allied  to  the  mocking-birds,  and  that  I  consequently  refer  them  to  the  family  Mimidae. 
It  seems  advisable  for  the  present  to  retain  the  conventional  family  names- 


WItENS.  505 

The  general  aspect  and  the  habits  of  the  dippers,  which  alone  compose  the 
CINCLID^E,  are  alike  curious.  They  are  birds  of  the  size  of  a  thrush,  have  short  con- 
cave wings,  as  the  Timaliidaj,  a  stumped  tail,  like  some  formicaroid  birds,  and  a  cover- 
ing of  down  underneath  the  contour-feathers,  like  a  water-bird.  The  oil  gland,  too, 
is  very  large,  as  in  the  latter,  and  serves  the  same  purpose,  for  the  dippers  are  as 
expert  divers  and  as  much  'water-birds'  as  most  of  those  commonly  so  called.  They 
are  among  the  Oscines  what  the  kingfishers  are  among  the  Picarians ;  but  while  the 
latter  dart  headlong  into  the  water  after  their  prey,  like  terns,  the  dippers  dive  like 
loons,  but  without  jumping,  and  frequent  rocky  and  foaming  rivulets  in  search  of 
their  food,  which  consists  of  water  insects,  and,  occasionally,  of  fish  spawn.  But  while 
thus  living  the  life  of  a  water-bird,  the  dipper  proves  his  right  to  be  ranked  with  the 
highest  organized  birds,  the  '  songsters,'  by  its  cheerful  warble,  which  it  keeps  up  all  the 
year  round,  in  winter  as  well  as  in  summer.  The  dipper  nests  near  the  rushing  waters 
of  a  mountain  stream.  The  structure  is  large  and  domed,  with  an  entrance  hole  on  the 
side,  and  is  firmly  constructed  of  leaves  and  externally  clad  with  green  moss,  so  as  to 
make  it  most  difficult  to  discover  among  the  mossy  rocks,  where  it  is  located  often  so 
near  the  watei-'s  edge  that  the  spray  keeps  it  constantly  wet.  On  the  whole,  the  dip- 
per, both  in  appearance,  movements,  nest-building,  etc.,  is  a  gigantic  wren  adapted  to 
a  life  in  and  at  the  water.  Only  one  genus  (  Cinclus)  is  known,  the  species  of  which, 
have  a  very  curious  geographical  distribution,  in  some  respects  resembling  that  of  the 
super-genus  Ceryle  among  the  kingfishers,  for  the  dippers  are  found  in  greatest  abund- 
ance in  the  Palsearctic  region,  whence  we  trace  them  into  North  America,  where  one 
species  is  found  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  down  thi-ough  Mexico  and  Guatemala,  and 
one  in  Costa  Rica  and  Veragua,  the  genus  to  reappear  again  in  the  high  mountains  of 
South  America,  three  species  being  found  there,  among  which  is  the  recently-described 
C.  schulzi.  There  are  three  styles  of  coloration  in  this  genus :  some  species,  of  which 
the  North  European  dipper,  or  water-ouzel  ( Cinclus  cinclus  —  C.  melanogaster),  is 
typical,  with  dark  abdomen  and  pure  white  breast;  others,  like  our  North  American 
species  (C.  mexicamis),  are  dusky  all  over;  while  the  South  American  species,  and 
one  Asiatic  species  ( C.  leucoy  aster),  are  white  beneath,  recalling  the  young  plumage 
of  the  other  species.  This  fact  is  noteworthy,  as  bearing  upon  the  evolutional  history 
of  the  genus,  since  it  indicates  that  the  Neotropical  forms  are  most  like  the  ancestral 
stock.  Hence  we  may  conclude  that  the  genus  Cinclus  immigrated  into  South 
America  before  the  all  dusky  style  had  developed,  or  that  South  America  is  the  cradle 
of  the  genus,  since  it  is  very  improbable  that  the  present  coloration  of  the  South 
American  species  should  be  due  to  reversion. 

That  the  dippers  should  have  originated  in  the  Neotropical  region  seems  not  so 
extraordinary  when  we  consider  that  this  region  is  the  great  headquarters  of  the 
wrens,  or  TROGLODYTID./E,  whence  a  few  forms  have  scattered  themselves  through 
North  America  to  the  Oriental  and  the  PalaBarctic  regions.  The  absence  of  both  fam- 
ilies in  Africa  and  in  Australia  is  highly  suggestive. 

Prof.  S.  F.  Baird  was  the  first  to  discover  and  announce  the  curious  fact  that  some 
of  our  western  wrens  have  taxaspidean  tarsi.  Of  the  genus  Salpinctes  he  says  : 
"It  is,  however,  especially  peculiar  among  all  its  cognate  genera,  by  having  the  usual 
two  continuous  plates  along  the  posterior  half  of  the  inner  and  outer  faces  of  the  tar- 
sus divided  transversely  into  seven  or  more  smaller  plates,  with  a  naked  interval 
between  them  and  the  anterior  scutellae.  At  the  upper  end  of  the  outer  plate  these 
divisions  or  lines  of  junction  are  obsolete,  becoming  more  distinct  below,  and  near  the 


006  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

inferior  extremity  the  plates  are  reduced  to  oval  scales.  The  plate  along  the  inner 
face  is  also  divided  into  two  or  three  plates,  sometimes  more,  usually  less,  distinct  than 
on  the  outer."  Dr.  E.  Cones,  in  finding,  as  he  thought,  a  similar  arrangement  in 
Campylorkynchus,  went  so  far  as  to  assert  that  "  these  points  ...  go  to  show  that 
their  position  in  that  family  [Troglodytidae]  is  not  assured,"  and  to  base  a  sub-family 
chiefly  upon  this  character.  There  is  no  need  of  such  a  proceeding,  however,  for  I 
have  examined  the  tarsus  of  quite  a  number  of  adult  cactus-wrens,  and  found  them  to 
be  absolutely  typical  laminiplantar.  Dr.  Coues  must  have  examined  an  exceptional 
specimen  or  a  young  bird,  for  in  the  latter  the  division  of  the  hind  plates  is  present 
and  quite  conspicuous.  This  very  fact  shows  plainly  that  there  is  no  essential  differ- 
ence between  the  taxaspidean  and  the  laminiplantar  tarsus,  the  latter  being  simply  a 
development  of  the  former,  just  in  the  same  way  as  the  'booted'  tarsus  is  a  develop- 
ment of  the  regular  anteriorly  scutellated  tarsus,  as  shown  by  the  division  of  the  ante- 
rior plate  in  the  young  thrushes.  The  case,  besides,  is  not  unique  among  the  Oscines. 
As  well  might  we  doubt  the  acromyodian  character  of  the  raven  (Fig.  234),  and  tax- 
aspidean tarsi  are  found  in  several  forms  belonging  to  the  Pycnonotinae,  Oriolida3, 
Prinonopinffi,  etc.,  the  actual  position  of  which  cannot  be  doubted. 

The  general  habits  of  the  wrens  are  so  Avell  known  that  we  shall  only  introduce  a 
brief  sketch  by  Mr.  H.  D.  Minot  of  the  caiion  wren  ( Catherpes  conspersiis)  as 
observed  by  him  in  Colorado  :  "At  Manitou,  local  about  canons  and  rock  formations, 
dodging,  fluttering,  and  creeping  about  cliffs  and  caves.  Easily  recognized  by  its 
white  throat  and  rich  yellowish  brown  tail,  and  by  its  notes,  —  a  peculiar  insect-like 
chirp,  and  a  delightful  song  of  falling  whistles,  not  loud  or  intense,  but  somewhat 
ecstatic,  as  if  the  bird  hurried  through  till  out  of  breath.  After  early  June  this  song 
is  not  often  to  be  heard.  June  8,  I  found  a  nest  and  five  fresh  eggs.  The  nest  was 
in  the  roof  of  a  cave,  about  ten  feet  from  the  ground,  in  a  niche  or  pocket,  with  an 
opening  so  narrow,  vertically,  that  I  could  neither  look  in  nor  introduce  my  hand. 
Fortunately,  however,  the  rock  was  so  soft  that  I  easily  removed  the  bottom  slab  on 
which  the  nest  rested.  This,  as  one  looks  down  upon  it,  suggests  the  eastern  wood 
pewee's.  It  is  composed  of  twigs,  stalks,  and  bits  of  leaves,  surrounded  by  a  few 
loose  sticks,  and  thickly  felted  with  down,  silk,  and  a  few  feathers." 

An  interesting  troglodytine  genus  is  the  Indian  Pnoepyga,  with  booted  tarsi,  like 
the  dippers,  and  very  short  tail,  which  is  invisible,  being  completely  hidden  by  the 
tail-coverts  and  the  feathers  of  the  rump. 

The  so-called  ground-tit,  or  perhaps  better  wren-tit  (  Chamcea  fasciata),  a  remark- 
ably isolated  form  both  as  to  characters  and  habitat,  being  confined  to  California,  has 
very  little  in  common  with  the  true  tits  except  the  very  long,  soft,  and  lax  plumage. 
A  special  family,  CHAMJKBJB,  has  been  established  for  it,  but  I  see  no  reason  for  sepa- 
rating it  so  far  from  the  Troglodytidae,  from  which  it  seems  to  differ  chiefly  by  the 
presence  of  strong  rictal  bristles,  and,  accordingly,  I  am  most  inclined  to  regard  the 
Chama3ina3  only  as  a  sub-family  of  the  wrens.  Their  habits  seem  also  to  be  very 
wren-like,  but  the  information  is  somewhat  scanty.  Here  is  what  Dr.  J.  G.  Cooper 
says  about  them :  "  This  interesting  link  between  the  wrens  and  the  tit-mice  is 
common  everywhere  west  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  on  dry  plains  and  hillsides  covered 
with  chapperal  and  other  shrubby  undergrowth,  but  is  not  found  in  the  forests.  It 
is  one  of  those  birds  that  can  live  where  there  is  no  water,  except  occasional 
fogs,  for  six  or  eight  months  together.  In  these  dreary 'barrens' its  loud  trill  is 
heard  more  or  less  throughout  the  year,  but  especially  on  spring  mornings,  when  they 


SWALLOWS.  507 

answer  each  other  from  various  parts  of  the  thickets.  They  have  a  variety  of  other 
notes  resembling  those  of  the  wrens,  and  correspond  with  them  also  in  most  of  their 
habits,  hunting  their  insect  prey  in  the  vicinity  of  the  ground  or  on  low  trees,  often 
holding  their  tails  erect,  and  usually  so  shy  that  they  can  only  be  seen  by  patient 
watching,  when  curiosity  often  brings  them  within  a  few  feet  of  a  person ;  and, 
as  long  as  he  sits  quiet,  they  will  fearlessly  hop  around  him  as  if  fascinated." 

The  mocking-birds  (MIMID^E)  are  hardly  entitled  to  family  rank  independent  of 
the  TroglodytidaB,  from  which  they  chiefly  differ  in  having  well-developed  bristles  at 
the  mouth,  and  in  being  on  an  average  somewhat  larger,  though  the  smaller  mocking- 
birds are  not  so  large  as  the  largest  wrens.  Like  all  the  birds  of  the  present  group 
they  are  eminently  American,  and  seem  to  have  the  centre  of  their  distribution  in 
Central  America,  the  West  Indian  Islands,  and  the  southwestern  United  States. 
The  mocking-bird  (Mimus  poh/alottus}.  the  rival  of  the  nightingale  for  the  'cham- 
pionship of  the  world'  as  a  songster,  the  cat-bird  (Galeoscoptes  carolinensis),  and 
the  brown  thrasher  (Ilarporhynchits  rufus)  are  representative  birds  of  this  family, 
and  their  song  and  habits  too  familiar  to  American  readers  to  require  further  notice 
in  this  connection. 

Whether  the  place  here  assigned  to  the  Polioptilin®,  or  gnat-catchers,  is  correct 
may  perhaps  be  questioned,  but  I  think  it  safe  to  say  that  it*  position  Avith  the  M imida3 
is  more  satisfactory  than  either  with  the  Sylviida?,  Parida3,  or  Mniotiltidae.  Indeed,  I 
see  little  to  separate  them  from  the  mocking-birds  except  the  slightly  more  depressed 
bill  and  the  size,  the  gnat-catcher  belonging  to  the  smallest  of  passerine  birds.  Musci- 
capine  relationship  has  been  suggested,  but  the  form  and  position  of  the  nosti'ils 
opposes  such  a  view,  as  does  also  the  geographical  distribution,  Polioptila  being 
exclusively  American,  and  the  Muscicapidae  exclusively  Old  World  forms.  However, 
I  may  quote  what  Mr.  R.  B.  Sharpe  says  about  the  question  :  — 

"  I  believe  that  the  most  natural  position  for  the  genus  will  be  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  muscicapine  genus  Stenostira,  to  which,  both  in  form  and  style  of  coloration, 
Polioptila  bears  a  striking  resemblance,  as  has  already  been  pointed  out  by  Bonaparte, 
Sclater,  and  other  ornithologists.  Should  this  classification  turn  out  to  be  correct,  it 
will  afford  another  instance  of  the  affinity  of  the  avifauna  of  North  America  with 
that  of  South  Africa,  as  already  noticed  in  the  occurrence  of  Petrochelidon  spilodera 
at  the  Cape,  a  close  ally  of  P.  pyrrhonota  \_P.  lunifrons~\  of  North  America."  I  may 
here  remark,  that  the  swallow  genus  Petrochelidon  is  found  both  in  South  America, 
Australia,  India,  and  South  Africa;  that  the  swallows  are  very  uniform  both  in  form 
and  coloration  all  over  the  world ;  that  they  are  the  fastest  travelers  of  all  passerine 
birds ;  consequently  the  similarity  between  the  American  and  the  African  species  is 
not  so  extemely  surprising.  On  the  other  hand,  the  true  fly-catchers  are  very  poly- 
morphic, and  the  distribution  of  the  gnat-catchers  and  the  Stenostira  so  disconnected 
that  I  prefer  to  regard  the  former  as  nearly  related  to  their  countrymen,  the  inocking- 
birds,  especially  as  character  of  structure  or  coloration  seems  to  make  such  a  view 
untenable.  The  habits  do  not  point  either  way,  so  far  as  I  know.  The  gnat-catchers, 
a  little  over  a  dozen  species,  belonging  to  one  genus  only,  inhabit  all  parts  of  America 
except  the  most  southern  and  most  northern  portions. 

Contrary  to  the  general  run  of  passeroid  families,  that  of  the  swallows,  the  HIRUX- 
DINID^E,  is  as  well  defined  and  isolated  as  any  of  the  picarian  families,  at  least  exter- 
nally. They  are  possessed  of  extremely  long  and  pointed  wings,  with  nine  primaries  ; 
the  feet  are  reduced  very  much  in  size ;  the  bill  is  short  but  extremely  broad,  and  the 


508 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


gape  split  to  near  the  eyes,  but  without  bristles.  Altogether  they  resemble  closely 
the  swifts  (Micropodidae),  though  structurally  they  are  very  different,  and  the  distin- 
guishing marks  have  already  been  pointed  out  (cf.  page  437).  Inter  se,  the  different 
species  of  swallows  vary  but  very  little,  and  no  intermediate  forms  are  known  which 
directly  connect  them  with  some  other  family,  or  indicate  their  line  of  descent.  But 
different  as  they  appear  externally  from  other  Passeres,  nothing  is  found  internally  or 
even  in  their  pterylography  that  will  justify  their  being  far  removed  from  the  forms 
hitherto  treated  of.  Says  Professor  W.  K.  Parker :  "  In  this  remarkable  group  of 
tender-billed  gaping  Passeres,  there  is  not,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  a  single  aberrant 


FIG.  249.  —  Clivicola  rlparia,  bank-swallow  ;  Progne  subis,  purple-martin. 

character  of  importance.     The  skull,  the  skeleton  generally,  the  digestive  and  the 
vocal  organs  —  all  these  might  belong  to  species  of  the  genus  Sylvia" 

About  one  "hundred  species  of  swallows  are  recognized,  distributed  all  over  the 
earth  except  the  very  arctic  and  antarctic  regions.  Uniform  as  is  their  structure,  so 
are  also  their  habits,  they  being  chiefly  migratory,  and  feeding  on  flying  insects  which 
they  catch  on  the  wing.  Their  whole  organization  aims  at  great  speed,  and  they  spend 
the  greater  part  of  their  life  in  the  air,  but  rarely  perching  in  order  to  rest.  The 
rapidity  of  their  flight  is  only  surpassed  by  its  perseverance,  while  the  shortness  of 
their  feet  prevent  them  from  moving  on  the  ground  except  in  the  most  awkward  man- 
ner. In  regard  to  their  nesting  habits,  the  swallows  may  be  divided  in  three 
groups  :  (1)  Those  which  build  their  nests  in  hollows  of  any  description,  not  dug  out 
or  prepared  by  the  birds  themselves ;  to  this  group  belong  different  species  of  the 


DRONGO-SHRIKES.  509 

genus  Progne,  the  white-bellied  swallow,  and  some  others,  among  which  is  the  Austra- 
lian Petrochdidon  nigricans,  which  lays  its  eggs  in  a  hollow  tree  or  rock,  without  any 
nesting  material ;  (2)  those  which  dig  their  nest  holes  in  banks  of  earth  or  sand,  as, 
for  instance,  our  common  bank-swallow  and  the  rough-winged  swallows;  (3)  those 
which  build  nests  of  moist  mud  and  clay  ;  some  of  the  latter  rest  the  more  or  less 
open  structure  on  some  fundament,  as  most  species  of  the  genus  Chelidon,  while  others 
only  build  it  against  a  perpendicular  wall  of  a  rock  or  a  house,  the  nest  forming  a  sec- 
tion of  a  globe,  e.  g.,  the  well-known  European  martin  (Hirundo  urbica),  with  the 
feathered  feet,  figured  on  the  plate  facing  page  508 ;  other  species  add  to  the  globe  a 
long  entrance  tube,  thereby  giving  the  nest  the  form  of  a  bottle  or  a  retort,  promi- 
nent examples  being  our  cliff-swallow  (Petrochelidon  lunifrons),  and  the  two  European 
species  figured  on  the  plate  already  quoted,  the  red-rumped  swallow,  and  the  crag- 
martin. 

Referring  to  the  figures  of  different  species  of  swallows  accompanying  this  account, 
we  only  remark  that  the  European  barn-swallow  (Chelidon  rusticci)  closely  resembles 
our  North  American  species,  from  which  it  chiefly  differs  in  having  the  under  side 
whitish.  In  the  cut  representing  our  common  purple-martin  (Progne  subis)  (lower 
figure),  and  the  bank-swallow  (Clivicola  riparici),  the  nest-holes  of  the  breeding  colony 
are  visible  in  the  river  bank  in  the  background.  Similar  in  color,  though  perhaps  not 
very  nearly  related  to  the  latter  bird,  is  our  American  rough-winged  swallow  (Stelgi- 
dopteryx  serripennis),  remarkable  for  the  curious  serration  of  the  first  (ninth)  primary, 
the  edge  of  the  outer  web  in  the  male,  caused  by  the  shafts  of  the  barbs  ending  in  a 
sharp  hook.  This  same  peculiarity  is  also  found  in  an  African  genus,  Psalidoprocne, 
but  otherwise  the  two  genera  are  very  different. 

'  The  series  of  families  now  to  be  treated  of  is  probably  a  natural  one,  taken  as  a 
whole,  though  there  may  be  considerable  doubt  as  to  certain  forms  really  belonging 
here.  Some  may  belong  to  the  Timaliidae,  properly  defined,  and  others  may  really  be 
fly-catchers,  while  one  or  more  genera  included  in  the  families  already  disposed  of  may 
naturally  come  in  here.  These  forms,  however,  will  cause  us  little  trouble  in  the 
present  connection,  inasmuch  as  the  difficulty  in  properly  locating  them  is  the  direct 
result  of  our  ignorance  concerning  their  structure. 

Like  most  of  the  families  to  follow,  the  CAMPEPHAGID^E,  or  cuckoo-shrikes,  ranging 
from  India  to  Australia,  have  been  knocked  considerably  about  in  the  systems.  They 
have  a  rather  short  and  strong  bill,  somewhat  broadish  at  the  base,  hooked  and  notched 
at  the  end.  Very  characteristic,  however,  is  the  structure  of  the  feathers  of  the  lower 
back  and  rump,  the  shafts  of  which  are  stiffened,  a  feature  easily  ascertained  by  run- 
ning the  thumb  against  the  plumage  nail  down.  Though  tropical  birds,  their  colora- 
tion is  grayish  or  blackish,  only  a  few  forms  being  gayly  decorated,  as,  for  instance, 
most  species  of  the  genus  Pericrocotus,  the  bright  scarlet  vermilion,  or  yellow  and 
black  species  of  which,  in  form  somewhat  resembling  wag-tails,  are  peculiar  to  the 
Oriental  region.  Of  the  Indian  large  '  minivet,'  Mr.  Jerdan  says  that,  "  like  the  rest 
of  the  tribe,  it  goes  in  small  parties,  hopping  and  flying  briskly  about  the  branches, 
picking  insects  off  the  leaves  and  flowers.  On  one  occasion  only  I  saw  it  descend  to 
the  ground.  It  has  a  lively,  constantly  repeated,  rather  mellow  call."  The  Bengal 
name,  according  to  Blyth,  is  '  Sath  sati  kapij  meaning  '  the  beloved  of  seven  damsels.' 

The  fork-tailed  DICKURTD^E,  or  drongo-shrikes,  form  another  Oriental  family,  which 
also  spreads  into  Africa  and  Australia.  The  most  noteworthy  features  are  the  shrike- 
like  bills,  the  glossy  black  crow-like  coloration,  and  the  peculiar  furcation  of  the  tail, 


510 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


which  consists  of  ten  rectrices  only.  In  some  forms  the  exterior  pair  of  tail-feathers 
is  curiously  recurved  and  twisted.  In  Dicranostreptus  meyarhynchus,  from  Xew  Ire- 
land, the  outer  tail-feathers  are  extraordinarily  produced,  being  nearly  double  the 
length  of  the  bird's  body,  and  in  the  genera  Bhrinya  and  Dissemurus,  from  India 
and  Malayana,  they  are  ending  in  a  racket  or  spatule,  many  of  the  species  having 
curious  frontal  crests.  We  quote  from  Jerdon  :  "  They  are  birds  capable  of  strong, 
rapid,  and  vigorous,  but  not  of  sustained,  flight ;  and  they  feed  almost  exclusively  on 
insects,  which  they  capture  on  the  wing,  or  on  the  ground,  or  occasionally  on  leaves 
or  flowers.  They  are  a  most  characteristic  feature  of  Indian  ornithology;  for,  go 
where  you  will  in  India,  you  are  sure  to  see  one  or  more  of  the  genus."  In  some 


Fj«i.  250.  —  Ampelis  yarmluK,  Bohemian  wax-wing. 

respects  their  habits  resemble  those  of  the  tyrant  shrikes,  and  the  Europeans  in  India 
also  call  them  '  king-crows,'  a  name  analogous  to  that  of  our  '  king-bird,'  for  their 
boldness.  The  following  account  of  the  habits  of  Buchanga  atra  is  again  from  Jer- 
don :  "  The  king-crow  obtains  his  familiar  name  in  this  country  from  its  habits  of 
pursuing  crows,  and  also  hawks  and  kites,  which  it  does  habitually ;  and  at  the  breed- 
ing season,  especially  when  the  female  is  incubating,  with  increased  vigilance  and 
vigor.  If  a  crow  or  kite  approach  the  tree  in  which  their  nest  is  placed,  the  bold  lit- 
tle drongo  flies  at  them  with  great  speed  and  determination,  and  drives  them  off  to  a 
great  distance ;  but  although  it  makes  a  great  show  of  striking  them,  I  must  say  that 
I  have  very  rarely  seen  it  do  so ;  and  certainly  I  have  never  seen  it  fix  on  the  back  of 
a  hawk  with  claws  and  beak  for  some  seconds,  as  Mr.  Philipps  asserts  that  he  has 


Garrulus  glandarius,  common  European  jay. 


•\-. 


tiblcen,  piping  crow-shrike. 


SHRIKES.  511 

seen.  Occasionally  others  will  join  the  original  assailant,  and  assist  in  driving  off  their 
common  enemy."  Anatomically  the  drongos  are  remarkable  as  being  the  only  Passeres 
"in  which  the  accessory  semitendinosus  is  absent,  their  myological  formula  being  AX. 

Perhaps  not  distantly  related  to  the  shrikes,  the  wax-wings,  and  their  few  allies, 
the  AMPELID^E  will  have  to  find  a  place  somewhere  in  this  neighborhood.  A  familiar 
example  of  this  small  group  is  the  beautiful  cedar-bird  (Ampelis  cedrorum)  from  North 
America.  The  other  species  occurring  in  our  country  {A.  garrulus)  is  more  northern 
in  its  distribution,  and  is  also  found  all  over  the  northern  parts  of  the  Old  World.  A 
very  unique  ornament  in  these  birds  is  the  horny  flattened  lamellae-like  ends  of  red 
sealing-wax  appended  to  the  shafts  of  the  secondaries,  and  sometimes  to  the  tail-feath- 
ers, as  seen  in  the  accompanying  cut.  The  history  of  the  Bohemian  wax-wing  is 
interesting  for  its  gipsy-like  wanderings,  one  winter  visiting  one  country,  next  season 
another,  often  in  enormous  flocks,  and  usually  with  the  intervals  of  many  years,  so 
that  in  former  times  their  appearance  was  regarded  as  sure  forebodings  of  war  and 
pestilence,  their  arrival  being  dreaded  as  much  as  that  of  a  comet.  Another  interest- 
ing feature  of  its  ornithological  history  is  the  fact  that  this  familiar  bird  for  a  long 
time  eluded  the  search  of  the  oologists ;  for  its  breeding  habits  and  eggs,  and  even  the 
places  where  it  breeds,  were  unknown  thirty  years  ago,  until  finally  discovered  in 
Lapland  by  Mr.  Wolley,  after  a  diligent  search  during  four  summers. 

It  would  only  be  repetition  of  former  statements  in  regard  to  doubtful  families 
were  we  to  say  anything  more  about  the  position  in  the  system  of  forms  like  the 
wood-swallows,  or  swallow-shrikes  (ARTAMID.E),  a  small  family  of  shrike-like  birds 
from  Australia,  and  adjacent  islands,  similar  in  habits,  flight,  and  partly  in  appearance 
to  the  swallows.  They  are  birds  of  sombre,  dusky,  or  gray  colors.  A  very  peculiar 
habit  of  the  Australian  common  wood-swallow  (Artamus  sordidus)  is  recorded  by 
Mr.  Gould's  assistant,  Mr.  Gilbert,  during  his  residence  at  Swan  River,  as  follows : 
"  The  greatest  peculiarity  in  the  habit  of  this  bird  is  its  manner  of  suspending  itself 
in  perfect  clusters,  like  a  swarm  of  bees ;  a  few  birds  suspending  themselves  on  the 
under  side  of  a  dead  branch,  while  others  of  the  flock  attach  themselves  one  to  the 
other,  in  such  numbers  that  they  have  been  observed  nearly  of  the  size  of  a  bushel 
measure." 

Had  it  not  been  for  the  generally  accepted  family  term  for  the  foregoing  group 
we  should  have  lumped  them  with  the  heterogeneous  assemblage  called  the  LAXIID.E, 
shrikes  or  butcher-birds,  the  typical  forms  of  which  are  characterized  by  their  stout 
and  strongly  hooked  and  toothed  bill,  which  in  some  of  the  genera  strongly  resembles 
that  of  the  Accipitres,  without  having  the  cere  at  base,  of  course. 

In  the  types  first  to  meet  us,  however,  the  bill  is  more  straight,  the  coloration  is 
crow-like,  and  altogether  the  Gymnorhininas  may  be  as  nearly  related  to  the  ancestors 
of  the  crows  as  to  those  of  the  shrikes.  A  structural  feature  of  their  own  is  that  the 
nostrils  are  placed  very  far  forward,  almost  midway  between  base  and  tip  of  bill,  are 
quite  bare  of  either  bristles  or  feathers,  and  have  entirely  ossified  margins.  The 
whitish  blue  color  of  the  bill  in  some  forms  is  also  quite  characteristic.  Here  belong 
the  crow-shrikes,  genera  Strepera,  Cracticus,  and  Gymnorhina,  from  Australia, 
Cracticits,  also  from  the  Austro-Malayan  sub-region.  A  good  example  is  given  in 
the  'piping  crow-shrike '( G.  tibiceti),  figured  on  the  plate  facing  page  510.  It  is 
black  and  white,  with  a  bluish  ash-colored  bill,  and  of  the  size  of  a  small  crow. 
According  to  Gould,  it  is  a  bold  and  showy  bird,  which,  when  not  harassed  and 
driven  away,  greatly  enlivens  and  ornaments  the  lawns  and  gardens  of  the  Australian 


512 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


colonists,  and,  with  the  slightest  protection  from  molestation,  becomes  so  tame  and 
familiar  that  it  approaches  close  to  their  dwellings,  and  perches  round  them  and  the 
stock-yards  in  small  families  of  from  six  to  ten  in  number.  "Nor  is  its  morning' 
carol  less  amusing  and  attractive  than  its  pied  and  strongly  contrasted  plumage  is 
pleasing  to  the  eye.  To  describe  the  notes  of  this  bird  is  beyond  the  power  of  my 
pen,  and  it  is  a  source  of  regret  to  myself  that  my  readers  cannot,  as  I  have  done, 
listen  to  them  in  their  native  wilds." 

Somewhat  timaliine  in  the  fluffy  plumage  of  the  back,  which  forms  a  thick  and 
soft  covering  of  the  rump,  the  Malaconotrinae,  African  and  Indian  forms,  generally 
like  shrikes,  but  often  very  gorgeously  colored, —  as  for  instance  the  brilliant  cobalt  blue 
Cyanolanius  madagascarinus,  from  Madagascar,  and  the  African  Laniarius,  varie- 


FIG.  251.  —  Lditius  minor,  lesser  gray  shrike. 

gated  with  orange,  green,  black,  red,  etc., —  lead  us  directly  into  the  typical  Laminae. 
These,  the  true  shrikes  or  butcher-birds,  like  the  foregoing  families,  are  strictly  Old 
World  birds,  but  a  few  forms  closely  related  to  species  of  the  genus  Lanius,  from  the 
eastern  hemisphere,  have  also  invaded  the  Nearctic  Continent,  and  become  familiar 
with  vis.  In  coloration  they  closely  agree  with  the  species  figured  in  the  accompany- 
ing cut,  the  lesser  gray  shrike  of  Europe,  which,  on  account  of  its  shorter  and  less 
graduated  tail,  is  often  placed  in  the  genus  Enneoctonus.  Like  the  members  of  the 
latter,  the  rufous  shrikes,  it  is  migratory,  therein  differing  from  the  other  gray  species. 
A  characteristic  feature  in  the  history  of  these  birds  is  their  habit  of  storing  insects  or 
mice  for  future  use  by  fixing  them  on  the  thorns  of  the  bushes  and  trees  which  they 
frequent.  This  peculiar  habit  in  the  shrikes  of  thus  spitting  their  food,  Mr.  Seebohm 


GREENLETS. 


513 


remarks,  is  probably  caused  by  the  birds  not  having  sufficiently  powerful  feet  to  grasp 
their  prey  until  torn  in  pieces  by  the  sharply  toothed  bill.  They  therefore  secure 
their  food  on  sharp  thorns,  and  are  able  then,  if  it  be  a  bird,  to  pluck  it,  or  if  an 
insect  or  lizard  or  a  mouse,  to  tear  it  to  pieces.  In  places  frequented  by  this 
bold  little  bird  (E.  collurio)  it  is  no  uncommon  thing  to  see  in  the  bushes  the  rem- 
nants of  its  meal  —  of  many  meals;  for  the  bird  will  regularly  retire  to  one  place  for 
its  purpose. 

It  matters  very  little,  under  the  present  state  of  affairs,  whether  we  style  our 
American  greenlets  Vireonina?  or  VIBEONIDJE  ;  for,  in  spite  of  their  olive  color  and 
email  size,  they  are  apparently  nearly  allied  to  the  shrikes.  But  they  are  especially 


\ 


FIG.  252.  —  Sitta  ccesia,  nuthatch. 

interesting  on  account  of  being  the  only  indigenous  American  forms  of  the  whole 
series,  at  least  so  far,  and  the  only  one  of  which  no  member  ranges  into  any  part  of 
the  Old  World.  From  a  taxonomic  point  of  view  they  are  of  considerable  importance, 
inasmuch  as  they  prove  the  comparative  insignificance  of  the  presence  or  absence 
of  a  first  (tenth)  primary  as  a  means  of  subdividing  the  Passeroideae  into  groups  of 
higher  value  than  the  present  so-called  families,  for  of  two  species  of  greenlets, 
so  nearly  allied  that  nobody  ever  dared  separate  them,  even  generically,  we  may 
have  one  with  a  distinct  spurious  primary,  while  it  has  become  quite  invisible  in 
the  other. 

The  greenlets  reach  their  highest  development  in  the  genus  Cyclorhis,  embracing 
at  least  a  dozen  species  from  Central  and  South  America,  remarkable  for  their  stout 
build,  and  high,  strong  beaks. 
VOL.  iv.  —33 


514 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


Prof.  W.  K.  Parker,  from  an  examination  of  the  skull  of  CydorMs,  pronounces- 
it  " the  large  prototype  of  the  little  Chinese  Suthora"  and  as  he  found  that  the  latter 
has  "  a  skull  which  comes  nearer  to  that  of  the  tits  than  any  I  have  yet  examined,"  he 
arrived  at  a  conclusion,  which  he  expressed  by  calling  Cyclorhis  "  this  large  archaic 
tit."  On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  Sharpe  refers  Suthora  and  its  allies  to  the  Timaliidae. 
Still,  I  think  that  even  on  account  of  the  external  characters  they  might  be  placed  as 


FIG.  253.  —JEgithalos  caudatws,  long-tailed  tit. 

a  sub-family  under  the  PARID.E,  the  tits.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  Passeres  seems 
to  be  allied  to  Suthora,  viz.,  the  three-toed  Cholornis  paradoxa,  which  the  celebra- 
ted French  traveler,  Abbe  Armand  David,  discovered  in  western  China.  The 
unique  feature  of  this  bird  is  the  suppression  of  the  fourth,  that  is,  the  inner 
anterior  toe. 

The  present  family  may  be  divided  into  two  sub-families  besides  the  Suthorinae,  if 
we  decide  to  keep  them  here,  viz.,  the  true  tits  and  the  nuthatches  (Sittinas).      The 


ORIOLES.  515 

latter  are  specialized  forms  adapted  for  climbing  in  the  manner  of  woodpeckers  and 
creepers ;  but  the  tail  is  not  stiff,  while  on  the  other  hand  the  hind  toe  is  extremely 
developed.  The  bill  is  protracted,  is  somewhat  wedge-shaped,  and  is  applied  as  a 
hammer,  somewhat  after  the  fashion  of  woodpeckers,  in  opening  nests  and  acorns ; 
but  it  must  also  be  remarked  that  the  true  tits  open  seeds,  bugs,  and  other  hard 
objects  by  hammering  just  in  the  same  manner.  The  nuthatches  are  mostly  referable 
to  the  genus  Sitta,  as  typified  by  the  European  species  (S.  ccesia)  figured  in  our  cut. 
The  group  is  small  and  faunally  best  developed  in  the  Asiatic  continent,  though  sev- 
eral very  distinct  species  also  occur  in  North  America.  These  are  characterized  by 
having  the  cap  colored  differently  from  that  of  the  back,  though  S.  villosa  from 
China  comes  near  to  our  /S.  canadensis  in  that  respect,  and  in  the  two  Mediterranean 
species,  S.  Jcrueperi  and  S.  whiteheadi,  the  forehead  alone  is  black.  A  very  aber- 
rant form  usually  referred  to  the  present  sub-family  is  the  Madagascar  red-billed 
nuthatch  (Hypositta  corallirostris),  in  which  the  bill  is  shorter  and  somewhat  fly- 
catcher-like. 

The  true  tits  are  also  chiefly  Old  World  birds,  though  we  have  numerous  repre- 
sentatives in  this  country  also  ;  but  here  they  are  all  dull  colored,  while  some  of  the 
foreign  species,  for  instance,  the  azure  tit,  from  Siberia  (Parus  cyanus),  pure  white 
and  sky-blue,  the  blue-tit  of  Europe  (P.  cceruleus),  blue,  white,  and  yellow,  and  the 
large  Japanese  tit  (P.  varius),  with  chestnut  on  sides  and  hind  neck,  are  among  the 
most  beautiful  and  delicately  tinted  birds  of  the  northern  hemisphere.  The  tits 
generally  breed  in  holes  in  trees,  a  noteworthy  exception  being  the  long-tailed  tits,  of 
which  our  cut  shows  us  the  North  European  form  with  the  white  head,  ^Egithalos 
caudatus.  They  are  extremely  small ;  in  fact,  look  like  a  minute  ball  of  feathers,  to 
which  is  appended  a  disproportionately  long  tail.  The  species  figured  is  black  and 
white,  with  the  shoulders  wine-colored,  and  the  flanks  tinged  with  the  same  color. 
Their  nest  is  a  very  large  and  elaborate  purse-shaped  affair,  hanging  free,  or  attached 
along  the  back  to  the  main  stem  of  the  tree,  covered  on  the  outside  with  fine  lichens 
and  moss,  while  the  inside  is  lined  with  an  enormous  number  of  feathers  —  Gould  once 
counted  two  thousand  in  a  nest  which  he  tore  to  pieces  —  the  whole  structure  securely 
matted  together  with  spiders'  webs.  In  this  warm  purse  is  deposited  a  large  number 
of  eggs,  often  nine  to  eleven,  but  rare  instances  are  known  where  sixteen  or  even 
twenty  eggs  have  been  found  in  one  nest.  When  incubating,  the  bird  sits  with  the 
tail  bent  over  its  back.  In  their  habits,  the  long-tailed  tits,  or  'bottle-tits,'  as  they 
are  often  called  on  account  of  the  bottle-form  of  the  nest,  are  very  restless  and 
erratic,  always  in  movement,  and,  like  the  other  tits,  they  are  gregarious  to  a  great 
extent. 

The  true  orioles,  ORIOLIDJS,  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  American  birds 
which  we  generally  designate  by  that  name.  The  two  groups  resemble  each  other  in 
coloration  inasmuch  as  the  prevailing  color  is  yellow  and  black  massed  in  great 
continuous  patches,  but  structurally  they  are  as  different  as  a  crow  and  a  warbler. 
The  true  orioles  are  exclusively  a  tropical  Old  World  family,  quite  nearly  related  to  the 
crow-like  birds,  and  cannot  be  removed  from  their  immediate  neighborhood.  They  are 
especially  at  home  in  the  Oriental  and  Australian  region,  but  several  species  also  occur 
in  Africa,  and  one  at  least  also  invades  the  Palaearctic,  being  a  regular  summer  visitor 
to  southern  and  central  Europe,  though  only  rarely  straggling  to  the  British  Islands. 
This  is  the  golden  oriole  (Oriolus  oriolus)  represented  in  the  accompanying  cut. 
The  adults  are  rich  golden  yellow  and  black,  while  the  young  birds  are  greenish, 


516 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


lighter  grayish  beneath,  and  streaked  with  dusky  on  throat,  breast,  and  flanks.  Its 
song  is  very  celebrated.  To  quote  Mr.  Seebohm :  "  Its  voice  is  marvellously  rich  and 
flute-like.  The  call-note  during  the  pairing  season  sounds  like  the  words  '  who  are 
you '  in  a  full,  rapid  whistle ;  and  its  song  is  a  wheet,  li,  vee-o,  whence  its  vernacular 
name  in  Holland  of  '  Kiel-i-vee-vo.'  Some  slight  modifications  in  its  song  are  appar- 
ently produced  by  prefixing  or  interluding  its  call-note.  It  is  a  pity  the  song  is  so 
short ;  for  in  quality  it  is  scarcely  exceeded  by  the  song  of  any  other  bird."  It  feeds 
principally  on  insects  and  fruit,  and  may  in  the  summer  do  considerable  damage  to 
the  cherries. 

We  shall  regard  the  family  of  PARADIS^EID^E,  or  birds-of-Paradise  as  composed  of 
three  distinct  sub-families,  the  bower-birds,  the  long-billed  Paradise  birds,  and  the 


FIG.  254 Oriolus  oriolus,  golden  oriole. 

true,  typical  Paradisasinae.  The  first  mentioned  group  is  possibly  linked  to  some 
Timaliine  forms,  with  which  Sharpe  puts  it,  but  the  fact  that  a  supposed  bower- 
bird,  Sericulus  xanthogaster,  was  shown  by  Salvador!  in  1876  to  be  the  young  of 
Xanthomelus  aureus,  one  of  the  long-billed  Paradise  birds,  is  quite  suggestive. 

The  bower-birds  are  peculiar  to  Australia  and  New  Guinea,  one  of  the  oldest  and 
best  known  species  being  the  satin  bower-bird  (Ptilonorhynchus  violaceus)  figured 
on  the  plate  facing  this  page.  It  is  a  large  bird,  of  the  size  of  a  common  magpie, 
the  male  purplish  black,  the  female  chiefly  grayish  green,  underneath  pale  yellowish, 
barred  crosswise  with  dusky.  The  bower-birds  have  received  their  name  from  the 
peculiar  structures  which  they  build  apparently  only  for  the  purpose  of  pleasure  as 
sporting-places  where  the  males  meet  to  pay  their  court  to  the  females,  and  which  are 


Ptilonorhynchus  violaceus,  satin  bower-bird. 


Gracula  j  at  ana,  Maylayan  liill-inyna. 


BOWER-BIRDS.  517 

constructed  with  such  wonderful  skill  and  taste,  that  we  are  forced  to  recognize  the 
intellect  manifested  by  them  as  only  inferior  to  that  of  man  in  degree,  but  not  in 
kind.  Dr.  Sclater,  in  speaking  of  the  birds  of  this  species  in  the  Zoological  Gardens 
in  London,  says  as  follows :  "  Long  before  the  construction  of  their  nest,  and  inde- 
pendently of  it,  these  birds  form  with  twigs,  skilfully  put  together  and  firmly  planted 
in  a  platform  of  various  materials,  an  arbor-like  gallery  of  uncertain  length  in  whicli 
they  amuse  themselves  with  the  most  active  glee.  They  pursue  each  other  through 
it ;  they  make  attitudes  to  each  other,  the  males  setting  their  feathers  in  the  most 
grotesque  manner,  and  making  as  many  bows  as  a  cavalier  in  a  minuet.  The  archi- 
tectm-e  of  the  bower  is  excessively  tasteful,  and  the  ornamentation  of  the  platform 
on  which  it  stands  is  an  object  of  constant  solicitude  to  the  birds.  Scarcely  a  day 
passes  without  some  fresh  arrangement  of  the  shells,  feathers,  bones,  and  other  decora- 
tive materials,  which  they  bring  from  long  distances  in  the  bush  for  this  purpose. 
With  the  same  object  they  immediately  appropriate  every  suitable  fragment  placed 
within  their  reach  when  in  confinement." 

Still  larger  and  more  elaborate  are  the  avenue-like  "  play-houses  "  of  the  Chlamy- 
dodera.  Accompanying  a  bower  of  C.  nuchatis  now  in  the  Museum  of  Comparative 
Zoology,  in  Cambridge,  we  learn,  "  were  more  than  half  a  peck  of  the  decorations 
with  which  the  builders  had  adorned  their  place  of  assembly.  These  consisted  prin- 
cipally of  a  large  white  univalve ;  the  shell  of  a  large  land-snail,  of  which  there  were 
in  all  about  four  hundred ;  shining  stones,  principally  flint-stones  and  agates  ;  bright- 
colored  seed  vessels  and  pods ;  bleached  bones  of  small  quadrupeds,  and  other  objects 
of  interest." 

But  all  these  structures  are  completely  overshadowed  by  the  achievements  of 
Amblyomis  inornata,  a  plain  rufous-colored  bird,  not  larger  than  our  American  robin, 
and  only  recently  discovered  in  New  Guinea  by  the  Dutcli  traveler  and  natui'alist, 
Count  Rosenberg.  From  an  abstract  of  Dr.  O.  Beccari's  account  of  the  gardener-bird 
in  the  Arfak  Mountains,  on  the  western  peninsula  of  New  Guinea,  in  1875,  we  make 
the  following  selection :  "He  had  just  shot  a  small  marsupial  as  it  was  running  up 
the  trunk  of  a  large  ti'ee,  when,  turning  round  in  close  proximity  to  the  path,  he 
found  himself  in  front  of  a  piece  of  workmanship  more  lovely  than  the  ingenuity  of 
any  animal  had  ever  before  been  known  to  construct.  It  was  a  cabin  in  miniature  in 
the  midst  of  a  miniature  meadow  studded  with  flowers.  Contenting  himself  for  the 
moment  with  a  brief  examination  of  this  marvel,  he  enjoined  his  hunters  not  to  dis- 
turb it. 

"  After  several  days  spent  at  Hatam  in  the  preservation  of  specimens,  at  last,  one 
morning,  his  crayon  and  box  of  colors  in  hand,  he  set  out  towards  the  habitation  of 
the  Amblyorms,  and  immediately  applied  himself  to  the  task  of  making  a  sketch.  At 
the  time  of  his  visit  the  proprietors  were  not  at  home,  nor  was  he  afterward  able  to 
ascertain  with  any  certainty  whether  any  cabin  was  frequented  by  a  single  pair,  or  by 
more ;  whether  by  more  males  than  females,  or  the  reverse ;  whether  the  males  alone 
construct  the  huts,  or  whether  the  females  aid  in  the  work,  or  how  far  they  may  be 
the  work  of  several  individuals.  That  these  cabins  are  used  season  after  season  is 
made  probable  from  the  fact  that  they  are  constantly  being  renewed  and  embellished. 

"  This  bird  selects  for  its  hut  and  garden  a  spot  on  a  level  with  the  plain,  having 
in  its  centre  a  small  shrub,  with  a  trunk  about  the  height  and  size  of  a  small  walking- 
stick.  Around  the  base  of  this  central  support,  it  constructs,  of  different  mosses,  a 
sort  of  cone  about  a  span  in  diameter.  This  cone  of  moss  seems  to  strengthen  the 


518  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

the  central  pilaster,  upon  the  top  of  which  the  whole  edifice  is  sustained.  The  height 
of  the  cabin  is  at  least  half  a  metre.  All  around,  from  the  top  of  the  central  pilaster, 
and  diverging  outward  therefrom,  arranged  methodically  in  an  inclined  position,  are 
the  long  stems,  their  upper  ends  supported  on  the  apex  of  the  pilaster,  and  their  lower 
resting  on  the  ground,  and  thus  all  around,  excepting  immediately  in  front.  In  this 
way  is  made  the  cabin,  conical  in  form,  and  quite  regular  in  the  shape  the  whole  pre- 
sents when  the  work  is  completed.  Many  other  stems  are  then  added  and  interwoven 
in  various  ways,  so  as  to  make  a  roof  at  once  strong  and  impervious  to  the  weather. 
Between  the  central  pilaster  and  the  insertion  in  the  ground,  there  is  left  a  circular 
gallery  in  the  shape  of  a  horse-shoe.  The  whole  structure  has  a  total  diameter  of 
about  a  metre. 

"  The  long  straw-like  stems  of  which  it  makes  use  as  rafters  are  the  slender  and 
upright  branches  of  a  species  of  orchid  (Dendrobium),  an  epiphytal  plant  that  grows 
in  large  tufts  on  the  mossy  branches  of  tall  trees.  They  are  as  slender  as  fine  straws, 
and  are  about  half  a  metre  in  length.  These  stems  retain  their  small  and  closely- 
packed  leaves,  which  are  still  living,  and  continue  to  maintain  their  life  a  long  while, 
as  is  the  case  with  the  greater  part  of  the  epiphytal  orchids  of  the  tropics,  and  there 
is  little  doubt  that  these  sagacious  birds  select  this  plant  on  account  of  its  vitality, 
purposely  to  prevent  the  decay  of  their  dwelling. 

"  But  the  aesthetic  tastes  of  our  '  gardener '  are  not  restricted  to  the  construction  of 
a  cabin.  Their  fondness  for  flowers  and  for  gardens  is  still  more  remarkable. 
Directly  in  front  of  the  entrance  to  their  cabin  is  a  level  place  occupying  a  superficies 
about  as  large  as  that  of  the  structure  itself.  It  is  a  miniature  meadow  of  soft  moss, 
transported  thither,  kept  smooth  and  clean,  and  free  from  grass,  weeds,  stones,  and 
other  objects  not  in  harmony  with  its  design.  Upon  this  graceful  green  carpet  are 
scattered  flowers  and  fruit  of  different  colors,  in  such  a  manner  that  they  really  pre- 
sent the  appearance  of  an  elegant  little  garden.  The  greater  number  of  these  orna- 
ments appear  to  be  accumulated  near  the  entrance  to  the  cabin.  The  variety  of  tho 
objects  thus  collected  is  very  great,  and  they  are  always  of  brilliant  colors.  Not  only 
does  the  Amblyornis  select  its  ornaments  from  among  flowers  and  fruit,  but  showy 
fungi  and  elegantly-colored  insects  are  also  distributed  about  the  garden  and  within 
the  galleries  of  the  cabin.  When  these  objects  have  been  exposed  so  long  as  to  lose 
their  freshness,  they  are  taken  from  the  abode,  thrown  away,  and  replaced  by  others." 

As  the  first  naturalist  who  saw  the  wonderful  birds-of-Paradise,  long-billed  and 
short-billed  ones,  in  their  native  forests,  Mr.  Alfred  Russel  Wallace's  name  is  so 
closely  connected  with  the  history  of  these  marvels  of  living  beauty,  and  our  knowl- 
edge of  their  habits  and  peculiarities  is  to  such  a  degree  due  to  his  observations,  that 
we  shall  have  to  follow  his  account  of  them  as  near  as  possible,  using  his  own  words, 
unable  as  we  are  to  improve  upon  them.  We  must  limit  the  remarks,  however,  to 
such  species  only  of  which  we  are  able  to  present  figures,  viz.,  the  two  cuts  inserted 
in  the  text,  and  the  plate  facing  this  page,  though  these  only  represent  five  species  out 
of  a  total  number  of  nearly  three  dozen. 

When  the  earliest  European  voyagers  reached  the  Moluccas  in  search  of  cloves 
and  nutmegs,  which  were  then  rare  and  precious  spices,  they  were  presented  with  the 
dried  skins  of  birds  so  strange  and  beautiful  as  to  excite  the  admiration  even  of  those 
wealth-seeking  rovers.  The  Malay  traders  gave  them  the  name  of  '  manuk  dewata,' 
or  God's  birds;  and  the  Portuguese,  finding  that  the  skins  had  no  feet  or  wings,  and 
not  being  able  to  learn  anything  authentic  about  them,  called  them  '  passaros  de  sol,' 


BIRDS- OF-  PARADISE. 

I .  l>M,'M)ISt-;.\M>(>l).\.  ( '.I-;!- AT  BIW»-OI:-PARW!S1-:  •,      -.  P.WOTU  SWUM  UK-OF-PAKAD1SK: 

;•>.  r/r/.v.\77,T.v  m-(rirs,  KINC-  BIFID -OF -FARM 


BIRDS-OF-PAkADISE. 


519 


or  birds  of  the  sun ;  while  the  learned  Dutchmen,  who  wrote  in  Latin,  called  them 
« :ivis  paradiseus,'  or  Paradise  birds.  John  van  Linschoten  gives  these  names  in  1598, 
and  tells  us  that  no  one  has  seen  these  birds  alive,  for  they  live  in  the  air,  always 
turning  towards  the  sun,  and  never  lighting  on  the  earth  till  they  die ;  for  they  have 
neither  feet  nor  wings,  as,  he  adds,  may  be  seen  by  the  birds  carried  to  India,  and 
sometimes  to  Holland,  but  being  very  costly  they  were  then  rarely  seen  in  Europe. 
More  than  a  hundred  years  later  Mr.  William  Funnel,  who  accompanied  Dampier, 
and  wrote  an  account  of  the  voyage,  saw  specimens  at  Amboina,  and  was  told  that 
they  came  to  Banda  to  eat  nutmegs,  which  intoxicated  them  and  made  them  fall  down 
senseless,  when  they  were  killed  by  ants.  Down  to  1758,  when  Linnaeus  named  the 


FIG.  255.  —  Paradisaa  sanguined,  red  bird-of-Paradise. 

largest  species  Paradiscea  apoda  (i.  e.,  the  footless  Paradise  bird),  no  perfect  specimen 
had  been  seen  in  Europe,  and  absolutely  nothing  was  known  about  them.  As  before 
mentioned,  Wallace  was  the  first  naturalist  to  observe  them  in  their  native  haunts 
during  his  eight  years'  travels  in  the  Malay  Archipelago  from  1854  to  1862,  but  since 
his  success  several  recent  travelers  have  followed  his  steps  and  added  considerably  to 
the  knowledge  of  these  birds,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  Rosenberg,  Bernstein, 
d'Albertis,  Beccari,  etc. 

The  great  bird-of-Paradise  (P.  apoda}  —  see  plate  —  is  the  largest  species  known, 
being  generally  seventeen  or  eighteen  inches  from  the  beak  to  the  tip  of  the  tail. 
The  chief  color  is  a  rich  coffee-brown,  which  deepens  on  the  breast  to  a  blackish 
violet  or  purple  brown.  The  whole  top  of  the  head  and  neck  is  of  an  exceedingly 


520  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

delicate  straw-yellow,  the  feathers  being  short  and  close  set,  so  as  to  resemble  plush  or 
velvet ;  the  lower  part  of  the  throat  up  to  the  eye  is  clothed  with  scaly  feathers  of  an 
emerald  green  color,  and  with  a  rich  metallic  gloss,  and  velvety  plumes  of  a  still 
deeper  green  extend  in  a  band  across  the  forehead  and  chin  as  far  as  the  eye,  which 
is  bright  yellow.  The  beak  is  pale  lead-blue,  and  the  feet,  which  are  rather  large  and 
very  strong  and  well  formed,  are  of  a  pale  ashy  pink.  The  two  middle  feathers  of 
the  tail  have  no  webs,  except  a  very  small  one  at  the  base  and  at  the  extreme  tip, 
forming  wire-like  cirri,  which  spread  out  in  an  elegant  double  curve,  and  vary  from 
twenty-four  to  thirty-four  inches  long.  From  each  side  of  the  body,  beneath  the 
wings,  springs  a  dense  tuft  of  long  and  delicate  plumes,  sometimes  two  feet  in  length, 
of  the  most  intense  golden  orange  color,  and  very  glossy,  but  changing  towards  the 
tips  into  a  pale  brown.  This  tuft  of  plumage  can  be  elevated  and  spread  out  at 
pleasure,  so  as  almost  to  conceal  the  body  of  the  bird.  These  splendid  ornaments  are 
entirely  confined  to  the  male  sex,  while  the  female  is  really  a  very  plain  and  ordinary- 
looking  bird  of  a  uniform  coffee-brown  color  which  never  changes ;  neither  does  she 
possess  the  long  tail  wires,  nor  a  single  yellow  or  green  feather  about  the  head.  The 
young  males  of  the  first  year  exactly  resemble  the  females. 

This  species  is  confined  to  the  Aru  Islands,  a  small  group  of  islands  close  to  New 
Guinea,  where  their  loud  and  shrill  cries,  "  wawk,  wawk,  wawk  —  wok,  wok,  wok," 
form  the  most  prominent  and  characteristic  animal  sound.  In  May,  when  they  are  in 
full  plumage,  the  males  assemble  early  in  the  morning  to  exhibit  themselves,  raising 
up  their  wings,  stretching  out  their  necks,  and  elevating  their  exquisite  plumes,  which 
are  kept  in  a  continual  vibration.  Between  whiles  they  fly  across  from  branch  to 
branch  in  great  excitement,  so  that  the  whole  tree  is  filled  with  waving  plumes,  in 
every  variety  of  attitude  and  motion.  This  habit  enables  the  natives  to  obtain  speci- 
mens with  comparative  ease.  As  soon  as  they  find  that  the  birds  have  fixed  upon  a 
tree  on  which  to  assemble,  they  build  a  little  shelter  of  palm  leaves  in  a  convenient 
place  among  the  branches,  and  the  hunter  ensconces  himself  in  it  before  daylight, 
armed  with  his  bow  and  a  number  of  arrows  terminating  in  a  round  knob.  A  boy 
waits  at  the  foot  of  the  tree,  and  when  the  birds  come  at  sunrise,  and  a  sufficient 
number  have  assembled,  and  have  begun  to  dance,  the  hunter  shoots  with  his  blunt 
arrow  so  strongly  as  to  stun  the  bird,  which  drops  down,  and  is  secured  and  killed  by 
the  boy  without  its  plumage  being  injured  by  a  drop  of  blood.  The  rest  take  no 
notice,  and  fall  one  after  another  till  some  of  them  take  the  alarm. 

The  red  bird-of-Paradise  (P.  sanguinea),  represented  in  the  accompanying  cut, 
resembles  the  foregoing  species  very  much,  but  the  side  plumes  are  shorter,  and  instead 
of  being  yellow  are  rich  crimson,  and  the  yellow  of  the  head  pervades  the  back  and 
forms  a  yellow  band  across  the  breast  between  the  green  and  the  brown ;  the  two 
middle  tail-feathers  have  the  narrow  webs  curved  upon  themselves  like  a  split  quill. 
This  species,  which  is  confined  to  the  Waigiou  Islands  at  the  western  extremity  of 
New  Guinea,  is  not  shot  with  arrows,  but  snared  in  a  very  ingenious  manner. 

The  king  bird-of-Paradise  (Cicinnurus  regius)  is  the  lower  figure  on  the  plate. 
It  is  quite  small,  about  six  inches  and  a  half  long.  It  is  of  a  rich  glossy  crimson, 
with  a  broad  band  of  metallic  green  across  the  breast,  dividing  the  red  of  the  throat 
from  the  silky  white  of  the  rest  of  the  under  surface.  From  each  side  springs  a  fan- 
shaped  tuft  of  ashy  feathers  tipped  with  green,  which  can  be  raised  and  spread  out, 
as  in  the  drawing,  and  the  middle  tail-feathers  are  modified  into  very  slender  wire- 
like  shafts,  nearly  as  long  as  the  bird  itself,  each  of  which  bears  at  the  extremity,  on 


BIRDS-OF-PARADISE. 


521 


the  inner  side  only,  a  web  of  an  emerald  green  color,  which  is  coiled  up  into  a  perfect 
spiral  disc.  It  is  a  native  of  New  Guinea  and  the  outlying  islets  surrounding  it, 
frequenting  the  smaller  trees  in  the  thickest  parts  of  the  forest,  feeding  on  various 
fruits,  often  of  a  very  large  size  for  so  small  a  bird.  It  is  very  active  on  its  wing  and 
feet,  and  makes  a  whirring  sound  while  flying,  something  like  the  South  American 
manakms. 


FIG.  256.  —  Seleucides  alba,  twelve-wired  Paradise  bird. 

Wallace  did  not  meet  with  the  six-shafted  Paradise  bird  (Parotia  sefilata),  which 
is  confined  to  the  main  island  of  New  Guinea.  It  is  the  middle  figure  of  the  plate, 
from  which  is  at  once  apparent  the  feature  which  has  given  it  its  name.  The  plumage 
appears  at  first  sight  black,  but  it  glows  in  certain  lights  with  bronze  and  deep  purple. 
The  throat  and  breast  are  scaled  with  broad,  flat  feathers  of  an  intense  golden  hue, 
changing  to  green  and  blue  tints  in  certain  lights.  On  the  back  of  the  head  is  a  broad 


522  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

recurved  band  of  feathers,  whose  brilliancy  is  indescribable,  resembling  the  sheen  of 
emerald  and  topaz,  rather  than  any  organic  substance.  Over  the  forehead  is  a  large 
patch  of  pure  white  feathers,  which  shine  like  satin ;  and  from  the  sides  of  the  head 
spring  the  six  wonderful  feathers.  The  Italian  traveler,  Count  d'Albertis,  was  the 
first  naturalist  who  ever  shot  a  bird  of  this  kind.  Let  me  quote  his  description  of  how 
the  bird  acted  the  first  time  it  was  seen  by  an  appreciating  eye :  "  After  standing 
still  for  some  moments  in  the  middle  of  the  little  glade,  the  beautiful  bird  peered 
about  to  see  if  all  was  safe,  and  then  he  began  to  move  the  long  feathers  of  his  head, 
and  to  raise  and  lower  a  small  tuft  of  white  feathers  above  his  beak,  which  shone  in 
the  rays  of  the  sun  like  burnished  silver ;  he  also  raised  and  lowered  the  crest  of  stiff 
feathers,  almost  like  scales,  and  glittering  like  bits  of  bright  metal,  with  which  his 
neck  was  adorned.  He  spread  and  contracted  the  long  feathers  on  his  sides,  in  a  way 
that  made  him  appear  now  larger  and  again  smaller  than  his  real  size,  and  jumping 
first  on  one  side  and  then  on  the  other,  he  placed  himself  proudly  in  an  attitude  of 
combat,  as  though  he  imagined  himself  fighting  with  an  invisible  foe.  All  this  time 
he  was  uttering  a  curious  note,  as  though  calling  on  some  one  to  admire  his  beauty,  or 
perhaps  challenging  an  enemy.  The  deep  silence  of  the  forest  was  stirred  by  the 
echoes  of  his  voice." 

It  is  hard  to  say  which  one  of  the  Paradise  birds  is  the  most  beautiful  or  the  most 
curious,  and  want  of  space  will  only  allow  us  to  mention  the  names  of  Wallace's 
standard-wing  (Semioptera  wallacii),  with  two  curious  long  feathers  standing  erect 
on  each  wing;  Schlegel's  Paradise  bird  (Schlegelia  loilsoni),  with  a  cobalt-blue 
bald  head,  ornamented  with  a  cross  of  velvety  black  feathers ;  the  superb  bird-of-Par- 
adise  (Lophorina  superba),  with  the  bifurcated  breast-shield,  and  the  still  more  ex- 
traordinary and  enormous  furcated  feather-shield  that  rises  from  the  lined  neck ;  the 
magnificent  bird-of-Paradise  (Diphyllodes  magnified),  with  a  similar  but  rounded  and 
straw-yellow  nape,  crest,  and  a  pair  of  elegantly  curved  and  long  filamentous  tail- 
feathers;  and  finally  the  metallic  black  manucodes,  remarkable  for  the  subcutaneous 
convolutions  of  the  trachea,  which  may  even  occur  in  the  females. 

In  the  Epimachina?,  long-billed,  or  sickle-billed  birds-of-Paradise,  the  peculiarities 
of  which  are  indicated  by  the  name,  we  find  birds  not  less  remarkable  in  form,  and  not 
less  glorious  and  beautiful  in  colors.  We  shall  only  mention  the  long-tailed  Epima- 
chus  speciosus,  with  the  enormous  long  tail,  and  a  lateral  fan  similar  to  that  of  the 
king  bird-of-Paradise,  and  the  Australian  species  of  Ptilorhis,  with  a  plumage  unsur- 
passed in  its  velvety  softness  and  the  richness  of  the  deep  purple  of  its  color.  The 
most  beautiful  of  this  group,  however,  is,  probably,  the  black,  yellow,  and  white,  twelve- 
wired  bird-of-Paradise  (Seleucides  alba),  figured  in  the  accompanying  cut,  and  long 
known  to  the  naturalists  in  museums,  though  first  met  with  in  the  free  state  by  Wal- 
lace's assistant,  Allen,  and  d'Albertis,  whom  we  quote :  "  The  Seleucides  may  pride 
itself  on  account  of  its  plumage,  and  the  singular  shape  of  twelve  of  its  feathers,  six 
of  which,  on  each  side  of  the  breast,  diminish  into  twelve  very  thin  black  threads, 
terminating  in  a  white  point.  The  softness  of  the  feathers  of  the  back  makes  it  very 
delicate  to  the  touch,  like  black  velvet ;  and  in  a  strong  light  the  color  of  the  shield- 
like  feathers  on  the  breast  changes  from  green  to  bronze  and  a  splendid  purple.  The 
bird  is  so  gorgeous  that  it  is  perhaps  not  surpassed  by  any  other  of  the  feathered 
tribes.  The  long  feathers  which  cover  the  lower  part  of  its  body  are  of  a  very  deli- 
cate yellow  color,  which,  shaded  off  into  white,  are  of  a  deeper  color  on  the  sides. 
Seleucides  is  chiefly  frugivorous,  although,  as  an  exception,  it  may  sometimes  add  a 
little  meat  to  its  customary  diet." 


CROWS. 


523 


Mr.  Forbes  has  recently  described  some  peculiarities  of  its  structure,  especially 
that  of  the  trachea,  from  a  specimen  which  died  in  the  Zoological  Gardens  at  London, 
but  want  of  space  prevents  us  from  further  remarks. 

At  first  thought,  the  step  from  the  glory  we  have  described  above  to  the  family 
that  has  taken  its  name  from  the  crow  —  the  COKVID^E  —  seems  rather  sudden.  But 
a  little  closer  inspection  of  the  structure  of  these  birds,  and  a  little  knowledge  of  the 


Fio.  257.  —  Nucifraga  caryocatactes,  spotted  nut-cracker  ;  Perisoreus  ii\faustus,  Siberian  jay. 

more  brilliantly  colored  of  the  so-called  crows  will  soon  convince  us  that  the  birds-of- 
Paradise  and  the  sagacious  but  scavenge r-duty-perforrning  ravens  and  crows  are  not 
so  very  distantly  related. 

This  family  is  cosmopolitan,  though  not  occurring  in  New  Zealand,  and  rather 
sparingly  represented  in  the  Australian  region.  If  the  western  and  the  eastern 
hemispheres  of  the  globe  be  compared,  it  will  be  found  that  nearly  two  thirds  of  the 
species  belong  to  the  latter.  It  is  an  important  fact  that  no  member  of  the  restricted 


524 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


group  which  contains  the  typical  crows  and  their  nearest  allies  is  found  in  South 
America.  In  fact  the  Corvidae  occurring  south  of  Panama  may  all  be  regarded  as 
rather  recent  modifications  of  immigrants  from  the  Nearctic  region.  This  family  is 
not  nearly  related  to  any  forms  that  are  peculiar  to  South  America. 

It  has  been  customary  to  divide  the  birds  composing  this  family  into  jays  and 
crows,  assigning  to  each  of  these  divisions  the  rank  of  a  sub-family,  while  others 
have  given  similar  dignity  to  the  nut-crackers  and  the  choughs.  The  differences  seem 
hardly  important  enough  to  justify  such  proceedings,  although  popularly  this  multi- 
tude of  species  —  nearly  one  hundred  and  eighty  —  maybe  grouped  as  above,  with  the 
addition  of  a  section  for  the  magpies. 


FIG.  258.  —  Garrulus  glandar'ms,  European  common  jay. 

Some  of  the  more  generalized  forms  resemble  tits  in  their  aspect,  structure,  and 
habits  to  such  an  extent  as  to  make  it  quite  probable  that  they  are  intimately  related. 
We  refer  particularly  to  a  group  of  jays,  of  which  our  Canada  jay  or  '  whiskey-jack ' 
(Perisoreus  canadensis)  is  typical.  A  nearly  allied  form,  but  more  suffused  with 
rufous,  and  with  the  tail  distinctly  of  the  latter  color,  is  represented  in  the  accompany- 
ing cut,  lower  figure,  viz.,  the  Siberian  jay  (P.  infaustus),  which  is  a  common  bird 
in  all  the  deep  pine  forests  of  the  northern  Palaearctic  region.  Like  its  American 
cousins,  this  tit-jay  is  extremely  tame,  noisy,  and  even  obtrusive  in  its  habits,  at  least 
during  three  fourths  of  the  year,  while  towards  the  breeding  season  they  suddenly 
become  silent,  preparing  the  nest  in  the  most  secluded  parts  of  their  native  forests, 
and  exercising  all  their  cunning  to  keep  it  concealed. 


JA  YS. 


525 


The  true  and  typical  jays  belong  to  the  genus  Garrulus,  which  is  confined  to  the 
Palaearctic  region,  being  one  of  its  most  characteristic  inhabitants.  Most  of  the 
species  are  moulded  upon  the  European  species  (Garrulus  glandarius),  figured  in  our 
cut,  and  several  of  them  are  but  slight  modifications  of  this  well-known  and  beautiful 
bird.  Its  general  color  is  a  delicate  vinaceous  gray ;  on  the  head  it  has  an  erectile 
black-spotted  crest,  and  the  rump  is  pure  white ;  but  its  chief  ornaments  are  the  wing- 


FIG.  259.  —  Cyanocitta  diailemata,  Mexican  long-crested  jay. 

coverts,  which  are  black,  exquisitely  barred  with  white  and  azure-blue.  The  draw- 
ing shows  this  professional  nest-robber  in  the  act  of  killing  an  unfortunate  nestling. 
Like  the  other  members  of  the  family  the  jays  are  omnivorous,  but  they  are  especially 
fond  of  eggs  and  young  birds,  and  may  be  regarded  as  eminently  injurious,  though  in 
spring  they  consume  a  number  of  insects  to  atone  for  their  sins  of  stealing  fruit  and 
berries  in  the  autumn. 

Our  familiar  blue-jays  (Cyanocitta)  are  quite  nearly  related  to  the   above,  and 


526  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

are  so  well  known  that  we  only  refer  to  the  figure,  which  represents  the  Mexican 
representative  of  our  long-crested  jay.  The  blue-colored  jays  are  especially  character- 
istic of  the  New  World,  and  lead  us  directly  to  the  glorious  Central  and  South 
American  Xanthoura  jays,  varied  with  deep  black,  cobalt,  azure,  white,  yellow,  and 
green. 

The  magpies  may  be  said  to  differ  from  the  jays  in  having  much  larger  and  more 
graduated  tails,  the  central  pair  of  rectrices  being  usually  lengthened  considerably 
beyond  the  rest.  We  may  regard  the  so-called  blue  magpies  (  Cyanopolius)  as  leading 
from  the  jays,  though  the  chief  interest  of  these  birds  lays  in  their  geographical  distri- 
bution. Like  most  of  the  true  magpies  their  home  is  the  Old  World.  But  while  the 
other  forms  have  their  centre  of  distribution  in  the  Himalayas  and  the  countries  to 
the  southeast,  the  two  species  of  Cyanopolius  are  restricted,  one,  C.  cooki,  to  the 
peninsula  of  Spain,  while  the  other,  C.  cyanus,  is  only  found  in  Eastern  Asia,  including 
Japan ;  thus  these  two  species,  which  are  so  closely  alike  that  it  takes  an  expert 
ornithologist  to  distinguish  between  them,  are  separated  by  about  five  thousand  miles 
of  continuous  land,  a  most  unique  case  of  discontinuous  geographical  distribution. 
We  said  that  most  of  the  magpies  are  Old  World  birds,  for  the  reason  only  that 
representatives  of  the  genus  Pica  enter  the  North  American  fauna.  The  reservation 
was  not  made  to  include  the  long-crested  and  long-tailed  Central  American  genus 
CalocittO)  which  may  be  regarded  as  an  extreme  development  of  the  blue-jays.  We 
even  doubt  the  propriety  of  removing  the  Oriental  genus  Urocissa,  created  for  the 
reception  of  the  bird  figured  in  the  accompanying  cut,  the  red-billed  blue  magpie 
( II.  erythrorJiynchus)  and  allies  from  the  jays.  The  species  in  question  is  ashy  cobalt 
blue  above,  whitish  beneath ;  head,  neck,  and  breast,  black  with  white  markings 
above ;  tail  and  wings  blue,  marked  with  white ;  bill  coral-red,  and  feet  orange.  In 
spite  of  its  long  tail,  it  is  said  to  be  quite  terrestrial  in  its  habits,  and  to  feed  almost 
entirely  on  the  ground.  It  is  credited  with  a  curious  antipathy  towards  the  leopard ; 
several  of  these  birds,  when  discovering  it,  will  follow  it  for  more  than  a  mile,  perching 
on  the  trees  and  bushes  above  it,  and  keeping  up  a  continual  screeching. 

But  we  have  to  return  to  the  cut  which  we  referred  to  when  speaking  of  the 
Siberian  jay,  as  the  upper  figure  represents  the  spotted  nut-cracker  (Nutifraga 
caryocatactes),  a  near  relative  of  our  North  American  Picicorvus  columbianus.  The 
former  has  a  most  interesting  history  on  account  of  the  mystery  which,  until  a  short 
time  ago,  surrounded  its  breeding  habits,  for  although  resident  in  many  places  in  the 
very  heart  of  Europe,  it  is  scarcely  more  than  twenty  years  ago  that  the  first 
authenticated  eggs  of  this  bird  were  procured  and  described,  and  the  search  for  the 
nut-cracker's  eggs  is  nearly  a  parallel  to  that  of  Wolley's  search  for  the  wax-wing's 
eggs.  The  reason  why  this  bird  for  so  long  a  time  eluded  the  efforts  of  the  oologists 
was  the  fact  that  it  breeds  very  early,  often  before  the  snow  melts  away,  and  the 
total  change  of  the  bird  during  the  breeding  season,  it  being  then  silent  and  shy, 
though  at  other  times  noisy  and  daring.  Its  color  is  dark  brown  spotted  with  white. 

This  bird  opens  the  series  of  the  crows,  which  are  characterized  by  comparatively 
short  tail,  long  wings,  a  straight,  conical,  and  strong  bill,  and  generally  uniform  black 
plumage.  This  group  contains  the  largest  forms  of  the  family ;  indeed,  the  largest 
passerine  bird  known  is  the  rapacious  and  cunning  raven  (  Corvus  corax),  in  which  the 
family  reaches  its  highest  development.  The  two  PalaBarctic  species,  C.  comix  and 
C.  corone,  the  hooded-crow  and  the  carrion-crow  of  Europe,  have  been  a  source  of 
perplexity  to  Old  World  ornithologists,  presenting  a  question  similar  to  and  nearly 


as  intricate  as  that  of  the  red-shafted  and 
yellow-shafted  flickers  of  our  continent. 
The  carrion-crow  is  entirely  black;  the 
hooded-crow  is  gray,  with  the  head,  throat, 
wing,  and  tail  black.  The  former  inhabits 
in  Europe  the  southern  parts,  while  the 
hooded-crow  is  northern  and  eastern ;  but 
the  areas  of  both  overlap,  and  in  those  dis- 
tricts innumerable  intermediate  specimens 
occur.  Hybridization  easily  accounts  for 
these,  inasmuch  as  the  interbreeding  of  typi- 
cal birds  of  both  species  is  an  established 
fact.  But  that  was  not  the  greatest  diffi- 
culty which  presented  itself  in  the  apparent- 
ly western  carrion-crow  coming  to  light  again 
in  eastern  Siberia,  to  the  east  of  the  hooded 
species.  Seebohm  has  attempted  to  show 
that  the  true  explanation  is  that  the  black 
one  is  originally  an  eastern  species,  which 
has  invaded  southern  Europe,  establishing 
a  western  colony  there  after  having  crossed  the  area  inhabited  by  its  gray  cousin.  To 
me  the  problem  seems  even  easier ;  for  I  think  it  possible  to  separate  the  east  Asiatic 
birds,  at  least  subspecifically,  from  the  European  form. 


FlG.  260. —  Urocissa  trytltror/tynchus,  red-billed  jay. 


528  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

Our  last  figure  of  birds  of  this  family  needs  only  a  few  touches  of  color  to  give  a 
striking  picture  of  two  remarkable  species.  Both  are  uniform  black,  the  upper  figure, 
the  chough  (Fregilus  graculus),  with  feet  and  bill  vermilion  red,  while  the  Alpine 
species  (Pyrrhocorax  pyrrhocorax)  has  the  bill  yellow.  Both  forms  are  inhabitants 
•of  mountainous  districts  in  the  southern  parts  of  the  Palffiarctic  region,  the  first-men- 
tioned even  so  far  north  as  the  British  Islands.  They  differ  considerably  from  the 


FlG.  261.  —  Fregilus  graculus,  chough  ;  Pyrrhocorax  pyrrhocorax,  Alpine  chough. 

rest  of  the  crows  in  several  respects,  their  bills  being  much  weaker,  and  the  nostrils 
are  placed  much  higher  and  nearer  the  culmen.  Inter  se  they  differ  again,  as  seen  in 
the  figure,  by  the  shape  of  the  bill,  and  the  chough  by  having  booted  tarsi.  They 
stand  quite  isolated  among  the  crows  of  the  present  day,  and  several  facts  point 
towards  their  being  only  the  last  survivals  of  a  once  numerous  group,  which  before 
long  will  succumb  and  become  finally  extinct.  Its  fate  in  the  British  Islands  is  very 
.suggestive,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  following  extracts  from  Mr.  Seebohm's  recent 


STARLINGS. 


529 


volume :  "  The  chough  is  another  of  those  birds  that  are  becoming  rarer  in  our  islands 
from  no  apparent  cause.  The  encroachment  of  man,  as  Mr.  Gray  justly  remarks,  can 
scarcely  be  a  reason  for  its  disappearance ;  for  the  bird's  haunts  are  practically  inac- 
cessible, and  are  usually  places  far  removed  from  his  industries.  Formerly  the  chough 
bred  in  many  inland  localities  in  England,  but  now  it  is  only  known  to  frequent  a  few 
favored  spots  on  the  coast.  Years  ago  the  bird  bred  on  almost  all  the  suitable  cliffs 
of  the  south  coast ;  but  at  the  present  day  most  of  its  breeding  stations  are  deserted. 


FIG.  262.  —  Heteralocha  acutirostris,  hula-bird. 

In  Scotland  it  appears  to  have  been  much  commoner  quite  recently  than  at  the  present 
time,  and  to  have  now  completely  deserted  its  inland  haunts,  being  only  found  on  the 
ocean  cliffs.  In  Ireland  its  numbers  have  also  decreased." 

^  Leaving  the  question  open  for  the  present  whether  the  Old  World  starlings 
(STUKmD.E)  are  best  placed  here,  or  whether  they  had  better  be  removed  nearer  to 
the  American  Icteridae,  from  which  they  chiefly  differ  in  having  ten  primaries,  we  at 
once  proceed  to  review  the  most  interesting  forms  of  this  family,  which  is  entirely 
confined  to  the  eastern  hemisphere,  but  which  in  its  distribution  offers  the  peculiarity 
VOL.  iv.  —  34 


530 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


of  being  absolutely  wanting  on  the  Australian  continent,  though  occurring  in  New 
Zealand  and  in  several  of  the  Polynesian  Islands.  A  light  is  thrown  upon  this  sin- 
gular circumstance  by  the  fact  that  the  New  Zealand  forms  are  quite  peculiar,  and 
that  Madagascar  also  possesses  peculiar  sturnine  genera. 

One  of  these  remarkable  New  Zealand  starlings  is  the  hula-bird  (Ileteralocha 
acutirostris),  as  depicted  in  the  accompanying  fine  cut.  It  will  be  well  at  the  outset 
to  assure  the  reader  that  the  two  birds  there  figured  really  belong  to  the  same 


FIG.  263.  —  Sturnua  vulgaris,  European  starling  ;  S.  unicolor,  Sardinian  starling. 

species,  being  in  fact,  the  one  with  the  straight  bill  the  male,  the  other  the  female. 
Characteristic  of  both  is  the  wattle  at  the  mouth  angle.  They  occupy  now  a  very 
limited  space  in  a  few  densely-wooded  mountain  ranges,  and  like  the  many  other 
abnormal  types  — that  is,  types  diverging  greatly  from  the  more  modern  avian  forms 
—  they  seem  to  be  doomed  to  an  early  extinction.  The  huia  was  often  in  the  systems- 
associated  with  the  foregoing  family,  but  an  anatomical  examination  which  Garrod 
was  enabled  to  make  on  a  specimen  which  died  in  the  London  Zoological 


STARLINGS. 


531 


showed  that  it  is  a  true  starling.  It  is  easily  tamed,  and  the  following  observation  of 
Dr.  Buller  was  made  on  a  pair  which, lie  kept  in  captivity  for  more  than  a  year:  — 
"  What  interested  me  most  of  all  was  the  manner  in  which  the  birds  assisted  each 
other  in  their  search  for  food,  because  it  appeared  to  explain  the  use,  in  the  economy 
of  nature,  of  the  differently  formed  bills  in  the  two  sexes.  To  divert  the  birds,  I 
introduced  a  log  of  decayed  wood  infested  with  the  huhu  grub  [the  larva  of  a  large 
nocturnal  beetle,  Prionoplus  reticularis].  They  at  once  attacked  it,  carefully  pro- 
bing the  softer  parts  with  their  bills,  and  then  vigorously  assailing  them,  scooping  out 
the  decayed  wood  till  the  larva  or  pupa  was  visible,  when  it  was  carefully  drawn 
from  its  cell,  treated  in  the  way*  described  above,  and  then  swallowed.  The  very 
different  development  of  the  mandibles  in  the  two  sexes  enabled  them  to  perform 


FIG.  264.  —  Pastor  roseus,  rose-colored  pastor. 

separate  offices.  The  male  always  attacked  the  more  decayed  portions  of  the  wood, 
chiselling  out  his  prey  after  the  manner  of  some  wood-peckers,  while  the  female 
probed  with  her  long  pliant  bill  the  other  cells,  where  the  hardness  of  the  surround- 
ing parts  resisted  the  chisel  of  her  mate.  Sometimes  I  observed  the  male  remove 
the  decayed  portions  without  being  able  to  reach  the  grub,  when  the  female  would  at 
once  come  to  his  aid,  and  accomplish  with  her  long  slender  bill  what  he  had  failed  to 
do.  I  noticed,  however,  that  the  female  always  appropriated  to  her  own  use  the 
morsels  thus  obtained." 

The  straight,  conical  bill  is  also  characteristic  of  the  common  European  starling 
(Sturnus  vulyaris),  which  is  figui'ed  here  with  its  near  ally,  the  Sardinian  starling 
(<Sf.  unicolor),  both  shining  greenish  black,  the  former  spotted  with  whitish.  In 
Europe  it  is  of  common,  though  somewhat  local  occurrence,  but  in  most  places  where  it 


532  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

breeds  it  is  a  welcome  harbinger  of  spring,  doubly  appreciated  on  account  of  its  intel- 
ligence, which  induces  it  to  take  up  its  abode  in  quarters  provided  for  it  by  its  human 
friends,  whom  it  repays  for  their  care  by  destroying  millions  of  obnoxious  insects.  They 
readily  breed  in  boxes  nailed  to  the  sides  of  dwelling-houses,  and  the  more  boxes  there 
are  the  better,  for  the  starling  is  an  extremely  gregarious  bird.  In  this,  as  in  many 
other  respects,  the  starling  strikingly  resembles  our  blackbird,  and  it  is  only  a  matter  of 
surprise  to  me  that  the  early  settlers  of  this  country  did  not  transfer  the  familiar 
name  to  the  American  bird. 

The  lovely  pink  color  which  pervades  those  parts  of  the  pastor's  plumage  which  are 
not  glossy  greenish  black  (see  the  cut)  makes  it  one  'of  the  finest  looking  birds  of  the 
Old  World.  Pastor  roseus  is  an  inhabitant  of  the  plains  and  steppes  of  western 
Asia,  breeding  irregularly  as  far  west  as  Switzerland.  During  its  autumnal  wander- 
ings small  flocks  are  often  detached  from  the  large  bodies  and  straggle  about,  often 
wide  from  its  original  home.  It  winters  regularly  in  India.  To  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tristram 
the  reader  is  indebted  for  the  following  graphic  sketch  of  his  experience  with  the  rosy 
pastor  during  his  travels  in  the  East :  — 

"From  Kelat  Seijar  we  pursued  for  two  days  a  northeasterly  course  over  the  Syr- 
ian plain,  and  through  the  whole  journey  flock  after  flock  of  Pastors  passed  us,  all 
pursuing  a  due  west  route.  At  one  place  we  came  suddenly,  after  mounting  a  gen- 
tle ascent,  on  the  crater  of  an  extinct  volcano,  full  of  water,  and  surrounded  with 
basalt  boulders.  As  we  came  up,  one  of  these  flights,  which  had  alighted  to  drink, 
rose  in  alarm  and  darkened  the  air  overhead.  About  a  dozen  fell  to  a  random  shot, 
and  every  one  I  picked  up  was  in  full  breeding-plumage.  At  another  place  a  soli- 
tary tree  over  a  well  was  so  covered  with  them  that  the  color  of  the  tree  changed 
from  black  to  green  as  we  approached.  Once  we  came  on  a  patch  of  some  acres 
which  had  recently  been  visited  by  locusts.  The  old  locusts  were  gone,  but  the  young, 
not  more  than  a  quarter  of  an  inch  long,  made  the  ground  literally  alive.  They  rose 
at  every  step  of  our  horses  like  sand-lice  on  the  seashore  from  a  seaweed  left  by  the 
tide.  Just  after  we  had  passed  through  this  patch  of  devastating  flight,  I  turned  my 
head  and  saw  a  great  globe  in  the  air.  It  suddenly  turned,  expanded,  and  like  a  vast 
fan  descended  to  the  ground.  We  waited  a  few  minutes,  and  saw  acres  covered  with 
a  moving  black  mass,  dappled  with  pink.  In  a  short  time  the  mass  became  restless, 
and  we  rode  back.  The  birds  rose  quietly,  but  not  till  we  were  close  on  them,  and 
only  those  within  dangerous  distance.  But  not  a  young  locust  could  we  see.  The 
Pastor  had  well  earned  its  name  of  the  '  Locust-bird,'  and  one  batch  of  foes  to  man 
and  his  labors  had  been  promptly  and  forever  exterminated." 

Here  is  a  bird  well  worth  introducing  into  this  country.  Why  did  our  busybodies 
not  think  of  this  beautiful  benefactor,  instead  of  creating  the  English  sparrow  nui- 
sance ? 

Africa  has  a  group  of  starlings  peculiar  to  the  dark  continent,  belonging  to  the 
genera  Lamprocollus,  Lamprotornis,  Juida,  etc.,  which  with  a  common  name  we 
designate  as  glossy-mynas.  They  are  generally  of  blackish  color,  with  shining  metallic 
reflections,  green  and  blue,  and  several  species  have  long  and  ample  tails.  Many  of 
them  are,  therefore,  superficially  quite  similar  to  our  American  crow-blackbirds  (Quis- 
calus).  There  is  no  need,  however,  of  referring  to  drawings,  or  museum  specimens, 
for  they  are  seen  on  every  other  lady's  hat. 

Another  African  genus,  quite  aberrant  on  account  of  its  strong  and  hard  beak, 
may  perhaps  be  entitled  to  sub-family  rank.  It  is  composed  of  only  two  species  of  the 


STARLINGS. 


533 


genus  Buphaga,  or  ox-peckers,  so  called  on  account  of  their  habits  of  frequenting 
the  backs  of  the  cattle  in  order  to  extract  the  grubs  which  infest  the  ruminants.  The 
Swedish  naturalist,  Anderson,  who  traveled  in  South  Africa,  has  the  following  note  on 
the  habits  of  the  southern  '  beef-eaters '  (JB.  africanus),  as  they  are  sometimes  called : 
"  The  arrival  of  these  birds  is  announced  by  a  sharp  cry ;  and  the  next  moment  they 
may  be  seen  in  a  little  flock  descending  fearlessly  on  and  amongst  the  cattle,  which 
are  at  first  much  alarmed,  and  run  about  in  wild  confusion,  just  as  they  do  when 
troubled  with  gadflies ;  but  these  apprehensions  are  soon  dispelled,  and  exchanged  for 
sensations  of  evident  pleasure,  as  the  ox-peckers  run  over  their  backs,  sides,  and  bel- 
lies, like  woodpeckers  upon  trees,  except  when  an  ox,  by  an  occasional  jerk  or  sudden 


FIG.  265.  —  Buphagus  erythrorhynchus,  ox-pecker. 

twist,  appears  to  indicate  that  the  claws  of  the  bird  have  caused  something  like  pain 
by  touching  some  spot  where  the  skin  of  the  animal  happens  to  be  tender."  The  ac- 
companying cut  shows  the  northern  species,  B.  erythrorhynchus,  in  full  activity. 

Finally,  we  will  have  to  say  a  few  words  about  the  hill-myna  (Graculajavana), 
figured  on  the  plate  facing  page  516.  The  hill-mynas  are  strictly  confined  to  the  Ori- 
ental region,  and  are  common  in  India.  They  are  well-known  birds,  gregarious  as 
most  starlings,  and  easily  tamed  ;  like  the  European  starling  they  can  be  taught  to 
repeat  words  very  distinctly.  Their  color  is  black,  with  purplish  reflections,  and  their 
head  is  adorned  with  some  curious  flattened  yellow  wattles.  The  Indian  species  was 


534  NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

called  6%  religiosa  by  Linnaeus,  but,  as  Jerdon  informs  us,  probably  by  a  mistake,  as 
lie  never  heard  of  its  being  held  at  all  sacred. 

Notwithstanding  the  enormous  difference  between  the  most  extreme  members  of 
the  series  now  to  follow,  as,  for  instance,  between  the  thin-billed  flower-pecker  and 
the  heavy-headed  grosbeak,  the  link  of  intermediate  forms  which  combine  them  seems 
so  unbroken  that  we  can  entertain  no  doubt  but  what  they  are  only  different  develop- 
ments of  the  same  common  stock.  We  commence  with  several  tropical  forms  which, 
though  highly  specialized  in  one  direction  to  be  presently  spoken  of,  are  probably,  on 
the  whole,  more  ancestral  than  those  which  we  have  placed  at  the  end. 

The  forms  here  referred  to  are  the  so-called  '  Tenuirostres,'  corresponding  to  the 
group  '  Cinnyrimorphae '  of  others,  chiefly  embracing  the  sun-birds  and  the  honey- 
eaters.  They  are  characterized  by  a  thin,  pointed,  more  or  less  lengthened  and 
curved  bill,  and  the  two  families  mentioned  by  having  the  tongue  long,  protractile, 
ending  in  a  suctorial  tube  anteriorly  bifid. 

This  apparatus,  which  resembles  considerably  the  tubular  tongue  of  the  humming- 
birds, deserves  a  little  attention,  and  it  is  worth  while  to  note  that  not  only  is  the 
tongue  constructed  on  a  similar  principle  in  these  families,  so  distantly  related  that 
they  are  justly  placed  in  different  orders,  but  that  also  externally,  in  shape,  size,  and 
coloration,  the  tubilingual  tenuirostres,  which  are  exclusively  confined  to  the  Old 
World,  bear  a  great  resemblance  to  the  hummers.  We  have  here  an  illustration  of 
the  fact  "  that  similar  functional  requirements  frequently  lead  to  the  development  of 
similar  structures  in  animals  which  are  otherwise  very  distinct." 

The  hyoid  apparatus  is  provided  with  very  long  cornua,  which  are  bent  over  the 
skull  as  in  woodpeckers  and  humming-birds,  though  not  reaching  further  forward 
than  the  frontal  bones.  The  horny  sheath  of  the  tongue  itself  forms  first  a  single 
tube,  which  then  splits  up  into  two  tubes,  herein  differing  from  that  of  the  hum- 
mers, which  is  'double-barreled'  to  the  very  base;  but  in  the  true  honey-suckers 
(Meliphagida3)  the  splitting  up  of  the  end  of  the  tubes  is  continued  dichotomously,  so 
as  to  form  a  sort  of  '  brush.'  Several  sets  of  muscles  effect  the  protrusion  of  the  tongue 
and  the  sucking  action,  which  by  Dr.  Gadow  is  ascertained  to  be  accomplished  auto- 
matically in  about  the  following  manner :  The  whole  tongue  and  larynx  is  first  pressed 
upwards  against  the  palatal  roof  of  the  mouth  by  the  contraction  of  one  set  of  mus- 
cles, thus  filling  the  mouth  wTholly.  By  the  action  of  other  muscles  the  tongue  is  pro- 
truded. If,  now,  the  former  muscles  relax,  and  their  opponents  depress  the  larynx 
and  the  posterior  part  of  the  tongue,  a  vacuum  will  be  produced  between  tongue  and 
palate,  which  will  then  be  filled  with  the  flower  nectar,  into  which  the  tip  of  the 
tongue  may  have  been  inserted.  The  object  of  the  terminal  vibrissaB  in  the  sun-birds, 
and  tubular  brush  in  the  honey-suckers,  seems  to  be  to  prevent  air  from  rushing  into 
the  tube  if  there  should  not  be  enough  nectar  to  fill  it,  inasmuch  as  the  fluid  will  then 
enter  the  anterior  part  of  the  tube  by  capillary  action,  and  then  be  sucked  up. 

Professor  Parker  has  pointed  out  a  considerable  difference  in  the  palatal  structure 
of  the  two  tubilingual  families  referred  to.  He  has  found  that  the  sun-birds  agree 
with  the  rest  of  the  Passeres  in  having  the  praepalatine  bar  running  on  the  inner  side 
of  the  palatal  process  of  the  praemaxillary,  while  in  the  honey-suckers  it  passes  on  the 
outer  side. 

In  regard  to  the  geographical  distribution,  we  may  remark  that  the  honey-eaters 
chiefly  inhabit  Oceania  and  Australia.  They  are,  as  Gould  says,  the  most  peculiar  and 
striking  feature  in  the  ornithology  of  the  latter  continent,  being  "  to  the  fauna  what 


HONEY-BIRDS.  535 

the  Eucalypti,  Banksice,  and  Melaleucw  are  to  the  flora.  The  economy  of  these 
birds  is  so  strictly  adapted  to  those  trees  that  the  one  appears  essential  to  the  other ; 
for  what  can  be  more  plain  than  that  the  brush-like  tongue  is  especially  formed  for 
gathering  the  honey  from  the  flower-caps  of  the  Eucalypti,  or  that  their  diminutive 
stomachs  are  especially  formed  for  this  kind  of  food,  and  the  peculiar  insects  which 
•constitute  a  portion  of  it?"  A  peculiarity  of  many  species  belonging  to  this  family, 
the  MELIPHAGID^E,  is  the  presence  of  naked  wattles  at  the  mouth  angles. 

Messrs.  Layard,  father  and  son,  have  recently  contributed  some  interesting  notes 
to  the  biographies  of  several  of  these  birds,  as  observed  by  them  in  the  island  of  New 
Oaledonia.  Of  Gliciphila  undulata  they  say:  "This  fine  'honey-sucker'  is  not  at  all 
uncommon  in  the  forest,  frequenting  in  considerable  numbers  certain  trees  when  in 
flower ;  when  the  blossoms  disappear  the  birds  disappear  also,  and  you  may  seek  in 
vain  for  a  single  specimen  in  the  place  that  a  short  time  previously  rang  with  their 
<;lear  whistle  and  flute-like  notes.  They  hang  or  climb  in  every  position  to  feed, 
grasping  the  branches,  or  flowers  themselves,  with  their  strong  curved  claws.  They 
are  very  pugnacious,  fighting  amongst  themselves,  and  with  any  other  bird  that 
attempts  to  share  with  them  their  sweet  repast  of  flower-nectar  and  small  insects." 
In  regard  to  another  honey-eater  of  the  same  island,  T^eptomyza  aubryana,  they  make 
the  very  interesting  remark  that  they  found  one  specimen  which  "  had  the  throat 
covered  with  yellow  pollen ;  this  we  have  also  found  on  Gliciphilce  and  Myzomela, 
and  we  doubt  not  some  of  the  large,  lofty,  flowering  trees  are  fertilized  by  such  agency, 
as  insects  are  very  scarce  here." 

One  of  the  largest  species  of  the  family  is  the  peculiar  and  well-known  parson-bird 
(Prosthemadera  novce-seelandice),  from  New  Zealand,  metallic  black,  with  a  curious 
tuft  of  very  long  and  filamentous  white  feathers,  curled  in  upon  each  other,  on  each 
side  of  the  throat.  Says  Dr.  Duller :  "The  early  colonists  named  it  the  *  parson-bird ' 
in  allusion  to  the  peculiar  tufts  of  white  feathers  that  adorn  its  throat,  and  their 
fancied  resemblance  to  the  clerical  bands.  To  those  who  are  familiar  with  the  bird  in 
its  native  woods,  this  name  is  certainly  appropriate,  for  when  indulging  in  its  strain 
of  wild  notes,  it  displays  these  'bands,'  and  gesticulates  in  a  manner  forcibly  suggestive 
of  the  declamatory  style  of  preaching,  or,  as  Dr.  Thompson  graphically  expresses  it, 
"  sitting  on  the  branch  of  a  tree,  as  a  pro  tempore  pulpit,  he  shakes  his  head,  bending 
to  one  side  and  then  to  another,  as  if  he  remarked  to  this  one  and  to  that  one ;  and 
once  and  again,  with  pent-up  vehemence  contracting  his  muscles  and  drawing  himself 
together,  his  voice  waxes  loud  in  a  manner  to  waken  sleepers  to  their  senses.  Owing 
to  its  excellent  powers  of  mimicry,  and  the  facility  of  rearing  it  in  confinement,  it  is  a 
favorite  cage-bird,  both  with  the  natives  and  the  colonists.  It  will  learn  to  articulate 
sentences  of  several  words  with  clearness,  and  to  imitate  the  barking  of  a  dog  to 
perfection." 

Here  also  belong  some  curious  forms  confined  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  among 
which  is  the  black,  yellow-tufted  honey-sucker  (Moho  nobilis).  Mr.  Titian  R.  Peale 
has  given  the  following  account  of  the  former  use  of  the  small  yellow  tufts  of 
these  birds :  — 

"  The  yellow  tufts  of  costal  feathers  in  this  beautiful  bird  furnished  the  material 
for  the  splendid  and  costly  robes,  capes,  and  'leis'  of  the  Hawaiians  in  former 
days.  The  bunches  of  feathers,  called  hulu,  are  still  [1840]  prepared  and  received 
in  payment  of  a  poll-tax  to  the  king ;  they  are  afterwards  made  up  principally  in 
*  leis '  or  head-bands  worn  by  the  ladies,  and  are  beautiful  but  costly  ornaments ;  but 


536 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


few  can  afford  to  wear  them.  The  mantles  made  of  these  feathers  were  until  lately 
considered  the  principal  treasures  of  the  crown ;  now  they  are  not  to  be  seen ;  the 
labor  of  collecting  the  feathers  and  attaching  them  to  a  network  base,  a  labor  of 
years,  being  too  great.  European  clothing  has  entirely  superseded  the  former  robes 
of  state. 

"  The  '  Oo '  is  found  in  most  of  the  woody  districts  of  the  island  of  Hawaii ;  it 
frequents  the  thick  foliage  of  the  loftiest  trees ;  in  voice  and  manners  it  has  some 
resemblance  to  the  oriole  of  North  America  (Icterus  baltimore).  The  natives  cap- 


I*' 


FIG.  266.  —  Nectarinia  metallica,  sun-bird. 


ture  it  by  means  of  bird-lime,  and,  after  plucking  the  yellow  feathers  from  beneath 
the  wings,  restore  it  to  liberty  until  again  wanted  to  assist  in  paying  the  royal 
tax."  A  fine  robe  made  of  these  feathers  is  in  the  National  Museum  in  Washington. 
The  sun-birds,  NECTARINIIDJS,  on  the  other  hand,  are  more  African  and  Indian, 
though  ranging  eastward  to  Northern  Australia.  They  are  generally  small  birds  of 
very  uniform  shape,  and,  once  seen,  they  are  not  easily  mistaken  for  any  other  bird, 
except  for  a  humming-bird,  with  which  the  popular  mind  usually  confounds  them. 


SUN-BIRDS. 


537 


And,  indeed,  if  it  be  admissible  to  speak  of  « representative '  families  of  the  two 
hemispheres,  the  sun-birds  '  represent,'  in  the  Old  World,  the  hummers  of  the  New. 
Uniform  as  is  their  structure,  their  coloration  is  as  varied  and  brilliant  as  that  of  any 
other  family,  but  their  habits  are  said  to  be  so  alike  that  the  biography  of  one  species 
will  answer  for  that  of  the  rest.  To  give  an  idea  of  their  habits  we  select  a  few  ab- 
st  racts  of  Jerdon's  account  of  the  common  Indian  purple  sun-bird  (  Cinnyris  asiaticct) :  — 
"  This  bird,  like  the  others  of  its  tribe,  has  a  feeble  but  sweet  chirping  note.  It 
feeds  partly  on  the  nectar  of  flowers,  but  a  good  deal  on  insects,  small  cicadella3,  flies, 
spiders,  etc.  It  occasionally  hovers  in  the  air  before  a  flower  whilst  extracting  the 
honey,  but  generally  hops  about  and  clings  to  the  smaller  twigs  and  flowering  branches. 
I  have  occasionally  seen  it  snap  at  an  insect  in  the  air.  Whilst  feeding  it  frequently 


FIG.  2C7. —  Ctrthin  familiaris,  common  creeper. 

opens  and  closes  its  Avings.  A  pair  built  their  nest  just  outside  my  house  door  at  Jalna. 
It  was  commenced  on  a  thick  spider's  web,  by  attaching  to  it  various  fragments  of  pa- 
per, cloth,  straw,  grass,,  and  other  substances,  till  it  had  secured  a  firm  hold  of  the  twig 
to  which  the  spider's  web  adhered,  and  the  nest  suspended  on  this  was  then  completed 
by  adding  other  fragments  of  the  same  materials.  The  entrance  was  at  one  side,  near 
the  top,  and  had  a  slightly  projecting  roof  or  awning  over  it.  The  female  laid  two 
eggs  of  a  greenish-gray  tinge,  with  dusky  spots." 

The  species  figured  is  the  metallic  sun-bird  (Nectarinia  metallicd)  from  North- 
eastern Africa.  It  is  colored  as  follows :  head,  neck  and  mantle  deep  metallic  green, 
rest  of  back,  the  rump,  and  a  crescent  bordering  the  green  of  the  throat,  brilliant  deep 
purplish  blue;  rest  of  underparts  gamboge  yellow,  but  under  tail-coverts  nearly  white. 
The  female  is  plain,  pale  earthy  brown  above,  pale  yellowish  beneath. 


538 


NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


We  may  here  be  allowed  to  quote  Mr.  Sharpe's  words  with  regard  to  a  group  of 
nine-primaried  birds  which  we  are  now  going  to  mention  briefly,  viz :  the  DIC^EID^E, 
which,  according  to  him  and  most  other  authors,  cannot  be  separated  far  from  the 
Nectariniida?.  He  introduces  them  in  the  following  words :  "  The  members  of  this 
family  —  if  we  are  allowed  thus  to  designate  a  group  of  birds  which  cannot  be  defined  in 
exact  terms— are  principally  Indian  and  Australian,  a  few  representatives  being  found 
on  the  west  coast  of  Africa.  Although  resembling  the  sun-birds  in  habits,  very  few 


FIG.  268. —  Tichodroma  miirnria.  Alpine  wall-creeper. 


have  the  slender,  creeper-like  bill  of  the  latter  family ;   and  they  differ  also  in  their 
nesting  habits,  their  nest  being  a  beautiful  purse-like  structure  of  felted  materials." 

Several  of  the  forms  herein  included  are  peculiar  to  the  Sandwich  Islands,  and 
with  the  rest  of  that  most  interesting  fauna  of  surviving  forms  will  soon  become 
extinct.  On  those  isolated  islands  they  have  evolved  several  curiously  specialized 
generic  forms,  with  bills  ranging  from  that  of  the  curiously  curved  beak  of  Hemi- 
gnathus,  which  has  the  upper  mandible  nearly  twice  as  long  as  the  lower  one,  to  the 


CREEPERS. 


539 


grosbeak-like  Loxioideus  bailleui,  the  generic  name  of  which  indicates  its  external 
resemblance  to  the  stout  fringilline  birds. 

For  want  of  a  better  place  we  may  here  include  the  true  creepers,  CERTHIID^E,  a 
small  group  of  climbing  birds,  the  exact  relationship  of  which  is  yet  quite  doubtful, 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  typical  species,  the  common  creeper  ( Certhia  fa- 
miliaris),  here  figured,  and  its  closely  allied  American  representative  (  C.  americana) 
are  among-  the  most  familiar  birds  of  Europe  arid  of  this  country,  so  that  they  are 
within  the  grasp  of  every  ornithologist.  The  only  thing  which  we  know  at  present 
with  any  degree  of  certainty  is  that  the  old  notion  of  the  creepers  being  nearly  allied 
to  the  nuthatches  is  wrong,  and  that  in  some  way  or  another  they  are  related  to  the 
'Cinnyrimorphae'  of  modern  authors.  The  birds  composing  this  'family'  are  usually 
modestly  colored,  and  red  is  only  found  in  the  second  species  figured,  the  Alpine 


Flu.  26!).—  Certhiola  flaveola,  banana-quit. 

wall-creepers  (Tichodroma  mwaria),  the  remiges  of  which  are  adorned  with  the 
most  glorious  crimson  in  addition  to  the  white  round  spots  on  the  first  primaries. 
The  bird  itself  is  delicately  slate-blue  above,  blackish  beneath,  but  when  flying  appears 
nearly  entirely  black.  1  think  it  is  the  most  interesting  and  beautiful  bird  I  have 
ever  met  in  the  wild  state,  and  I  remember  very  well  the  enraptured  sensation  when 
in  the  Tyrolean  Alps  I  one  day  made  the  acquaintance  of  this  charming  bird.  I 
faced  a  high  rocky  wall,  rising  perpendicularly  to  the  height  of  nearly  a  hundred  feet. 
Presently  a  black  object  fell  down  in  zigzag  lines  until,  nearly  reaching  the  foot  of 
the  cliff,  the  bird  checked  its  descent  by  spreading  its  lovely  wings.  It  now  com- 
menced to  ascend  the  rock  in  jerks,  as  the  common  creeper  runs  up  the  bole  of  a 
tree,  but  all  the  time  opening  and  closing  its  wings  to  display  the  glorious  coloration, 
as  well  shown  in  our  figure.  It  looked  like  a  large  tropical  butterfly,  and  when  to-day 
recalling  the  beautiful  sight  I  do  not  wonder  that  I  entirely  forgot  to  shoot  the  bird. 


540  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

The  ornithologist  usually  is  cruel  and  ungrateful  to  the  creatures  which  give  him  such 
pleasure,  but  once  in  a  while  his  sentiment  gets  the  better  of  him. 

We  have  above  said  that  the  sun-birds  '  represent '  the  humming-birds  in  the  Old 
World,  but  we  might  just  as  well  reverse  the  comparison  a  little,  and  say  that  the 
honey-creepers  (CCEREBID^E)  in  the  New  World  'represent'  the  sun-birds.  The 
thin,  curved  bill,  and  the  richness  and  character  of  the  coloration  of  the  typical 
species  are  equally  suggestive,  and  the  tongue  is  also  bifid  and  penicillated  at  the  end, 
though  not  tubular.  The  small  ultramarine  blue  creepers  with  yellow  wing-marks 
( Ccereba  cyanea)  and  allies  from  Central  and  South  America,  and  the  banana-quits 
(Certhiold)  from  the  West  Indies  and  northern  parts  of  South  America,  are  familiar 
examples.  One  species  of  the  latter,  viz.,  C,  bahamensis,  has  a  claim  of  belonging  to 
the  fauna  of  the  United  States,  in  as  much  as  it  occurs  in  Florida.  It  has  a  pure 
white  throat,  and  is  thereby  easily  distinguished,  even  in  the  cut,  from  the  species 
here  figured,  C.flaveola,  from  Jamaica,  which,  as  the  drawing  shows,  has  the  throat 
gray.  Mr.  Gosse  speaks  of  this  interesting  species  as  follows :  "  Scarcely  larger  than 
the  average  size  of  the  humming-birds,  this  little  creeper  is  often  seen  in  company 
with  them,  probing  the  same  flowers  and  for  the  same  purpose,  but  in  a  very  different 
manner.  Instead  of  hovering  in  front  of  each  blossom,  a  task  to  which  its  short 
wings  would  be  utterly  incompetent,  the  quit  alights  on  the  tree,  and  proceeds  in  the 
most  business-like  manner  to  peep  into  the  flowers,  hopping  actively  from  twig  to 
twig,  and  throwing  the  body  into  all  positions,  often  clinging  by  the  feet,  with  the 
back  downwards,  the  better  to  reach  the  interior  of  a  blossom  with  his  curved  beak 
and  pencilled  tongue.  The  minute  insects  which  are  always  found  in  the  interior  of 
flowers  are  the  objects  of  his  search  and  the  reward  of  his  perseverance." 

It  is  very  doubtful,  however,  if  the  foregoing  family  Coerebidae  really  deserves 
that  name,  for  it  seems  impossible  to  draw  a  hard  and  fast  line  between  it  and  that  of 
our  American  warblers,  and  probably  it  should  therefore  be  merged  into  the  MNIO- 
TILTID^E  in  any  future  attempt  at  a  natural  system.  The  group  of  birds  which  we 
have  reached  now,  is  so  familiar  both  in  appearance  and  in  habits  to  North  American 
readers,  that  I  can  dispense  with  any  further  description  beyond  noting  that  they 
are  strictly  confined  to  the  western  hemisphere.  But  as  a  'natural  history  of  birds' 
would  be  highly  defective  without  at  least  part  of  a  life-history  of  one  of  the  war- 
blers, and  as  it  would  be  beyond  the  power  of  the  present  writer  to  improve  on  the 
delightful  sketches  which  Mr.  W.  Brewster  has  given  to  the  ornithological  public,  a 
few  abstracts  of  the  biography  of  the  prothonotary  warbler  (Protonotaria  citrea) 
by  the  latter  are  here  introduced:  "In  general  activity  and  restlessness  few  birds 
equal  the  species  under  consideration.  Not  a  nook  or  corner  of  his  domain  but  is 
repeatedly  visited  during  the  day.  Now  he  sings  a  few  times  from  the  top  of  some 
tall  willow  that  leans  out  over  the  stream,  sitting  motionless  among  the  yellowish 
foliage,  fully  aware,  perhaps,  of  the  protection  afforded  by  its  harmonizing  tints. 
The  next  moment  he  descends  to  the  cool  shades  beneath,  where  dark,  coffee-colored 
water,  the  overflow  of  the  pond  or  river,  stretches  back  among  the  trees.  Here  he 
loves  to  hop  about  on  floating  drift-wood,  wet  by  the  lapping  of  pulsating  wavelets, 
now  following  up  some  long,  inclining,  half-submerged  log,  peeping  into  every  crevice 
and  occasionally  dragging  forth  from  its  concealment  a  spider  or  small  beetle,  turn- 
ing alternately  his  bright  yellow  breast  and  olive  back  towards  the  light ;  now  jetting 
his  beautiful  tail  or  quivering  his  wings  tremulously,  he  darts  off  into  some  thicket  in 
response  to  a  call  from  his  mate  ;  or,  flying  to  a  neighboring  tree-trunk,  clings  for  a 


TANAGERS.  541 

moment  against  the  mossy  bole  to  pipe  his  little  strain  or  look  up  the  exact  wherea- 
bouts of  some  suspected  insect  prize. 

"  This  warbler  usually  seeks  its  food  low  down  among  thickets,  moss-grown  logs, 
or  floating  debris,  and  always  about  water.  Sometimes  it  ascends  tree-trunks  for  a 
little  way,  like  the  black-and-white  creeper,  winding  about  with  the  same  peculiar 
motion.  When  seen  among  the  upper  branches,  where  it  often  goes  to  plume  its 
feathers  and  sing  in  the  warm  sunshine,  it  almost  invariably  sits  nearly  motionless. 
Its  flight  is  much  like  that  of  the  water-thrush  (either  species),  and  is  remarkably 
swift,  firm,  and  decided.  When  crossing  a  broad  stream  it  is  slightly  undulating, 
though  always  direct.  Its  food  consists  of  insects,  generally  of  such  spiders  and 
beetles  as  are  found  about  water.  Audubon  positively  asserts  that  he  has  discovered 
minute  molluscous  animals  and  small  land-snails  in  their  stomachs." 

Again,  the  Mniotiltid®  seem  to  grade  so  insensibly  into  the  TANAGRID^E  that  it 
will  be  difficult  to  uphold  the  family  distinction,  unless,  perhaps,  the  two  groups  be 
defined  and  limited,  and  the  line  between  them  drawn  in  a  manner  quite  different 
from  the  present  practice  of  ornithologists.  But  even  if  a  better  limitation  could  be 
found,  their  intimate  relationship  is  nevertheless  a  certainty.  The  tanagers  are  the 
first  of  the  true  so-called  Conirostres,  which  are  characterized  by  a  more  massive 
development  of  the  bones  of  the  face  and  an  early  ossification  of  its  component  parts 
during  the  embryonic  stage.  The  tanagers  have  not  reached  any  high  degree  in  that 
line  of  specialization,  though,  as  a  general  rule,  their  bills  are  pretty  strong  and 
conical. 

The  tanagers  form  as  characteristic  a  feature  of  the  Neotropical  region  as  do  the 
ant-birds  and  the  humming-birds,  though,  like  the  latter,  a  few  species  go  far  north  in 
order  to  breed,  so  that  this  tropical  family  also  contributes  some  of  the  most  intcr- 
esting  members  of  our  North  American  fauna.  But  the  very  fact  that  the  North 
American  tanagers  are  only  five  species,  belonging  to  one  genus  (Piranga),  while  the 
total  number  of  tanagers  known  is  not  far  from  three  hundred  and  fifty,  shows  very 
plainly  that  this  family  is  not  truly  indigenous  in  the  Nearctic.  The  tanagers  are  not 
numerous  in  the  West  Indies,  but  some  of  the  genera  are  peculiar,  —  for  instance,  the 
beautiful  tSpindalis,  of  which  a  new  species  has  recently  been  described  by  Mr.  Ridg- 
way  from  the  island  of  Cozumel  on  the  coast  of  Yucatan.  The  chief  headquarters  of 
the  tanagers  is  the  forest  region  of  South  America  east  of  the  Andes,  and  here  they 
are  found  in  all  their  rich  splendor  of  color,  hardly  surpassed  even  by  the  humming- 
birds or  parrots.  But  while  thus  highly  attractive  on  account  of  their  coloration, 
they  offer  none  of  these  extraordinary  ornaments  consisting  of  marvellously  formed 
1  ufts,  elongation  of  tail  or  wing  feathers,  oddly  curved  beaks,  etc.  Nor  is  there  any- 
thing very  characteristic,  novel,  or  wonderful  in  their  habits,  so  far  as  we  know  them. 
Their  skill  as  nest-builders  is  not  extraordinary,  nor  are  any  of  them  particularly 
prominent  as  songsters.  Their  chief  attraction  is  their  gorgeous  colors,  which  are  not 
distributed  after  any  special  style,  all  possible  combinations  being  found  within  the 
limits  of  this  family.  There  is,  of  course,  considerable  diversity  in  the  habits  of  the 
different  forms,  but  we  must  refrain  from  going  into  detail  beyond  quoting  the  follow- 
ing note  by  Mr.  IT.  W.  Bates  in  regard  to  two  common  species,  which  we  insert  because 
it  shows  us  tanagers  under  an  aspect  quite  different  from  what  we  are  accustomed  to 
here  in  the  north:  "Numbers  of  tanagers  frequented  the  fruit  and  other  trees  in  our 
gardens  [near  Para].  The  two  principal  kinds  which  attracted  our  attention  were  the 
Rhamphoccehts  jacapa  and  the  Tanagra  episcopus.  The  females  of  both  are  dull  in 


542  NATURAL  HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 

color,  but  the  male  of  Jacapa  has  a  beautiful  velvety  purple  and  black  plumage,  the 
beak  being  partly  white ;  while  the  same  sex  in  Episcopus  is  of  a  pale  blue  color,  with 
white  spots  on  the  wings.  In  their  habits  they  both  resemble  the  common  house 
sparrow  of  Europe,  which  does  not  exist  in  South  America,  its  place  being  in  some 
measure  filled  by  these  familiar  tanagers.  They  are  just  as  lively,  restless,  bold,  and 
wary ;  their  notes  are  very  similar,  chirping  and  inharmonious,  and  they  seem  to  be 
almost  as  fond  of  the  neighborhood  of  man.  They  do  not,  however,  build  their  nests 
on  houses." 

When  interpolating  the  weaver-birds  and  the  American  orioles,  or  hang-nests, 
here,  between  the  tanagers  and  the  Fringillidse,  as  this  family  is  generally  accepted, 
we  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  considering  the  finches  to  be  "  two  families  dis- 
tant "  from  the  tanagers.  The  relationship  between  all  these  four  families  is  so  inti- 
mate, and  they  interdigitate  in  so  many  places,  that  it  is  impossible  to  give  an  entirely 
satisfactory  arrangement  at  present.  It  seems  as  if  the  Gordian  knot  can  only  be 
solved  by  cutting  the  families  asunder,  and  then  re-arranging  them,  or  by  entirely 
discarding  the  present  family  distinction,  and  regarding  them  all  as  members  of  one 
family. 

The  weaver-birds,  or  PLOCEID.E,  are  quite  as  characteristic  of  the  Pala3otropical 
countries  as  are  the  tanagers  of  the  Neotropical.  They  are  chiefly  African,  however, 
for  it  is  estimated  that  not  less  than  four  fifths  of  all  the  known  species —  somewhat 
over  two  hundred  and  fifty  —  inhabit  the  dark  continent,  the  rest  being  scattered 
over  the  Oriental  and  Australian  regions ;  none  are  found  in  the  Paloearctic,  in  New 
Zealand,  or  in  America.  The  weavers  are  sparrow-like  or  finch-like  birds,  usually 
with  conical,  thick,  and  heavy  bills,  but  with  ten  visible  primaries.  This  is  their 
chief,  not  to  say  their  only,  distinction  from  the  sparrows.  There  are  three  well- 
marked  types  within  the  family,  the  true  weaver-birds,  the  vida-finches,  often  called 
widow-finches,  and  the  small  so-called  waxbills. 

The  first  mentioned  of  these,  as  the  name  indicates,  are  well  known  for  their 
extraordinary  nest-building.  They  are  generally  strongly-built  birds  of  a  sparrow's 
size.  The  females  and  the  males  in  autumnal  plumage  are  mostly  plain  brownish 
birds  with  dusky  streaks  and  spots,  but  towards  the  breeding  season  the  males  assume 
a  new,  often  highly  and  brightly  colored  dress.  Two  typical  species  are  figured  in 
the  accompanying  cut,  but  too  little  is  shown  of  the  nest  to  give  us  an  idea  of  some 
of  these  remarkable  structures.  I  would  like,  however,  to  call  the  attention  of  the 
reader  to  Fig.  124,  on  page  264  of  this  volume.  On  the  tree  in  the  background  are 
visible  two  curious  roof-shaped  structures,  round  which  a  number  of  birds  are  seen 
flying.  These  represent  the  wonderful  straw  roofs  which  the  sociable  weavers  (Phile- 
tcerus  socius)  of  South  Africa,  build.  A  colony  of  birds  unite  in  the  construction  of 
this  roof,  which  is  often  so  heavy  that  the  strong  branches  of  Acacia  giraffa  give 
way  under  the  weight.  From  the  under  side  of  the  roof  then  each  pair  suspends 
its  own  individual  nest,  which  is  woven  of  dry  grass.  The  nests,  often  twenty  to 
forty  under  the  same  roof,  with  the  openings  downwards,  are  placed  close  together 
and  firmly  connected.  This  structure  protects  the  nests  most  effectively  against 
injury,  for  not  only  does  the  rain  run  off  the  sloping  roof,  but  any  enemy  who  wants 
to  get  at  the  eggs  or  young  ones  is  apt  to  slide  down  its  slippery  sides.  Other  species 
build  beautiful  pendent  retort-shaped  nests  which  they  suspend  from  the  utmost 
twigs  of  some  tree  overhanging  a  river,  or  from  the  fronds  of  some  lofty  palm,  with 
the  view  of  securing  the  offspring  against  danger  from  climbing  mammals  or  snakes. 


WAX-BILLS. 


543 


and  some  are  even  known  to  actually  strip  the  thin  twigs  of  their  leaves  in  order  to 
make  the  access  to  the  nest  still  more  difficult.  The  weavers  are  easily  kept  in  cap- 
tivity, and  even  in  a  cage  they  busy  themselves  with  weaving  grass,  threads  —  in  fact, 
anything  they  can  get  hold  of  —  into  the  wire  netting  of  the  cage,  while  in  the  aviary 
they  keep  up  their  regular  nest-weaving. 

The  vidas  (  Vidua)  are  like  the  true  weavers,  but  the  males  are  adorned  with  enor- 
mously lengthened  tail-feathers  in  the  pairing  season.     They  are  exclusively  African. 


FlO.  270.—  Textor  dinemellii  and  alecto,  African  weaver-birds. 

The  waxbills,  on  the  other  hand,  are  also  distributed  over  the  Oriental  region,  and 
Australia  possesses  many  very  beautiful  species  of  these  exquisite  little  grosbeaks, 
which  have  derived  their  popular  name  from  the  fact  that  the  bill  of  many  species  is 
red,  as  if  made  of  sealing  wax.  Mostly  delicately  colored  and  very  hardy,  these  birds 
make  very  attractive  cage  birds,  and  some  of  them,  for  instance  one  of  the  smallest 
species,  the  vermilion  rerl,  white-dropped  La</onosticte,  are  pleasant  songsters,  and  most 
of  them  become  very  tame  in  confinement,  so  as  to  even  readily  breed  in  a  small  cage. 


544 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


In  their  nest-building,  the  American  orioles,  or  hang-nests,  the  ICTERID^E  of  the  sys- 
tems, resemble  the  weaver-birds,  but,  like  the  next  family,  they  have  only  nine  prima- 
ries, and,  in  addition,  their  bill  is  more  pointed  and  elongated.  In  many  respects 
they  closely  resemble  the  ten-primaried  Old  World  starlings,  and  are  evidently  not 
very  distantly  related.  The  name  oriole,  however,  must  not  mislead  anybody  to  the 
belief  that  they  are  in  any  way  connected  with  the  orioles  of  the  eastern  hemisphere. 
The  name  was  transferred  to  the  hang-nest  simply  on  account  of  the  black  and  yellow 


FIG.  271.  —  O.ttitiojis  citrins,  Brazilian  crested  cacique. 

coloration  of  some  of  the  best  known  species.  The  family  is  strictly  American,  rang- 
ing "from  Patagonia  and  the  Falkland  Islands  to  the  Arctic  Circle,  while,  as  usual 
with  exclusively  American  families,  the  larger  proportion  of  the  genera  and  species 
are  found  in  the  tropical  parts  of  South  America."  They  are  better  represented, 
however,  in  our  North  American  fauna  than  either  the  tanagers  or  the  humming-birds, 
for  to  them  belong  not  far  from  thirty  separable  forms,  among  which  the  different  boat- 
tails,  blackbirds,  and  grackles,  orioles,  meadow-larks,  the  bobolink,  and  the  cowbirds. 


v^^MiiwBi 

Serinus  canarius,  wild  canary. 


iliiKilis  riii-'lnnilix,  cardinal  grosbeak,  and  Habia  lu<l<>rii-;<nii(,  black-headed  grosbeak. 


FINCHES. 


545 


In  tropical  South  America  the  hang-nests  reach  their  highest  development,  and 
here  we  encounter  the  large  species  of  Cassicus,  Ostinops,  etc.,  all  expert  nest-build- 
ers, as  shown  in  the  accompanying  cut.  Mr.  Bates,  in  the  narrative  of  his  travels  on 
the  river  Amazon,  has  the  following  note  on  one  of  these  :  "  Another  interesting  and 
common  bird  was  the  japim,  a  species  of  Cassicus  (C.  icteronotus).  It  is  social  in 
its  habits,  and  builds  its  nest,  like  the  English  rook,  on  trees  in  the  neighborhood  of 
habitations.  But  the  nests  are  quite  differently  constructed,  being  shaped  like  purses, 
two  feet  in  length,  and  suspended  from  the  slender  branches  all  round  the  tree,  some 
of  them  very  near  the  ground.  The  entrance  is  on  the  side,  near  the  bottom  of  the 


FIG.  272. — Smberita  hvrtulana,  ortolan  ;  Granativora  melanocephala,  black-headed  bunting. 


nest.  The  bird  is  a  great  favorite  with  the  Brazilians  of  Para.  It  is  a  noisy,  stirring, 
babbling  creature,  passing  constantly  to  and  fro,  chattering  to  its  comrades,  and  is 
very  ready  at  imitating  other  birds,  especially  the  domestic  poultry  of  the  vicinity." 
Here  also  belongs  the  troupial  (Icterus  icterus),  celebrated  for  its  exquisite  song, 
which  is  considered  even  considerably  superior  to  the  mellow  whistle  of  our  familiar 
Baltimore  oriole  (I.  galbuld). 

It  is  very  singular  to  find  that  the  cowbirds  (Molothrus)  have  developed  the  same 
curious  parasitic  habits  as  the  Old  World  cuckoos,  depositing,  as  they  do,  their  eggs 
in  other  birds'  nests,  to  have  them  incubated  and  the  young  ones  reared  by  the  indus- 
try and  devotion  of  deceived  foster-parents. 

As  the  family  FRINGILLID.E  is  now  limited,  it  is  one  of  the  richest  in  species,  com- 
VOL.  iv.  —  35 


646 


NATURAL   HISTORY  OF  BIRDS. 


prising  more  than  five  hundred,  scattered  all  over  the  globe,  with  the  sole  exception  of 
the  Australian  region,  a  peculiar  distribution,  which,  according  to  Wallace,  is  "  hardly 
to  be  found  in  any  other  family  of  birds."  It  is  a  rather  polymorphic  group,  with  an 
enormous  variation  in  the  shape  of  the  conical  beak,  from  the  weak  and  sinuated  bills 
of  the  snow-flake  (Plectrophenax)  and  its  allies,  to  the  enormously  powerful  grain- 
crushing  mandibles  of  the  grosbeaks,  and  the  odd  instrument  of  the  cross-bills  (Loxia) 


FIG.  273.  —  Petronia  petronia,  rock-sparrow  (upper  right-hand  figure);    Passer  hispaniolensis,  Spanish  sparrow 
(upper  left) ;  P.  montanus,  tree-sparrow  (middle) ;  P.  domesticus,  English  sparrow  (lower). 

for  opening  and  extracting  the  seeds  of  pines  and  firs  from  the  cones.  Also  in  colora- 
tion there  is  a  great  diversity,  though  most  of  the  forms  are  modestly  or  even  plainly 
dressed  in  brown  and  gray,  varied  with  yellow,  and  spotted  and  streaked  with  dusky ; 
though  brilliantly  colored  species  are  not  missing,  as,  for  instance,  our  cardinal  gros- 
beaks ( Cardinalis),  the  nonpareil  and  some  of  its  allies  (Passerina),  the  Himalayan 
scarlet  (Hcematospiza  sipahi),  the  different  Old  World  bulfinches,  etc. 

Sundevall  has  attempted  to  divide  this  vast  multitude  in  two  '  phalanges,'  those 


GRO  SHEARS.  547 

with  a  wide  and  broadly  arched  palate  (Amplipalatales),  and  those  with  the  narrower 
and  scarcely  arched  palate  (Arctipalatales).  In  the  latter  are  comprised  the  forms 
which  we  regard  as  the  most  specialized  forms,  chiefly  American.  In  this  division 
we  find  all  our  North  American  sparrows,  Ammodromus,  Zonotrichia,  SpizeUa, 
Melospiza,  Peucaea,  Junco,  etc.,  etc.,  also  the  Pitylinaj,  including  the  cardinal 
(Cardinalis  cardinalis)  and  the  rose-breasted  grosbeak  (Ilabia  ludoviciand)  figured 
in  the  cut  on  the  plate  facing  page  544.  Closely  allied  to  the  foregoing  American 
forms,  which  make  up  the  bulk  of  the  phalanx,  are  the  Old  World  Emberizina3  or 
buntings,  of  which  two  representatives  are  illustrated  in  our  next  cut,  viz.,  the  ortolan 
(Emberiza  hortulana},  the  bird  to  whom  this  name  by  right  belongs,  a  common  Euro- 
pean species,  which  during  the  autumnal  migrations  is  caught  in  great  numbers  for 
the  table,  the  other  being  the  black-headed  bunting  (Granativora  melanocephala),  a 
large  and  handsome  species,  intensely  yellow  beneath,  and  confined  to  the  Mediterra- 
nean subregion  from  Italy  eastward,  migrating  to  India  in  winter. 

The  Amplipalatales  are  mostly  Old  World  birds  and  contain  the  typical  finches. 
In  North  America,  however,  we  have  a  number  of  species  belonging  to  many  different 
genera,  for  instance,  Carporacus,  Acanthis,  Leucosticte,  etc.,  but  no  true  finches 
occur  in  South  America  with  the  exception  of  several  goldfinches  (Spinus),  a  genus 
strictly  arctogsean,  but  with  a  distribution  somewhat  analogous  to  that  of  the 
American  kingfishers.  Two  types  of  this  '  phalanx '  are  illustrated  in  this  volume, 
both  very  familiar  indeed  to  our  readers,  but  in  a  somewhat  disagreeable  way,  for  the 
lower  figure  of  the  accompanying  cut  represents,  needless  to  say,  a  bird  whose  phe- 
nomenal increase,  after  having  been  idiotically  introduced  into  this  country,  has 
given  rise  to  considerable  talk,  but,  alas !  as  yet  only  little  action ;  while  the  wild 
stock  of  our  domesticated  canary,  yellow  and  olive,  is  figured  in  the  plate  facing 
page  544. 

As  remarked  at  the  beginning  of  the  Passeroidese,  we  regard  the  true  grosbeaks 
as  the  highest  specialized  finches,  represented  in  Europe  by  the  haw-finch  (Cocco- 
thraustes  coccothranstes),  and  in  this  continent  by  the  evening  grosbeak  (Hesp&riphona 
vespertina).  Their  bills  are  enormously  thick,  heavy,  and  so  high  that  their  upper 
contours  almost  form  one  continuous  curve  with  that  of  the  head. 

LEONHARD  STEJNEGER. 


LIST  OF  IMPORTANT  PUBLICATIONS  RELATING  TO  BIRDS. 


BY    J.    A.    ALLEX. 


ADAMS,  W.  H.  D.,  and  GIACOMELLI,  H.  The 
Bird  World  described  with  Pen  and  Pencil. 
London,  1880.  8vo,  pp.  460. 

ALIX,  E.  Essai  sur  1'Appareil  Locomoteur  des 
Oiseaux.  Paris,  1874.  8vo. 

ALLEN,  J.  A.  On  the  Mammals  and  Winter 
Birds  of  East  Florida,  with  an  Examination 
of  certain  assumed  Specific  Characters  in 
Birds,  and  a  Sketch  of  the  Bird-Fauna?  of 
Eastern  North  America.  Bull.  Mus.  Cornp. 
Zool.,  ii.  No.  3,  1871,  pp.  161-450,  pi.  iv- 
viii. 

ALLEN,  J.  A.  (Editor).  Bulletin  of  the  Nut- 
tall  Ornithological  Club,  a  Quarterly  Journal 
of  Ornithology.  Cambridge,  Mass.,  1876-83. 
8  vols.  8vo. 

ALLEN,  J.  A.  (Editor).  The  Auk,  a  Quarterly 
Journal  of  Ornithology.  New  York,  1884- 
87.  4  vols.  8vo.  (Continuation  of  the  Bull. 
Nutt.  Orn.  Club.) 

AMERICAN  Ornithologists'  Union  (Committee 
of).  The  Code  of  Nomenclature  and  Check- 
List  of  North  American  Birds,  adopted  by 
the  American  Ornithologists'  Union;  being 
the  Report  of  the  Committee  of  the  Union 
on  Classification  and  Nomenclature.  New 
York,  1886.  8vo,  pp.  viii  +  392. 

ANDERSON,  Charles  John.  Notes  on  the  Birds 
of  Damara  Land  and  the  Adjacent  Countries 
of  Southwest  Africa.  London,  1872.  8vo. 

AUDEBERT,  J.  B.,  and  VIEILLOT,  L.  P.  Histoire 
Naturelle  et  Ge'ne'rale  des  Grimpereaux  et 
des  Oiseaux  de  Paradis.  Paris,  1802.  Royal 
4to,  104  pi. 

AUDUBON,  J.  J.  The  Birds  of  America;  from 
Original  Drawings.  London,  1827-1838.  4 
vols.  double  elephant  folio. 

AUDUBON,  J.  J.  Ornithological  Biography,  or 
an  Account  of  the  Habits  of  the  Birds  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  Edinburgh,  1831- 
39.  5  vols.  royal  8vo. 

AUDUBON,  J.  J.     The  Birds  of  America,  from 


Drawings   made   in  the  United   States   and 
their     Territories.      Philadelphia,     1840-44. 

7  vols.  large  8vo. 

BACHMAN,  J.  Observations  on  the  Changes  of 
Color  in  Birds  and  Quadrupeds.  Trans.  Am. 
Philos.  Soc.  Philadelphia,  vi.  1839,  pp.  197- 
239. 

BAEDEKER,  F.  W.  J.  Die  Eier  der  Europai- 
schen  Vogel  nach  der  Natur  geinalt,  mit 
einer  Beschreibung  des  Nestbaues  bearbeitet 
mit  L.  Brehm  und  W.  Paessler.  80  colored 
plates,  2  vols.  folio,  1855-63. 

BAIRD,  S.  F.,  BREWER,  T.  M.,  and  RIDGWAY,  R. 
A  History  of  North  American  Birds  (Land 
Birds).  Boston,  1874.  3  vols.  4to. 

BAIRD,  S.  F.,  BREWER,  T.  M.,  and  RIDGWAY,  R. 
The  Water  Birds  of  North  America.  Bos- 
ton, 1884.  2  vols.  4to.  (Mem.  Mus.  Comp. 
Zobl.,  vols.  xii.,  xiii.) 

BAIRD,  Spencer  F.,  CASSIN,  John,  and  LAW- 
RENCE, George  N.  Reports  of  Explorations 
and  Surveys  for  a  Railroad  Route  from  the 
Mississippi  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  made  under 
the  Direction  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  in 
1853-56.  Vol.  ix.,  Birds,  4to,  1858.  Reis- 
sued in  1860  under  the  title  "  The  Birds  of 
North  America,"  etc.,  with  an  Atlas  of  100 
pi.,  about  half  of  them  new  and  the  rest  from 
the  "  Pacific  Railroad  Reports  "  and  "  Mexi- 
can Boundary  Survey." 

BAIRD,  S.  F.  Review  of  American  Birds,  in 
the  Museum  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 
Part  i.,  North  and  Middle  America.  Wash- 
ington, 1864-66.  8vo. 

BAIRD,  S.  F.  The  Distribution  and  Migrations 
of  North  American  Birds.  Am.  Journ.  Sci., 
xli.  1866,  pp.  78-90,  184-192,  337-347. 

BALDAMUS,  Eduard  (Editor).  Nauniaimia.  Ar- 
chiv  fur  die  Ornithologie,  vorzugsweise  Euro- 
pa's.  Organ  der  deutschen  Ornithologen-Ge- 
sellschaft.  Stuttgart  and  Leipzig,  1851-58. 

8  vols.  8vo. 


550 


PUBLICATIONS  RELATING   TO  BIRDS. 


BEWICK,  T.  (Hancock  Ed.).  A  History  of 
British  Birds.  London,  1847.  2  vols.  8vo. 

BLASIUS,  R.,  and  HAYEK,  G.  von  (Editors). 
Ornis.  Internationale  Zeitschrift  f iir  die  ge- 
sammte  Ornithologie.  Organ  der  permanen- 
ten  internationalen  ornithologischen  Comite'. 
Wien,  Jahrgang  i.,  iii.  1885-87.  8vo. 

BLASIUS,  W.  Zur  des  Ueberreste  von  Alca 
impennis.  Journ.  fiir  Orn.,  1884,  pp.  58-176. 

BOCAGE,  J.  V.  Barboza  du.  Ornithologie  d'An- 
gola.  Lisbon,  1877-81.  Royal  8vo. 

BONAPARTE,  C.  L.  American  Ornithology ; 
or  the  Natural  History  of  Birds  inhabiting 
the  United  States,  not  given  by  Wilson,  with 
Figures  drawn,  engraved,  and  colored  from 
Nature.  Philadelphia,  1825-33.  4  vols. 
Royal  4to. 

BONAPARTE,  C.  L.  Conspectus  Generum  Avium. 
Royal  8vo,  1850-65. 

BREWER,  T.  M.  North  American  Oology.  Pt. 
1,  Raptores  and  Fissirostres.  Washington, 
1860.  4to,  pp.  140,  pi.  5.  (In  Smithsonian 
Contrib.  to  Knowl.  Vol.  xi.) 

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COUES,  E.  Birds  of  the  Northwest.  A  Hand- 
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THE  same,  Third  Edition,  1887,  with  an  Ap- 
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ELLIOT,  D.  G.  The  Paradiseidse,  or  Birds  of 
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ELLIOT,  D.  G.  The  Bucerotidfe,  or  Family  of 
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FOSTER,  M.,  and  BALFOUR,  F.  M.  The  Ele- 
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GARROD,  A.  H.  In  Memoriam.  The  collected 
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GOSSE,  P.  H.  The  Birds  of  Jamaica.  London, 
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GOULD,  John.  The  Birds  of  Europe.  London, 
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GOULD,  John.  The  Odontophorinse,  or  Par- 
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GOULD,  John.  The  Birds  of  Australia.  7  vols. 
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GOULD,  John.  The  Trochilidse,  or  Family  of 
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GOULD,  John.  Birds  of  Asia.  7  vols.  impl. 
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GOULD,  John.  The  Ramphastidse,  or  Family 
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GOULD,  John.  The  Birds  of  Great  Britain. 
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GOULD,  John.  Handbook  of  the  Birds  of  Aus- 
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GOULD,  John.  Birds  of  New  Guinea,  and  the 
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GOULD,  John.  The  Trogonidse,  or  Family  of 
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GRAY,  G.  R.  The  Genera  of  Birds,  compris- 
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GRAY,  G.  R.  Hand-List  of  Genera  and  Spe- 
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GRAY,  Robert.  The  Birds  of  the  West  of  Scot- 
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GRIEVE,  S.  The  Great  Auk,  or  Gare  Fowl 
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GURNET,  J.  H.  A  List  of  the  Diurnal  Birds  of 
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HARTING,  J.  E.  A  Handbook  of  British  Birds. 
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HARTLAUB,  G.  System  der  Ornithologie  West- 
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HEWITSON,  W.  C.  Colored  Illustrations  of  the 
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HOMEYER,  E.  F.  von.  Die  Wanderungen  der 
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HUME,  Allan  O.  Nests  and  Eggs  of  Indian 
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HUME,  A.  O.,  and  MARSHALL,  C.  H.  T.  and  G. 
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HUXLEY,  T.  H.  On  the  Classification  of  Birds; 
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PUBLICATIONS  RELATING   TO  BIRDS. 


555 


Vol.  iii.  Passeriformes,  or  Perching  Birds. 
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Corvidje,  Paradiseidae,  Oriolidfe,  Dicru- 
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PUBLICATIONS  RELATING   TO  BIRDS. 


WILSON,  A.  (Brewer  ed).  Wilson's  American 
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INDEX. 


Abrophila,  201 
Almrria.  •_':;:; 
Acanthis,  547 
Acanthisittn,  4t!5 
Accentor,  4  '.!•_' 
Accipiter,  304 
Accipitres,  260 
Accipitrinre,  304 
Acestrura,  44!) 
Acrocephalus,  502 
Acromyodi,  481 
Acrornyodous,  459 
Acropternis,  476 
Acryllium,  214 
Actodroinas,  108 
Adjutant,  1(54 
-Echmorphorus,  67 
-Kiiithalos,  515. 

liognathous,  10 
-Kiut,  250 
JEpiornis,  47 
^Epiornithes,  47 
^Esalon,  313 
^Epyppdius,  231 
A  garni,  123 
Agaporuis,  362 
Agelastes,  215 
Agelastinae,  215 
AgJseactis,  444 
Agnopterus,  154 
A  probates,  502 
Aithurus,  451 
Ajaja.  Hil 
Alauda,  4S<; 
Alaudidse,  485 
A  Ibatrosses,  85 
Alca,  69,  72 

Alcediiiidse,  395,  401,  403 
Alcedinoidea,  395 
Alcedo,  401,  403 


Alcoidese,  68 
Alcyone,  404 
Alecteropodes,  198 

Aleotorides,  121 
Alectrcenas,  2.ri4 
Alectrurus,  470 
Alle,  69 
Alopochen,  141 
Altrices,  3 
Aluco,  324,  346 
Aluconinre,  324,  346 
Amazilia,  44.'! 
Ama/ons.  :!<i7 
Amblyornis,  517 
Ammodroinus,  547 
Ammomanes,  486 
Ammojicrdix.  200 
Ampelidtc.  511 
Ampelis.  511 
Amplipalatates,  547 
Amytornis.  4W 
Anreretes,  470 
Anarliynchus,  101 
Anas,  148 


Anastornus,  167 
Antidae,  141 
Anatinae,  145, 147 
Anatoidea?,  136 
Andigena,  417 
Androglossa,  367 
Auhima,  134 
Anliiniidae,  134 
Anhimoideae,  132 
Anbinga,  193 
Anhingidze,  193 
Ani,  383 

Anisodactylous,  370 
Anomalogonata?,  370 
Anomalopteryx,  44 
Anous,  83 
Anseranas,  138 
Anseranatidas,  138 
Anseres,  132 
Anseriformes,  65 
Antbus,  487 
Antiolopha,  472 
Antiopelmous,  369 
Antropoides,  125 
Ant-birds,  476 
Ant-shrikes,  477 
Ant-thrushes,  466-477 
Ant-wrens,  477 
Anumbius,  480 
Apaloderina,  435 
Apatornis,  24 
Aphanapteryx,  129 
Aphriza,  99 
Aptenodytes,  59 
Apteria,  3 

Apterous  penguin,  49 
Apteryges,  48 
Apter\-x.  4!i 
Aptornis,  131 
Aquila,  2S1 
Aquilinae,  278 
Ara?ari,  416 
Aramidse,  127 
Aramus,  121,  127 
Arara,  :',.v> 
Archseopteryx,  21 
Archibuteo,  2<X) 
Arctipalatates,  547 
ArdeidaB,  173 
Ardeoidese,  162 
Ardeomega,  177 
Ardetta.  174 
Arenaria,  98 
Argus,  227 
Argytria,  443 
Ariel,  418 
Artamidre,  511 
Artamus,  511 
Asio,  343 
Astur,  304 
Asturina,  290 
Asturinula,  308 
Atelornis,  390 
Athene,  327 
Atrichornis,  462 


Atrichornithidse,  462 
Attagis,  93 
Atthis,  449 
Augastes,  444 
Auks,  69,  72 
Aves,  1 
Avestruz,  38 
Avicida,  309 
Avocettinus,  445 
Avocettula,  444 

Babblers,  490 
Balaeniceps,  171 
Balasiiicipitidae,  171 
Balearica,  125 
Bambusicola,  203 
Banana  quit,  540 
Baptornis,  30 
Barbets,  418 
Barking-bird,  477 
Basilinna,  443 
Batrachostomus,  387 
Baza,  309 
Bee-eaters,  395 
Bee-martin,  469,  471 
Beef-eater,  533 
Bejaflor  grande,  414 
Bell-birds,  475 
Bellona,  444 
Bernicles,  142 
Bhringa,  510 
Birds,  1 

Birds-of-Paradise,  470,  516,  518 
Birds  of  prey,  260 
Bitter-bump,  175 
Bittern,  174,  175 
Bittern,  sun,  116 
Bizura,  152 
Blackbirds,  496 
Black  cap,  503 
Black-cock,  210 
Black  crow,  532 
Bluebirds,  4'.  »J 
"     fairy,  490 
Bluejay,  525 
Boat-bill,  178 
Boatswain,  76,  181 
Bob  White,  206 
Bog-bumper,  175 
Bolborhynchus,  366 
Bonasa,  211 
Boobies,  188 
Booted  tarsus,  9 
Botaurus,  175 
Bourcieria,  452 
Bower-birds,  516 
Brachypteracias,  390 
Brachypteracinre,  390 
Brachypteres,  56 
Brachyrhamphus,  72 
Brant,  142 
Branta,  142 
Broad-mouths,  4G2 
Brotogerys.  :!•>(; 
Brown  thrasher,  507 


558 


INDEX. 


Brush-birds,  462 

Brush-turkey,  232 

Bubo,  337 

Bubulcus,  178 

Bucconidae,  412 

Bulbuls,  490 

Buceros,  406 

Bucerotidae,  395,  404 

Buchanga,  510 

Bucorvus,  408 

Bucorvinse,  408 

Bulbuls,  490 

Bulwcria,  90 

Buntings,  546 

Buphaga,  533 

Busarellus,  290 

Bush-chat,  498 

Bustards,  113 

Butcher-birds,  511 

Buteo,  292 

Buteogallus,  290 

Buteola,  290 

Buzzard,  anthracite,  290 
bee,  290 

broadwinged,  293 
carrion,  300 
common,  293 
ferrugineous,  291 
Gruber's,  290 
honey,  299 
rough-legged,  291 
Swainsoii's,  293 
turkey,  267 
white-tailed,  292 

Buzzards,  290 

Cacatua,  353 
Caccabis,  202 
Caccothraustes,  547 
Caica,  367 
Cairina,  146 
Callipepla,  206 
Callipsittacus,  355 
Callocitta,  526 
Calloperdix,  203 
Callothorax,  449 
Caloenas,  243 
Caloenatidae,  243 
Calopezus,  54 
Calophasis,  220 
Calypte,  449 
Calyptomena,  463 
Calyptorhynchus,  354 
Campanero,  475 
Campephagidae,  509 
Campephilus,  431 
Camptolaimus,  151 
Campy  lop  terus,  456 
Campylorhynchus,  505 
Canace,  210 
Canada  jay,  524 
Cape  Barren  goose,  138 
Cape  pigeon,  90 
Capercaili,  210 
Caprimulgidae,  387 
Caprimulginae  ,  387 
Caracara,  301 
Cardinalis,  546 
Cariama,  121 
Cariamoidese,  119 
Carine,  326 
Carphibis,  160 
Carpodacus,  547 
Carpodectes,  474 
Carpophaga, 258 
Carpophagidse,  254 
Carrancha,  301 
Carrion  buzzards,  300 
Carrion-crow,  266 
Casmarhinchos,  475 


Cassicus,  545 

Cassowaries,  39,  41 

Casuaridae,  41 

Casuarius,  42 

Casuaroideae,  39 

Catarractes,  63 

Cat-bird,  507 

Catharnia,  449 

Cathartes,  2(i(l 

Cathartidae,  263,  266 

Catharus,  497 

Catherpes,  505 

Catreus,  220 

Cecomorphae,  64 

Cedar-bird,  511 

Celeomorphae,  423 

Celeus,  427 

Centrocercus,  209 

Centropus,  381 

Ceophloeus,  431 

Cephalolepis,  444 

Cephalopterus,  474 

Cepphus,  72 

Cere,  260 

Cereopsidae,  137 

Cereopsis,  137 

Ceriornis,  223,  224 

Cerorhina, 73 

Certhia,  539 

Certhiidae,  539 

Certhilauda,  486 

Certhiola,  540 

Ceryle,  404 

Cettia,  501 

Ceyx,  404 

Chaenomorphae,  132 

Chsetocercus,  449 

Chsetopus,  204 

Chaetura,  439 

Chaeturinae,  437 

Chaha,  134 

Chalcopelia,  246 

Chalcophaps,  245 

Chalybura,  454 

Chamaea,  504,  506 

Chamasidae,  506 

Chamaepetes,  233 

Chamcepelia,  247 

Channel-bill,  378 

Chapparal-cock,  382 

Charadridse,  98 

Charadriinae,  99 

Charadriomorphae,  95 

Charadrius,  96 

Chat,  bush,  498 
„     stone,  498 
„      tyrant,  468 
„      whin,  498 

Chauna,  134 

Cheer,  221 

Chelidon,  509 

Chenalopex,  141 

Chenopis,  143 

Chimachima,  302 

Chimango,  302 

Chimney  swallow,  439 

Chionidse,  92 

Chionis,  93 

Chionoideae,  92 

Chiroxiphia,  472 

Chizaerhis,  372 

Chlamydochen,  142 

Chlamydodora,  517 

Chloephaga,  142 

Chloropsis,  490 

Chlorostilbon,  442 

Cholornis,  514 

Chough,  528 

Chrysolampis,  444 

Chrysotis,  367 


Chunga,  121 
Churea,  381 
Churunche,  471 
Cicoiiia,  168 
Ciconiidae,  162 
Cicouiiformes,  65 
Cincimiurus,  520 
Cinclidae,  505 
Cinclus,  505 
Cinnyriniorphae,  534 
Cinnyris,  537 
Circaetus,  285 
Circinae,  294 
Circus,  294 
Cisticola,  499 
Civetta,  327 
Cladorhynchus,  107 
Claniator,  203 
Clamatores,  459 
Clangula,  148 
Clivicola,  509 
Clytolfema,  454 
Cnemiornis,  136 
Cnemiornithidae,  136 
Ceccystes,  377 
Coccyzura,  249 
Cochlearius,  178 
Cockatoos,  352 
Cock-of-the-plains,  209 
Cock-of-the-rock,  473 
Coereba,  540 
Coerebidae,  540 
Colaptes,  427 
Coleoramphi,  92 
Colioidas,  393 
Colius,  393 
Collocalia,  437 
Coluniba,  252 
Columbae,  237,  242 
Columbula,  247 
Coly,  394 
Colymbidae,  66 
Colyniboideae,  66 
Colymbus,  67 
Condor,  269 
Conirostres,  484,  541 
Conopophaga,  476 
Conoppphagidae,  476 
Conuriclae,  ;><>4 
Conurus,  365 
Coots,  131 
Coppersmith,  420 
Coquettes,  449 
Coracias,  390 
Coraciidae,  389 
Coracioideoa,  384 
Coracopsis,  363 
Cormorants,  190 
Corvidae,  523 
Corvus,  483,  526 
Coryllis,  359 
Coryphilus,  359 
Corythaeola,  372 
Corythopsis,  476 
Coscoroba,  147 
Cosmetornis,  389 
Cotinga,  474 
•  Cotingidae,  473 
Coturnix,  198 
Coucal,  381 
Courlans,  127 
Courser,  101 
Coverts,  4 
Cow-bird,  545 
Cracidae,  232 
Cracinae,  233 
Cracticus,  511 
Cranes,  121,  123,  125 
Crax,  233,  234 
Creepers,  539 


INDEX. 


559 


Crested  grebe,  67 

Criuiurr.  t'.'ii 
Crocodile  bird,  100 
Crcx-upus,  U.'i.") 
<.'n>>s-bills,  546 
rn.ssoptilcm,  22t> 
Crotophaga,  374,  383 
Crow,  carrion,  260,  526 

,,        fish,  I!!'-' 

„      hooded,  526 
„      king,  510 
„      white,  278 

Crow-blackbird,  532 

Crows,  .">•_':'• 

Cryptornis,  404 

Crypt  uri,  51 

Ouckoo,  channel-bill,  378 
drongo,  380 
European,  376 
golden,  378 
great  spotted,  377 
ground,  381 
horn-bill,  :;7s 
lark-heeled,  381 
Malaccan,  374 
yellow-billed,  379 

Cuckoos,  373 

Cuculidse,  373 

CuculinfE,  374 

Cuculoideae,  371 

Cuculus,  374 

Cultirostres,  4S4 

Cupidonia,  2i)!» 

Curassows,  233 

Curlew,  red-billed,  106 
,,        stone,  112 

Curlews,  iO.'i 

Cursores,  5(5,  113 

Cursorius,  101 

Curvirostres,  484 

Cyanecula,  497 

Cyanocitta,  525 

Cyanolanius,  512 

Cyanopolius,  526 

Cyanophaia,  442 

Cyanorhamphns,  356 

Cyanotis,  470 

Cyclopsittacus,  358 

Cyclorhinus,  73 

Cyclorhis,  513 
inpsis,  142 

Cygnus,  143 

Cymbirhynchus,  463 

Cymindis,  299 

Cynanthus,  447 

Cypseliformes,  370,  435 

Cypselomorphae,  435 

Cypselus,  4:;'.i 

Cyrtonyx,  206 

Dab-chick,  67,  68 
Dafila,  148 
Damophila,  443 
I  );insador,  473 
Daption,  90 
Darters,  I'.i:; 
I  >asyp;i'dos.  L' 
Demoiselle,  125 
Dendragapns,  210 
Dendrochelidon,  437 
Dendrocolaptes,  478 
Dendrocolaptidae,  478 
Dendrocygna,  14(i 
Dendronessa,  148 
Dendrortyx,  205 
Dentirostres,  484 
Dermorhynchi,  136 
Derotypus,  367 
Desmognathous,  10 
Desmopelmous,  368 


Diatryma,  33,  55 

Dichromatism,  6 

Dicaeida>.  5:!S 

Dicruridae,  .">()!» 

Dicranostreptus,  510 

Dididic,  2:;s 

Didric,  :!7S 

Didtutculidn,  240 

Didunculus,  240 

Didus,  2.W 

Dinornis,  43 

Dinornithoideae,  43 

Diomedea,  86 

Diomedidse,  85 

Diphlogaena,  452 

Diphyllodes,  522 

Dippers,  505 

Discura,  448 

Dissemurus,  510 

Dissoura,  1U9 

Divers,  69 

„       masked,  73 

Docimastes,  452 

Dodaers,  239 

Dodo,  238 

Domicella,  358 

Dotterel,  96,  107 

Dove,  Carolina,  250 
,,     ground,  247 
,,      partridge,  246 
,,      ring,  253 
„      scaly,  247 
,,     sea,  69 
„     turtle,  248 

Doves,  237 

Drepanoptilus,  256 

Droma^ognathse,  31 

Dromseognathous,  10 

Dromasopappi,  27 

Dromadidae,  97 

Dromaiidae,  40 

Dromaius,  40 

Dromas,  07 

Drongo-shrikes,  509 

Dronte,  238 

Dryobates,  428 

Dryocopus,  429 

Ducula,  258 

Duck,  coscoroba,  147 
„      eider,  149 
,,      Labrador,  151 
,,      loggerhead,  149 
,,      mandarin,  148 
,,     merganser,  153 
,,      Muscovy,  146 
,,      musk,  152 
„      race-horse,  149 
,,      rosy-billed,  146 
,,     ruddy,  152 
,,     sea,  145 
,,     side-wheel,  149 
„      steamer,  149 
„      surf,  148 
,,     torrent,  153 
,,      tree,  145 

Ducks,  136,  145 

Dysporomorphae,  181 

Eagle,  bald-headed,  284 
„      black,  285 
„      Bonelli's,  284 
„      caracara,  301 
,,      crowned,  285 
dwarf,  283 
fishing,  284 
golden,  282 
Guiana,  287 
harpy,  287 
hawk,  284 
imperial,  283 


Eagle,  king,  283 

„      Malay,  285 

,,      sea,  284 

,,      serpent,  285 

,,      short- toed,  285 
Eagle-vulture,  279 
Eagles,  278,  281 
Eclectus,  :n;2 
Ectopistes,  251 
Edible  bird's-uests,  438 
Egrets,  178 
Eiders,  149 
Elanoides,  297 
Elanus,  297 
Elornis,  154 
El  Turco,  477 
Elvira,  443 
Emberiza,  547 
Emberizinse,  547 
Emeu,  41 
Empidonax,  471 
Emus,  39,  40 
Enaliornis,  30 
Endaspidian,  464 
Enicuridse,  489 
Enicurus,  489 
Enneoctonus,  512 
Ephippiorhynchus,  167 
Epiinachinae,  522 
Epimachus,  522 
Eremomelinae,  491 
Eretmopodes,  65 
Eriocnemis,  443 
Erismatura,  152 
Erismaturinae,  151 
Erithacus,  496 
Erythropus,  315 
Erythosterna,  492 
Esacus,  113 
Eucephala,  443 
Eudromias,  96 
Eudynamys,  375 
Eudyptes,  63 
Eudyptula,  60 
Eugenes,  454 
Eugenia,  454 
Eulabeia,  142 
Eulampis,  455 
Eumomota,  35)7 
Euornithes,  64 
Eupetes,  490 
Eupetomana,  456 
Euphema,  35(i 
Eiiplocamus,  216 
Eupodotes,  113 
Eupsortyx,  206 
Eurhipidurse,  31 
Eurylaimidee,  462 
Eutylaimoideae,  460,  462 
Eurynorhynchus,  107 
Eurypyga,  116 
Eurypygidaa,  116 
Eurypygoididae,  115 
Eurystomus,  390,  391 
Eustiphaiius,  452 
Eutoxeres,  457 
Eutrygon,  242 
Euxenura,  169 
Exaspidean,  464 
Excalfactoria,  199 

Falcipennis,  210 

Falco,  306,  309 

Falcon,  Bengal,  309 
,,        chanting,  308 
,,        crested,  309 
,,        Eleanora,  315 
,,        femoral,  315 

finch,  309 
„        great  northern,  311 


560 


INDEX. 


Falcon,  Greenland,  311 

hobby,  314 

Icelander,  311 

kite,  309 

laimer,  313 

lugger,  313 

notched,  309 

peregrine,  309 

plumbeous,  315 

prairie,  313 

singing,  308 
Falconidse,  263,  273 
Falconinse,  308 
Falconry,  316 
Falcons,  308 
Fan-tails,  492,  499 
Feathers,  2 

,,         arrangement  of,  3 
,,         color  of,  5 
Ficedula,  492 
Finches,  547 
Fin-foots,  68 
Fire-backs,  216 
Fire-crest,  504 
Fire-tail,  44(5 
Fish-crow,  192 
Fish-hawk,  192,  293 
Flamingoes,  153,  154 
Flickers,  427 
Florisuga,  454 
Fly-catchers,  468,  492 

Acadian,  471 
paradise,  492 
pied,  492 

rose-breasted,  474 
spotted,  492 
tyrant,  471 
vermilion,  471 
Fork-tails,  489 
Formicariidse,  477 
Formicarima?,  477 
Formicaroidiffl,  4(50,  476 
Formicivorinae,  477 
Francolins,  203 
Francolinus,  203 
Fratercula,  73 
Fregatidse,  184 
Fregatoidese,  183 
Fregatta,  184 
Frigate  birds,  184 
Frigate-pelican,  184 
Fregilus,  528 
Fringillida?,  545 
Frog-mouth,  387 
Fulica,  131 
Fulmar,  arctic,  90 

„       giant,  88,  90 
Fulmarus,  90 
Funariidae,  479 
Funarius,  480 

Gachita,  94 
Galbula,  414 
Galbulidae,  412,  414 
Galeoscoptes,  507 
Galling,  197,  215 
Gallinago,  110 
Gallinula,  131 
Gallinules,  131 
Galloperdix,  204 
Gallus,  215 
Gannets,  188 
Gaper,  463 
Gare-fowl,  72 
Garrulus,  525 
Gastornis,  54 
Gastornithes,  54 
Gavia,  81 
Gecinulus,  428 
Geese,  bernicle,  142 


Geese  black-backed,  146 
„      land, 142 
,,      sea,  142 

Gejr,  72 

Gentleman,  188 

Geobasites,  390 

Geococcyx,  381 

Geocolaptes,  428 

Geopelia,  250 

Geophaps,  244 

Geopsittacus,  351 

Geositta,  479,  481 

Geotrygon,  246 

Geraiiomorphae,  122 

Giant  heron,  177 

Glareolidae,  95 

Glareolus,  95 

Glaucidium,  329 

Gliciphila,  535 

Gnat-catchers,  507 

Goat-suckers,  387 

Godwits,  107 

Gold-crest,  504 

Gold-finches,  547 

Goose,  barred-headed,  142 
Cape  Barren,  138 
Egyptian,  141 
emperor,  142 
fox,  141 
gray-lag,  142 
Nile,  141 
Orinoco,  141 
semi-palmated,  139 
solan,  188 
spur-winged,  140 
swallow,  188 
swan,  142 

Goshawks,  304 

Goslets,  142 

Gouldia,  448 

Goura,  242 

Gouridre,  242 

Gracula,  533 

Graculavus,  24,  28 

Grallse,  91 

Grallaria,  477 

Granativora,  547 

Graphophasianus,  220 

Great  auk,  72 

Grebes,  66 

Greenlets,  513 

Griffin,  274,  275 

Grinder,  493 

Griphornis,  21 

Grosbeaks,  54(5 

Ground-thrushes,  467 

Ground-tits,  506 

Grouse,  '198,  207 
blue,  210 
dusky,  210 
Hartlaub's,  210 
hazel,  212 
pine,  210 
ruffed.  211"' 
sand,  235 
spruce,  210'' 
wood,  210 

Gruidsie,  123 

Gruoidese,  121 

Grus,  123 

Guacharo,  385 

Guara,  KiO 

Gubernetes,  470 

Guillemots,  71 

Guinea-fowl,  213 

Guinea-hen,  214 

Guid-guid,  477 

Guira,  374,  383 

Gull,  black-headed,  78 
fork-tailed,  81 


Gull,  ivory,  81 

„     mackerel,  79 

„     Ross's,  79 

„     wedge-tailed,  79 
Gulls,  74,  77 
Guttera,  214 
Gyges,  83 
Gymnasio,  326 
Gymnopffides,  2 
Gymnopelia,  247 
Gymnophaps,  252 
Gymnorhina,  511 
Gymnorhinse,  511 
Gyrfalcons,  311 
Gypaetus,  280 
Gypogeranidse,  263,  264 
Gypogeranus,  263 
Gypohierax,  279 
Gyps,  275 

Habia,  547 
Habroptila,  131 
Hadrostonms,  474 
Hsematopus,  98 
Hsematospiza,  546 
Halcyon,  401,  403 
HalcyoninsB,  401 
Haliactus,  281,284 
Hang-birds,  544 
Hang-nests,  544 
Haploophonse,  459 
Haplopelia,  246 
Harpactes,  435 
Harpagus,  309 
Harporhynchus,  507 
Harpyhaliaetus,  287 
Harpyia,  287 
Harriers,  294 
Hav-sula,  188 
Hawk,  chicken,  306 

Cooper's,  30(5 

duck,  309 

fish,  192,  293 

goose,  305 

hen, 292 

man-of-war,  184 

marsh,  294 

night,  389 

peregrine,  309 

pigeon,  313 

quail,  309 

sharpshinned,  306 

singing,  308 

sparrow,  304,  306,  309,  315 

squirrel,  291 
Hawks,  304 
Hsematortyx,  200 
Helactin,  449 
Helianthea,  452 
Heliastur,  281 
Heliodilus,  348 
Heliodoxa,  454 
Heliornis,  68 
Heliornithoidese,  68 
Heliothrix,  444 
Helotarsus,  281,  287 
Hemicircus,  428 
Hemignathus,  538 
Hemistephania,  452 
Hen-harrier,  294 
Hen-hawks,  2!  12 
Henicophaps,  245 
Herod  ias,  178 
Herodii,  157 
Heron,  buff-backed,  158 
giant,  177 
night,  178 
variegated,  174 
Herons,  173 
Hesperiphona,  547 


INDEX, 


661 


Hesperornis,  24,  27 

Irrisorida-,  412 

Heteralocha.  530 

Island  hen,  l."l 

Heterodactyms,  369 

Ithagiuis,  216 

I  leteromeri,  4ti." 

Heteropelma,  472 

Jabiru,  167 

I  leteropelmous,  369 
llieracidea,  309 

Jacamaralcyon,  414 
Jacamars,  414 

Jlierax,  ."09 

Jacamerops,  414 

Hierococcyx,  374 

Ja9ana.  104 

Jlicrofalco,  311 

Jacanidae,  103 

Hill-mvna,  533 

Jackass-penguin,  59 

Jlill  tit's,  491 

Jaegers,  75 

Himantopus,  107 

Jan  van  Gent,  188 

liippalectro,  41 

Jays,  524 

Hiruiulinida;,  507 

Joao  doido,  414 

Hirundo,  50!  i 

Juida,  532 

Hoatzin,  197 

Juliamyia,  443 

Hobby,  314 

Junco,  547 

Holaspideaii,  464 

Jungle-fowl,  215 

Holorhinal,  11 

Jynginae,  433 

Hoinoromeri.  463 

Jyiix,  433 

Homra'i.  407 

Honey-bird,  422 

Kauu,  117 

Honey-creepers,  540 

Kalij,  216 

Honey-eaters,  5:>4 

Kaka,  353 

Honey-guides,  421 

Kakapo,  350 

Honey-suckers,  535 

Kenopia,  4<K) 

J  loopoes,  410 

Kestrel,  315 

Hoplopterus,  100 

Ketupa,  337 

Hornbills,  404 

King-auk,  69 

Houbara,  113 

King  bird,  469,  471 

Huia-bird,  5:50 

King-crow,  510 

Hummer,  Chiniborazo,  455 

Kingfishers,  401 

horned,  450 

Kinghunter,  giant,  401 

ruby  and  topaz,  444 

Kinglets,  504 

ruby  throat,  450 

King-penguin,  59 

sickle-billed,  456 

Kirumbo,  392 

sword-billed,  453 

Kite,  Arabian,  297 

topaz,  451 

bee,  299 

Hummers,  441 

black,  297 

Hummers,  green,  442 

black-shouldered,  297 

Hamming-birds,  441 

black-winged,  29" 

Hydralector,  104 

Brahmiuy,  295 

I  lydrocoleus,  78 

common,  296 

Hydrophasianus,  104 

everglade,  29S 

Hylactes,  477 

fork-tailed,  297 

Hylocharis,  443 

honey,  2H9 

Hyloinanes,  397 

hook-billed,  298 

Hyporaohis,  3 

Mississippi,  297 

Hypositta.  -r>15 

pariah,  297 

Hypotriorchis,  314 

red.  2!  Hi 

red-backed,  295 

lache,  443 

swallow-tailed,  297 

laiithanias,  252 

white-tailed,  297 

Ibidida-,  15S 

Kite-falcon,  309 

Ibidoiderc,  15S 

Kites,  2'.C> 

Ibidopodia,  15s 

Kittiwakes,  81 

Ibidorhyncha,  106 

Kiwi,  48 

Ibis,  15S 

Knot,  107 

„     glossy,  100 

,,     sacred,  78,  158,  163 

Lagonosticte,  543 

,,    scarlet,  Hio 

Lagopus,  207 

,,     straw-throated,  160 

Lamellirostr  a,  56,  132,  136 

,,    wood,  102 

Lamelloso-dentali,  136 

Ibycter,  304 
Icelander,  311 
Ichthyornis,  24 

Laminiplartares,  481 
Lamrnergeyer,  280 
Lanipornis,  455 

Ictcriihc.  544 

Lampraster,  454 

Icterus,  545 

Lamprococcyx,  378 

Ictinia.  -_'!i7 

Lamprocolius,  532 

Impennes,  56 

Indicator.  4'Jl 

Lamprotornis,  108,  532 
Laniarius,  512 

luertes,  411 

Lauiida.-,  51  1 

Indicatorida>,  412,  421 

Lanius,  512 

Invisible  bird,  494 

Lanner,  313 

lolwma.  454 

Laornis,  30 

lonornis.  l.".l 

Laopteryx,  23 

Irena,  490 

Laitwin0"  99 

Ironsmith.  420 

Larida-.  77 

Irrisor,  412 

Larks,  485,  486 

Laroidea,  74 
Larus,  78 
Latirostres,  484 
Laughing  jackass,  402 
Laurellardia,  410 
Leech-eater,  100 
Leguatia,  129 
Leiotrichidse,  421 
Leipoa,  231 
Lepidogrammus,  381 
Leptomyza,  535 
Leptoptila,  24U 
Leptoptilos,  164 
Leptosoniatidae,  392 
Leptosomus,  392 
Lerwa,  202 
Leshia,  447 
Lestornis,  30 
Leucopternis,  290 
Leucosarcia  245 
Leucosticte,  547 
Licmetis,  353 
Licornis,  132 
Limicolae,  65,  95 
Limnaetus,  285 
Limnatornis,  410 
Limpkin,  121,  127 
Lipaugus,  474 
LipoglossjB,  404 
Lobrophasis,  216,  218 
Lobipedes,  122 
Loddigesia,  447 
Locust-bird,  532 
Locustella,  502 
Log-cock,  431 
Lomyias,  71 
Longipennes,  56,  65,  75. 
Loons,  69 
Lophoaetus,  285 
Lophodytes,  153 
Lopholaimus,  258 
Lophophaps,  244 
Lophophorninae,  223 
Lophophorus,  223,  225 
Lophopsittacus,  352 
Lophorina,  522 
Lophornis,  449 
Lophortyx,  206 
Lophotriorchis,  285 
Lory,  358,  362 
Love-birds,  362 
Loxia,  546 
Loxioideus,  539 
Lugger,  313 
Lunda,  73 
Luscina,  496 
L'Ynambu,  52 
Lypornix,  413 
Lyre-birds,  461 

Macaws,  365 
Machaeropterus,  472 
Macrochires,  435 
Macrodactyli,  122 
Macrodipteryx,  389 
Macronus,  490 
Macronyx,  488 
Macropsalis,  389 
Macropteres,  56 
Macropygia,  249 
Macrornis,  33,  40 
Magaroperdix,  200 
Magpies,  526 
Maguari,  169 
Malaconotinae,  512 
Malacorhynchus,  148 
Mallard,  148 
Malurinae,  499 
Manacus,  472 
Mauakius,  472 


562 


INDEX. 


Mandarin  duck  148 

Man-of-war  hawk,  184 

Manu-ma,  257 

Ma-quaai,  373 

Marabou,  1(>4 

Martin,  European,  509 
,,       purple,  509 
„    bee,  469,  471 

Martineta,  54 

Mascarinus,  360 

Masius,  472 

Masked  divers,  73 

Meewah,  104 

Megacephalon,  231 

Megalaima,  420 

Megalaimidae,  412,  418 

Megalestris,  75 

Megalophonus,  486 

Megalornis,  33,  40 

Megapodes,  229 

Megapodidae,  229 

Megapodinse,  229 

Megapodius,  230 

Meiornis,  44 

Melampitta,  466 

Melanerpes,  431 

Melanocorypha,  486 

Melanoperdix,  200 

Meleagridee,  222 

Meleagrinae,  222 

Meleagris,  222 

Melierax,  308 

Meliphagidae,  535 

Mellisuga,  450 

Melodes,  497 

Melopelia,  247 

Melopitta,  466 

Melospiza,  547 

Melopsittacus,  355 

Menura,  461 

Menuridae,  461 

Meiiuroidese,  460 

Merganetta,  153 

Mergansers,  152 

Merlin,  313 

Meropidse,  395 

Meropinse,  397 

Merops,  396 

Merula,  496 

Mesites,  115, 119 

Mesitidae,  119 

Mesomyodi,  459 

Mesomyodous,  459 

Metallura,  444 

Metopiana,  146 

Metopidius,  104 

Metriopelia,  247 

Micrastur,  308 

Micrathene,  328 

Microcichla,  489 

Microglossus,  354 

Microperdix,  199 

Micropodidse,  437 

Micropodinae,  437,  439 

Micropodoidese,  435 

Micropsittacidse,  357 

Micropus,  439 

Middle  coverts,  4 

Migration,  16 

Milvago,  302 

Milvulus,  470 

Milvus,  296 

MimidaB,  507 

Mimus,  507 

Minivet,  509 

Mire-drum,  175 

Mitua,  233 

Mniotiltidae,  540 

Moa,  43 

Mocking-birds,  507 


Modest-bird,  257 
Moho,  131,  535 
Molothrus,  545 
Molting,  4 
Momotida?,  395,  397 
Mornotus,  398 
Moiials,  225 
Monasa,  413 
Moor  hen,  131 
Morphnus  287 
Motacilla,  488 
Motacillidae,  487 
Mother  Carey's  chickens,  89 
Motmot,  397 
Mountain  whistler,  494 
Mountain  witch,  246 
Muis-vogel,  394 
Murres,  71 
Muscicapa.  4'.)2 
Muscicapidae,  492 
Muscles,  14 
Muscivora,  469 
Muscovy  duck,  146 
Muscular  formula,  14 
Musophagidse,  371 
Musophagus,  372 
Myadestes,  4;  14 
Mycteria,  167 
Myristicivora,  258 
Myzomela,  535 

Nandu,  37 
Nanodes,  355 
Nasica,  478 
Nasiterna,  358 
Natatores,  56 
Naucleriis,  297 
Nectarinia,  537 
Nectariniidae,  536 
Neophron,  277 
Neopus,  285 
Nesoceleus,  427 
Nesocichla,  494 
Nestor,  352 
Nettepus,  142 
Night-hawk,  389 
Nightingales,  496 

,.  Ceylon,  491 

Night-j;ir,  389 
Niiiox,  332 
Nisaetus,  281,  284 
Noddies,  83 
Nomopelmous,  368 
Nothocrax,  233,  234 
Notornis,  131 
Nothura,  54 
Nucifraga,  526 
Numeniina),  106 
Numenius,  106 
Numidiuae,  213 
Nut-crackers,  526 
Nuthatches,  515 
Nyctale,  344 
Nyctia,  335 
Nyctibiinae,  387 
Nyctibius,  387 
Nycticorax,  178 
Nyctiornis,  397 

Oceanitinse,  85 
Oceanites,  88 
Oceanitidae,  85,  88 
Oceanodroma,  88 
Ochreatse,  464 
Ocydromus,  128 
Ocyphaps,  246 
Odontoholceae,  24,  27 
Odontophorinae,  205 
Odontophorus,  205 
Odoiitormae,  23 


Odontornithes,  23 
CEdicnemidae,  112 
Oidicnemus,  112 
Oidemia,  146 
Oil-bird,  385 
Oil-gland,  9 
Old  squaw,  148 
Oligomyodi,  459 
Olor  143 
Onychotes,  290 
Oo,  536 
Open-bill,  166 
Ophrysia,  199 
Opisthoconii,  196 
Opisthocomus  196 
Oreonympha,  445 
Oreortyx,  206 
Oreoperdix,  201 
Oreophasinaa,  232 
Oreophasis,  232 
Oreotrochilus,  455 
Oriole,  Baltimore,  545 
"       American,  544 
Orioles,  true,  515 
Oriolidae,  515 
Oriolus,  515 
Ornithopappi,  21 
Ortalis,  233 
Orthonyx,  490 
Ortolan,  547 
Ortygornis,  204 
Ortyx,  20(5 
Oscines,  481 
Ostrich,  African,  33 

,,        South  American,  37 
Osprey,  293 
Ossifraga,  88,  90 
Ostinops,  545 
Otididae,  56,  113 
Otidiphaps,  242 
Otis,  113 
Otocoris,  486 
Otogyps,  277 
Otus,  343 
Ouzel,  ring,  496 

"      water,  496 
Oven-birds,  480 
Owl,  Acadian,  344 

barn,  346 

barred,  345 

brown,  345 

burrowing,  324 

eagle,  337 

flammulated,  342 

gnome,  330 

great  grey,  345 

hairy-footed,  332 

hawk,  334 

horned,  337 

laughing,  333 

little,  327 

long-eared,  343 

mottled,  :U2 

pigmv,  •>-!' 

powerful,  333 

Richardson's,  344 

saw-whet,  344 

screech,  342,  ;>4(j 

scops,  341,  342 

short-eared,  343 

snowy,  335 

sparrow,  330 

spotted,  328 

tawny,  345 

Tengmalm's,  344 

white-faced,  333 

Whitney's,  328 
Owl-parrots,  350 
Owls,  321 
Ox-peckers,  533 


INDEX. 


563 


Ozyrhynohidse,  4(19 

(  >xyrliynelnis,  Itlli 
•  •r-catchers,  !>s 

Pacliyrhamplms,  474 
Paheeudyptes.  (>•'! 
Palieocygnus,  14.'! 
Palffiolodontidee,  154 

Paheolodus,  154 
Pala'ornis.  lliio 
Pala/ornitbida',  359 
Palapteryx,  44 


Palate.  ID 
Paludieola-,  122 
Pamprodactylous,  370,  394 

Pandion,  :>'.):; 
Pandioninau,  293 
Panoplites,  454 
Panterpe,  443 
I'auyclilora,  442 
Panyptila,  439 
ParaaUuBa,  519 
Paradise  birds,  519 
Paradisa'ida.',  516 
Paradis;eiii!i',  51l! 
Parakeet,  black-billed,  367 
Carolina,  365 
urass,  355,  356 
gray-breasted,  366 
ground.  :>06 
banging,  'MO 
monk,  366 
red-tailed,  366 
rosella,  357 
Parotia,  521 
Parra,  104 
Parrot,  bat,  359 
gray,  363 
green,  367 
ground,  351 
jako,  :!ii-t 
kaka,  .".5:; 
Madagascar,*  360 
owl,  :i5o 

1  'hi  lip  Island,  352 
racket-tailed,  362 
ring.  :;<;L 
va/.a,  :J6:: 
Parrots.  :U'.» 
Parson-bird.  5:i5 
Partridge,  52 

bamboo,  203 
crested,  206 
gray.  2(14 
bill.  2(11 
plumed.  20i  ! 

red-legged,  201 

swamp.  L'H| 
Tibetan,  200 

Partridge-dove,  L'4(i 

1  'art  ridges    19S,  200,  205 

Parus,  515 

Passer,  546 

Passe  res,  458 

Passeriformes,  370 

Passeroideai,  460,  481 

Pastor.  .->:;•_' 

Patagona.  453 

Pauxis,  •_':;:; 

I'avo.  229 

Pavoncella,  108 

Peacock,  22!) 

Peacock-pbeasant,  228 

Peafowl,  22'.i 

Pedia-cetes,  209 

Peewit,  W 

Pclargomorphae,  157 

Pelargopappus,  163 

Pelecauidae,  185 


Pelecaniformes,  65 

Pelecanoididae,  90,  185 

Pelecaiioides,  91 

Pelecanus,  186 

Pelicans,  184,  188 

Penelope,  233 

Pe'nelopina,  233 

Penelopinaj,  233 

Penguin,  Apterous,  49 
,,        northern,  72 

Penguins,  56 

Pentboceryx,  374 

Perdicinaj,  l'J8 

Perdicula,  199 

Perdix,  200 

Perdiz,  52 

Peregrine,  309 

Pericrocotus,  509 

Perisoreus,  524 

Peristera,  246,  247 

Peristeripodes,  229 

Pernis,  29!) 

Petasphora,  454 

Petrels,  88,  91 

Petroclielidon,  507,  509 

Petronia,  546 

Petrophassa,  246 

Peucaea,  547 

Pezophaps,  239 

Pezoporus,  352 

Phaeuorhina,  258 

Phaethon,  181 

Phaetbontoidese,  181 

Phaethornis,  456 

Pbalacrocoracidae,  190 

Pbalacrocorax,  191 

Phalaropes  107 

PhalaropodiniB,  107 

Pliaps,  244 

Pharaoh's  chicken,  278 

Pbaromacrus,  434 

J'basianidiK,  213 

Pbasianina;,  216 

Pbasianus,  216,  220 

Phasidus,  215 

Pheasant,  argus,  227 
„         blood,  216 
„         crow,  381 
„        eared,  226 
,,         English,  222 
,,         fireback,  216 
,,          golden,  21!) 
„          impeyan,  225 
,,         kaleege,  216 
„         kalij,  216 
„         koklass,  223 
„         I.ady  Amherst,  219 
,,          L'buysii's.  225 
,,         lyre-tailed.  4til 
„         peacock, 22s 
,,         pucras,  223 
,,         Reeve's,  220 
Sclater's,  225 
,,         silver,  216,  217 
,,         snow,  202 
„         Wallich's,  221 
,,         white-winged,  222 

Pheasants,  204,  213 

Pbibalura,  474 

Pliilacte.  142 

Philepitta,  465 

Philepittidaj,  465 

Philitaerus,  542 

Pbla-g(unas,  243 

Phlogophilus,  444 

I'liodilus.  :!24,  346 

Phoenicoparra,  154 

Plio'iiicopteridae,  154 

Phcenicopleroidea?,  153 

Phoanicopterus,  154 


Phoeolffima,  454 

Photodilus,  324,  346 

Phyllopseustes,  504 

Phytotoma,  475 

Phytotoinidse,  475 

Piaya,  375 

Pica,  526 

Picapare,  68 

Picariae,  368 

Picicorvus,  526 

Picidas,  412,  423 

Piciformes,  370,  412 

Picinae,  426 

Picoidese,  412 

Picoides,  429 

Piculets,  425 

Picumninse,  425 

Picuinnus,  425 

Picus,  428 

Pigeon,  blue-headed,  243 
bronze-wing,  245 
brush,  245 
Cape,  90 
crested,  245 
crowned,  241 
green,  255 
ground, 242 
Nicobar,  244 
passenger,  251 
pheasant-tailed,  250 
stock,  253 
tooth-billed,  240 
white-crowned,  254 
wild,  251 

Pigeons,  237 

Pinnipedes,  56 

Pintail,  148 

Pionidae,  367 

Pipile,233 

Pipits,  487 

Piraiiga,  541 

Piririgui,  384 

Pipra,  472 

Pipridae,  472 

Pitylinae,  547 

Plant-cutters,  475 

Plantain-eaters,  371 

Platalea,  161 

Platycercidae,  354 

Platycercus,  356 

Platyrhynchus,  471 

Plautus,  72 

Plectrophenax,  546 

Plectropteridae,  140 

Plectropterus,  14 

Plegadis,  160 

Plictolophidas,  333 

Plictolopbus,  353 

Plissolophus,  354 

Ploceidae,  542 

Plotus,  193 

Plover,  crab,  97 

crook-billed,  101 
golden,  96 
spur-winged,  100 
stone,  112 
wry-billed,  101 

Plovers,  98 

Pluviales,  65 

Pluvialiformes,  65 

Pluvianellus,  99 

Pluvianus,  100 

Pnceopyga,  5(Xi 

Podargidaj,  3S7 

Podargus,  387 

Podica,  68 

Podiceps,  67 

Podilymbus,  68 

Podocypidae,  66 

Pogouorhynchus,  420 


564 


INDEX. 


Polioaetus,  284 
Polioptila,  507 
Polioptilinae,  507 
Polyborinae,  300 
Polyboroides,  295 
Polyborus,  301 
Polyplectron,  227 
Polytmus,  443 
Porocephalus,  367 
Porphyrio,  131 
Porzana,  128 
Poule  rouge,  129 
Powder-downs,  4 
Praecoces,  3 
Prairie-chickens,  209 
Prairie-hens,  209 
Pratincola,  498 
Pratincoles,  95 
Primaries,  3 
Prion,  90 
Prionitunus,  362 
Priotelus,  435 
Procellaria,  88 
Procellariidse,  88 
Procellariinae,  89 
Procellaroidea,  84 
Progue,  509 
Prosthemadera,  535 
Protonotaria,  540 
Psalidoprocne,  509 
Pseudotantalus,  163 
Psittacella,  358 
Psittaci,  349 
Psittacidae,  363 
Psittacula,  367 
Psittacus,  364 
Psophia,  123 
Psophidae,  122 
Ptarmigan,  207 
Pterrnistes,  204 
Pterocles,  235 
Pterocletes,  235 
Pterocnemia,  38 
Pterocorys,  486 
Pteroclidae,  235 
Pteroglossus,  417 
Pteropappi,  23 
Pteropaedes,  3 
Pterophanes,  453 
Pteroptochidse,  476 
Pterylas,  3 
Ptilopachus,  201 
Ptilopteri,  56 
Ptilonorhynchus,  566 
Ptilorhis,  522 
Ptilopus,  256 
Pucras.  223 
Pucrasia,  223 
Puff-birds,  413 
Puffins,  73 
Pukeko,  131 
Pycnaspidean,  464 
Pycnonotinae,  490 
Pycnonotus,  490 
Pygarrichus.  479 
Pygopodes,  56,  65 
Pygoscelis,  59 
Pygostyle,  12 
Pyrocephalus,  471 
Pyroderus,  474 
Pyrrhocorax,  528 
Pyrrhulauda,  486 
Pyrrhura,  3(i6 

Quails,  198-206 
Quesal,  434 
Quiscalus,  532 
Quits,  540 

Rails,  127 


Rallidfe,  127 
Rallus,  128 

Ramphastidae,  412,  414 
Ramphastos,  414 
Raptatores,  260 
Raptores,  2(iO 
Raspres,  197 
Ratite,  32 
Raven,  526 
Razor-bill,  72 
Rectrices,  4 
Recuvirostra,  107 
Recurvirostrinse,  107 
Regulinae,  504 
Regulus,  504 
Reinwardtcena,  249 
Reticulate  tarsus,  9 
Rhamphocoelus,  541 
Rhamphomicron,  445 
Rhea,  38 
Rhepideae,  37 
Rheinardius,  227 
Rhinoplax,  408 
Rhipidura,  492 
Rhodonessa,  146,  148 
Rhodosthethae,  79 
Rhynchaea,  110 
Rhynchopinae,  83 
Rhynchops,  83 
Rhynchotus,  52 
Rhynochetidae,  117 
Rhynochetos,  117 
Ridgwayia,  494 
Rifleman,  465 
Ring  ouzel,  496 
Rissa,  81 
Road-runner,  381 
Roa-roa,  49 
Robin,  American,  496 

„       English,  496 
Roc,  47 

Rock-hopper,  63 
Rollers,  389 
Rollulus,  200 
Rostrhamus,  298 
Rostratula,  110 
Rotge,  69 
Roulroul,  200 
Ruby-throat,  450 
Rue,  47 
Rupicola,  473 
Ruff,  108 
Rufibrenta,  142 

Sacfa,  200 
Sage-cock,  209 
Salpinctes,  505 
Sanderling,  107 
Sand-grouse.  235 
Sandpipers,  107 
Sappho, 446 
Sap-suckers,  432 
Sarcorhamphus.  268 
Sarkedornis,  140 
Sasia,  42ti 

Saurognathous,  10,  423 
Saururae,  L'l 
Saxicola,  498 
Scardafella,  247 
Schistes,  444 
Schizognathous,  10 
Schizorhinal,  11 
Schizopelmous,  369 
Scissor-tail,  470 
Sdilegelia,  522 
Srloroptera,  203 
Scolopacidai,  105 
Scolopacina?,  110 
Scolopacoideae,  94 
Scopida?,  170 


Scops,  341 

Scopus,  s70 

Scoters,  148 

Scotopelia,  337 

Screamers,  132 

Scrub-birds,  462 

Scutellate  tarsus,  9 

Scytalopus,  476 

Scythrops,  378 

Sea-dove,  69 

Sea-hawk,  77 

Sea-hen,  75 

Sea-swallow,  188 

Secondaries,  3 

Secretary,  263 

Seleucides,  522 

Selasphorus,  449 

Semioptera,  522 

Semiplumes,  4 

Senculus,  516 

Seriema,  121 

Serrati,  136 

Serratirostres,  397 

Serresius,  258 

Serrirostres,  56 

Shags,  191 

Shame-bird,  257 

Sharp-tails,  209 

Shearwater,  83,  90 

Sheath-bills,  92 

Sheldrake,  146 

Shoe-bill,  171 

Shovelers,  148 

Shrike,  ant,  477 
,,      cuckoo,  509 
,,      crow,  511 
,,      drongo,  509 
,,      swallow,  511 
,,      true,  511 

Sialia,  494 

Sifters,  136 

Silvia,  502 

Silviinse,  501 

Simorhynchus,  72 

Sisura,  493 

Sitta,  515 

Sittace,  365 

Sittinae,  514 

Skua,  75 

Skimmers,  83 

Skull,  10 

Snake-bird,  195,  433 

Snipes,  110 

Snow-cocks,  202 

Snow-flake,  54(i 

Solan  goose,  188 

Solitaire,  239,  494 

Solitary,  239 

Somateria,  150 

Soroplex,  428 

Soufriere  bird,  494 

Spatula,  14S 

Sparrow,  Iiedge,  492 
„        English,  546 

Sparrow-hawks,  [504,  306 

Spectacled  guillemot,  72 

Speotyto,  324 

Spheniscidae,  56 

Spheuiscus,  59 

Sphenoproctus,  456 

Sphenorhynchus,  167 

Sphyrapicus,  432 

Spilornis,  286 

Spindalis,  541 

Spinus,  547 

Spizaetus,  285 

Spizella,  547 

Spizastur,  285 

Spiziapteryx,  309 

Spoon-bills,  158, 161 


INDEX. 


565 


Sporadinus,  442 

Stake-driver,  177 

Standard-wing,  523 

Starlings,  ,V_".» 

Starnrenas,  L'l:1, 

Steatornis.  :is.i 

Steatornithidse,  385 

Bteatornlthoideae,  371 

Steganopodes,  5(i,  179 

Sti'ganunv,  448 

Stegnolaerna,  233 

Stelgidopteryx,  509 

Btellula,  -14!)' 

Stenostira,  507 

Sterna,  81,  83 

Stercorariida?,  75 

Stercorarius,  70 

Sternoclyta,  454 

Sternula,  83 

Sthelenides,  143 

Stictajnas,  253 

Stint,  Teinmincks,  108 

Stipiturus,  499 

Stone  chat.  498 

Storks,  1G2-1G9 

Strepera,  511 

Streptopelia,  249 

Strigidae,  263,  321 

Striginae,  324 

Stringopidae,  350 

Stringops,  350 

Struthio,  33 

Struthiojithus,  55 

Struthioidea,  33 

Struthiones,  32 

Struthionidae,  33 

Sturnidse,  529 

Sturnus,  531 

Sula,  188 

Sulidae,  188 

Sun-birds,  536 

Sun-bitterns,  115 

Sun-grebes,  68 

Surf-bird,  99 

Surf-ducks,  148 

Sumia,  :«4 

Surniculus,  380 

Suthora,  514 

Suthorinae,  514 

Sutoria,  4'J9 

Sun-gem,  450 

Swallow,  bank,  509 
„        barn, 509 
,,        chimney,  439 
„        rough  winged,  509 
„        sea,  188 
„        white-bellied,  509 
,,        wood,  511 

Swallow-shrikes,  511 

Swallows,  507 

Swans,  14:; 

Swiftlets,  437 

Swifts,  4:;7 

Synallaxinae,  480 

Synallaxis,  479 

Synoicus,  199 

Synpelimms,  369 

Syornis,  44 

Syrinx,  373 

Syrmaticus,  220 

Syrnium,  345 

Syrrhaptes,  235 

Tachornis,  440 
Tachyeres,  149 
Tadorna,  14(1 
Tailor-bird,  499 
Tallegallinae,  231 
Tallegallus,  231 
Tanagers,  541 


Tanagra,  541 

TanuuTidn',  441 

Tantalus,  164 

Tanygnathus,  362 

Tanysiptora,  402 

Taoniscus,  54 

Tarapunga,  79 

Tarsus,  464 

Tattler,  107 

Taxaspidean,  464 

Teaser,  70 

Temnotrogon,  435 

Tenuirostres,  484,  534 

Terpsiphone,  4H2 

Terns,  77,  81 

Tertiaries,  3 

Tetragonops,  420 

Tetrao,  209 

Tetraonidae,  198 

Tetraoninae,  207 

Tetraophasis,  225 

Tetrapteryx,  125 

Thalasseus,  83 

Thamnophilinae,  477 

Thaumalea,  216,  219 

Thick-knees,  112 

Thinocoridse,  93 

Thinocoris,  93 

Thorn-bird,  480 

Thrasaetus,  287 

Thrush,  ant,  466,  477 
babbling,  490 
fruit,  490 
ground,  467 
song,  494 
wood,  494 

Thrushes,  493 

Tiga,  4-J7 

Tichodroma,  539 

Timaliidsc,  490 

Tilniatura,  449 

Timolia,  443 

Tinaniinse,  54 

Tinamotina?,  54 

Tinamous,  54 

Tinnunculus,  306,  315 

Tit,  ground ,  506 
wren,  ."iOii 

Tits,  hill,  491 
true,  515 

Tityra,  474 

Tockus,  404 

Toco,  417 

Todidae,  395,  399 

Todies,  399 

Todirostrum,  471 

Todus,  :;99 

Toothed  birds,  23 

Topaza,  452 

Toporok,  74 

Totanus,  108 

Toucans,  414 

Tracheophonffi,  459 

Trachyphonus,  420 

Tragopans,  liL'4 

Tree-ducks,  145,  146 

Treron,  255 

Treronidae,  254 

Trichoglossidae,  358 

Trichoglossus,  358 

Tringinae,  107 

Trochilidae,  441 

Trochilos,  100 

Trochilus,  449 

Troglodytes,  476 

Troglodytid,-E,  505 

Trogonitlae,  433 

Trogonoideas,  433 

Trogons,  4 .".:'. 

Tropic-birds,  181 


Tronpial,  545 
Trumpeter,  123,  143 
Tubinares.  (J5,  84 
Turacoena.  249 
Turacou,  :i"2 
Turacus,  372 
Turdidae,  4i)3 
Turdus,  4!t4 
Turkey-buzzard,  267 
Turkeys,  222 
Turkey,  brush, 232 
Turnstones,  98 
Turtle-dove,  248 
Turtur,  248 
Tympanistria,  246 
Tyrannidae,  468 
Tyrannoidene,  460,  463 
Tyrannus,  469,  471 
Tyrant  birds,  468 

Umber-bird,  170 
Umbrella  bird,  474 
Umbrette,  170 
Under  'coverts,  4 
Upper  coverts,  4 
Upupa,  410,  411 
Upupidae,  411 
Upupoideae,  408 
Uranomitra,  443 
Uria,  71 
Urinator,  69 
Urinatoridae,  69 
Urochroa,  454 
Urocissa,  526 
Urogalba,  414 
Urubitinga,  290 

Vaginati,  92 

Vanellus,  99 

Vaza,  363 

Verreauxia,  425 

Vida,  543 

Vidua,  543 

Vidua  loca,  127 

Virago,  145 

Vireonidae,  513 

Vireoninae,  513 

Vivia,  420 

Vultur,  274 

Vulture,  bearded,  280 
black,  26(5 
California,  268 
crested  black,  274 
eagle,  279 
eared,  274 
Egyptian,  277 
fulvous,  274 
griffon,  275 
king,  268 
Nubian,  277 
Pondicherry,  277 
Ruppell's,  276 
white,  278 

Vultures,  American ,  266 
Old  World,  273 
true,  274 

Vulturinae,  273 

Waders,  92 

Warbler,  fan  tail,  499 
grass,  499 
grasshopper,  502 
prothoriotary,  540 

"Warblers,  American,  540 

Wax-bills,  543 

Wax-wing,  Bohemian,  511 

Weaver-birds,  542 

Weka,  129 

Western  grebe,  67 

Wheatears,  498 


566 


INDEX. 


Whinchat,  498 
"Whip-poor-will,  389 
Whiskey-jack,  524 
Wood-cock,  105 
Wood-hens,  128 
Wood-hewers,  478 
Wood-ibises,  162 
Woodpeckers,  423,  426 
Wren,  ant  477 

,,      canon,  505 

„      emu,  499 


Wren,  tyrant,  468 
Wrens,  502 
Wren-tit,  506 
Wry-neck,  433 

Xanthomelus,  516 
Xanthoura,  526 
Xema,  81 
Xenicida3,  465 
Xeuicus,  465 
Xeuops,  479 


Xipholsena,  474 
Yaffle,  428 
Yakamik,  123 
Ynambu,  5"4 
Yungipicus,  428 

Zenaida,  247 
Zenaidura,  250 
Zonotrichia,  547 
Zygodactylous,  368 


THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SANTA  CRUZ 

SCIENCE  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  DATE  stamped  below. 


1971  FEB  2 

,TB'7AN  2  7  1977 


RECDOCT    81985 
APR  1  5  1990 


50m-4,'69(J7948s8)2477 


'/'.••T'' 
r\'  V-  ;' 


BBS?.'. 


• 


M&gi 


